Thomas Qiu's CIS 3810 Blog

We are living in the age of information and technology. This means that anything that we want to know is in reach of our fingertips. Once upon a time, it took hours to correctly find specific information we wanted. To find such information, we had to go to a library and search for days through the thousands of books on shelves. Now, we are able to go on our phones and just type what we want to know onto a web browser and the answer would appear right in front of our eyes. If you're really lazy, you can even just ask the virtual assistant on your phone (Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc) and most of the time they'd lead you to an answer. Two common ways obtaining information online are Blogs and Wikis.  Blogs are regularly updated websites run by an individual person or a small group of people that are written with an informal or conversational style. Bloggers are people who posts blogs online about whatever they want to. People can now express their opinions and way of l

There are many causes of mental health problems, but the biggest problem plaguing people in recent years is the expansion of social media. While social media might not be the only issue, it still has very negative effects when used incorrectly. This is especially true for young people who are often very impressionable. Mental health issues have been rising at an alarming rate and it's no coincidence that the rise of mental illness is happening during the advancement of technology and the growing influence of social media. When we get into the science of social media and mental health, we can see that getting likes or retweets online can cause the release of oxytocin and dopamine from the brain. Oxytocin and dopamine are neurotransmitters that are released inside the brain to make people happy. They are often referred to as "love chemicals" because they are usually released during sex. However, these chemicals can also be secreted through the use of drugs, alcohol, and no