RCL

Krystal, Rachel, Bella 

ENGL 137H 

11/22/19 

Work Plan: History of a Public Controversy 

TED Talk Work Day Activity Summary 

Duties of Each Member: 

Krystal – Goalkeeper, research, script outline, video editing, look for images, interview Matt and Carly, help write interview questions 

Rachel – Park Ranger, research, organization, writing interview questions, script outline, video editing 

Bella – Scribe, research, outline script, script writing, email political science professors to interview
 

Timeline 

• Nov 22 through Dec 1: Thanksgiving Break, research more, generate video outline, scheduling possible interviews with Matt (Ben Shapiro stan), Carly (international politics major friend), and Professor Berkman (political science), write interview questions 
• Dec 2: Start gathering images and videos, begin writing script 
• Dec 4 Have all interviews finished, put the video together, finish script. 

• Dec 6-10: Begin video editing and narration recording. 
• Dec 11: Finalize video and clean up loose ends 
• Dec 13: Present videos in class 
• Dec 16: Final video cuts by noon 

Day 1: 

Our group discussed a range of topics including: 

• Vaccinations 
• Flag burning 
• NCAA athletes getting paid 

• Airbnb and the Housing Market 
• DACA 
• Legalization of marijuana 
• Abortion 

Day 2: 

After talking to Professor Taheri, we decided to go with DACA. We started to compile some research by finding articles and websites that pertained to our topic. 

Articles: 

https://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005384 

https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca 

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/470075-supreme-court-sharply-divided-over-trumps-daca-repeal 

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-11-12/timeline-on-daca 

https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019/18-587 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/daca-supreme-court.html 

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/the-facts-on-daca/ 

 Stasis Questions: 

Facts: 

• What is DACA? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/daca-supreme-court.html 

• Executive order introduced by President Obama in 2012 to prevent the deportation of people brought illegally to the United States as children 

• Renewable two years at a time; no pathway to citizenship 
• Benefits:  

• work permits 
• in some cases, health insurance through employers 
• In some states, drive legally 

• Ability to pay for school 

• Eligibility Requirements https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/the-facts-on-daca/ 

• Between 15 and 31 years old at the time of June 15, 2012 
• Under 16 when entering the United States 
• In high school, graduated high school, or honorably discharged from the military 

• Not convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors 

• Why was DACA enacted? https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/the-facts-on-daca/ 

• Failure to pass DREAM Act in Congress, which would provide a path to citizenship for individuals brought here illegally as children 

• Essentially, it would defer deportation for individuals who are “not a threat to national security” 

• Other Facts https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/the-facts-on-daca/ 

• Average age of DACA recipient is 25, 82.5% of them being under 30 as of 2017 
• 28% in California, 16% in Texas 
• As of 2017, there are 689,800 current DACA recipients and 798,980 since 2012 
• DACA can be revoked due to criminal action 

• Controversy about what revocations have been on 

• ACLU filed a case saying DACA statuses were revoked for low-level, arbitrary offenses such as traffic violations 
• Current State of DACA https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/the-facts-on-daca/ 

• On Sept. 5, 2017, Trump announced that new DACA applications would not be accepted amid legal action threatened from Republican Attorneys General and governors 
• Supreme Court is determining whether DACA applications should still be accepted as legal proceedings concerning the repeal of DACA persist 

Definition: 

• The nature of the issue pertains to the legality of the enaction of the DACA program, as well as the legality of the way which the current administration attempted to end it 
• Small part of the ongoing immigration debate taking place in the US 
• Parts of the issue: Legality of program debated, morality – Dreamers view themselves as American and grew up in America, economic ramifications of deportation, viewed as encouraging more illegal immigration 

Quality: 

• How serious is the problem/issue? 

• There are currently approx. 700,000 people enrolled in DACA as Dreamers, so this impacts them as well as the suspected 1,000,000 people who qualify but haven’t enrolled 

• Whom might it affect (stakeholders)? 

• People enrolled in the program 
• People who qualify and might want to enroll 
• Americans, as it impacts our economy and what it means to be American 

• Americans, as it might impact our broader immigration policies and situation 

• What happens if we don’t do anything? 

• The Supreme Court will rule soon about the legality 
• The program will be ended by the current administration 

• What are the costs of solving the problem/issue? 

• Gives recipients legal status to reside in the US 

• Work, obtain an education, have access to health care 

• Dreamers work and pay taxes – economic impacts 

Day 3: Framing the Issue 

The debate over DACA boils down to the debate over immigration—should the United States allow immigrants to become citizens? How many? As the Trump administration moves to repeal the law, more questions arise about executive power and who can do what in government.  

Framing Questions: 

1. What constitutes a “severe enough” crime that merits the deportation of DACA recipients? 

1. What makes someone an American? 

1. Should the United State provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients? 

1. Where do we draw the line at who is too old to receive DACA status? 

1. Did Obama have the authority to enact such a wide-reaching executive order? 

1. Conversely, does the Trump Administration have the authority to rescind the executive order and halt DACA applications? 

1. What led to the immigration of these families? 

1. Is it in our best interest, economically speaking, to deport illegal immigrants? 

• Introduction
  • Most teenagers know what it’s like to lose sleep because they were binge-watching a show until the late hours of the night.
  • In the days before streaming services such as Netflix, it was impossible to watch everything at once—viewers waited weeks or years for the next episode or movie
  • Netflix became the first online streaming service in 2008
  • “Binge-watching” became a popular term in 2012
• Thesis: Streaming services such as Netflix, as well as the advent of the Internet, have changed the way we experience being fans of content, taking much of the human interaction out of fandom.
  • Main idea – watching in isolation
    • Instead of gathering around the TV with family or friends, people now retreat to their rooms to binge-watch
    • 88% of viewers have binge-watched
    • 60% of viewers binge-watch alone (Truong)
    • Netflix encourages “binge-racing”— watching an entire new season of a show within 24 hours of its release
    • 15% of viewers binge-raced a new season of Arrested Development (Matrix)
    • Stereotype of watching Netflix alone in one’s room and eating ice cream when they’re sad
  • Main idea – role of social media
    • Rather than connecting with fan communities in person, fans can now do so through social media, removing the need for human interaction in order to participate in fandom
    • Stereotype of someone binge-watching a show, then immediately going on Twitter to gush about how much they enjoyed it
    • Even at in-person events, such as conventions, much of the purpose is to post about the experience online
    • People form online communities around fandom and identify themselves by it (i.e. “Whovians”)
    • Fans can feel social integration entirely online, with little to no in-person interaction (Misailidou)
  • Main idea – fan content online
    • Even after binge-watching a show and discussing it on social media, fans can continue to engage in that content in isolation by consuming fan content online.
    • Archive of Our Own, a fanfiction site, has over 4.7 million works on it (Romano)
    • According to fanfiction platform Wattpad, fanfictions published on the site can reach over 45 million readers who spend 15 billion minutes per day reading fanfiction (Wattpad).
    • Fanfiction readers develop parasocial relationships with the fictional characters starring in the story, which can replace real human relationships and ultimately harm readers (Lansang)
• Conclusion
  • Technology and the Internet have provided us with opportunities to accomplish things we never could have imagined
  • However, they have also caused us to be more isolated than ever before.
  • While it is good to take advantage of technology’s benefits, we must also be careful not to let technology replace what is human in us.

I chose my topic because, although I use technology as much as the next teenager, I’m interested in the negative impacts it has, and why we use it anyway.

I am part of a generation that lived through a major paradigm shift with the advent of technology. My memories of watching television with my family contrasting with my experiences watching Netflix alone in my room today made me want to examine that specific topic further.

In my research, I found a lot of really interesting facts about the impacts of the rise of Netflix. For example, there is far more concrete evidence than I expected that binge-watching on Netflix has negative physiological impacts on viewers. 

In addition, the growth of streaming services has much further-reaching impacts than I anticipated. I began my paper with only the most obvious points in mind, such as the isolation that stems from binge-watching along rather than watching with family, but in my research I found that the impacts are much wider.

Overall, the point of my paper is that while technology has certainly made our lives more convenient, it has also worsened our quality of life in many ways, and we need to take that into account as technology advances further.

The peers who reviewed my paper were super helpful. The best feedback I received was about organization and paragraph unity–I tend to go off on tangents and lose the focus of a paragraph, so my peers did a great job of forcing me to make sure all my paragraphs were on track.

This essay is certainly the shortest amount of time I’ve ever had to write a full-length research essay; in high school, an essay of this caliber would be a month-long affair. 

Having such short time to write an essay has forced my writing to become more focused and to-the-point. Since I have less time to write and edit and perfect my essay, I have less time to mess around or widen my topic too much.

As I continue in my writing career, I want to work on keeping each paragraph I write on track, rather than going off on tangents. It will help my writing become more organized and far easier to read and understand. 

 

1. Introduction
   1. Many people have happy memories of watching their favorite TV shows with their family years ago.
   2. However, those days are mostly gone due to the invention of streaming services such as Netflix.
   3. Due to these streaming services, people rely less on families or friends and more on isolation and escapism to deal with their problems.
   4. With rising rates of depression in today’s world, the problems that stem from streaming services may overtake their convenience.
2. Thesis: the invention of streaming services such as Netflix has caused a paradigm shift in how society views the value of television, from a weekly social event to a way to escape reality by binge-watching a show.
   1. Literature review
      1. Binge-watching is defined as watching two or more episodes of a show in a single sitting (Flayelle et al.)
      2. Binge watching is generally done alone in one’s room
      3. From the 1950s to the 1990s, television was a hallmark of home life spent with family; families gathered to argue over what to watch, choose a program, and watch it together (Coughlan).
      4. Netflix was invented in 1997 as a way to order DVDs that would be delivered to your home, but it became the first online streaming service in 2007 (Hosch), followed by Hulu in 2008.
      5. 60% of viewers watch Netflix alone, rather than with family or friends
      6. The stereotype of people in the office gathering at the water cooler to discuss the latest episode of a popular show no longer applies.
   2. Analysis of causes
      1. In the days before everyone had a personal smartphone and laptop, houses usually had just one or two televisions, so anyone who wanted to watch TV had to share it with anyone else who wanted to watch at the time.
      2. Now that everyone has at least one personal device, if not more, families can take advantage of each member’s differing tastes and each watch different shows, on their own.
      3. Netflix encourages binge-watching; the next episode of a series plays on its own when you finish an episode, and Netflix algorithms recommend shows and movies based on your viewing history.
         1. This is known as the “Netflix Effect,” and it’s an effective marketing strategy to keep viewers watching (Morgan).
      4. Netflix drops content all at once, encouraging people to binge watch entire seasons of shows within days.
      5. Netflix also encourages in its advertising a new trend known as “binge-racing,” during with enthusiastic fans watch an entire season of a show within 24 hours of its release on Netflix.
         1. According to Netflix, 8.4 billion of its subscribers have binge-raced at least once (DSouza).
   3. Critique of the Shift
      1. Parents watching TV with their young children can enhance learning in a way that children watching TV alone does not (Garey).
      2. Binge-watching is linked to insomnia and mood disturbances, and may be linked to depression and loneliness (Umesh and Bose).
      3. According to a study done by Netflix, people watch an average of two hours a day (Koblin). The recommended amount of total screen time is less than two hours per day.
      4. Watching TV alone lessens opportunities for socialization, as the number of options available means that people are less likely to have a common series they like. With fewer conversation starters, loneliness increases.
      5. Binge-watching diverts attention from feelings of loneliness or depression, encouraging viewers to isolate themselves and use streaming services as a coping mechanism (Stoldt).
      6. Binge-watching violent TV makes viewers desensitized to violence (Stoldt).
3. Conclusion
   1. 73% of viewers have a positive view of binge-watching (Stoldt)
   2. The convenience of modern technology allows us more freedom in our media consumption than ever before; we can watch nearly anything we want without worrying about family members wanting to overtake us with what they want to watch.
   3. However, this has also led to far greater isolation and loneliness
   4. Gone are the days families gather in the living room to watch nightly TV; rather, everyone retreats to their own room to spend the evening glued to their devices.
   5. As research on the detrimental effects of technology grows, perhaps viewing habits will shift back towards communal gathering around a television.
   6. Society must question whether the convenience of modern technology is worth the isolation it causes, and find a compromise between harmony and connection.

Technology has changed our society in countless ways. As it expands, our lives become more convenient, but in some ways, also more isolated.

When I was in elementary school, I remember the gathering my family had every Tuesday night to watch The Office. It was a family bonding time; some weeks we would share ice cream during the episode, and my mom quizzed my brother every week for his spelling test the next day.

Today, my family no longer gathers to watch TV together. The TV we watch is almost entirely on Netflix, often alone in our rooms. 

The invention of streaming services such as Netflix has led to a paradigm shift in how we consume media. Rather than gathering weekly to watch a show as a group, people individually “binge-watch” whatever show they want on their preferred streaming service.

In fact, most streaming services create their own programs and release them all at once, encouraging the modern culture of instant gratification and being able to hit “play” on the next episode immediately, rather than waiting a week.

Even sports entertainment has changed due to streaming services; though people still watch sports live, they now use streaming services on their devices to watch multiple games at once. 

Over the past decade, the way we choose to consume media has transformed completely. 

While streaming services have certainly made our lives more convenient, it is important to examine the isolation that stems from developing technology. Rather than acting as weekly scheduled times to bond with friends and family, TV has become a way to isolate oneself.

As rates of depression increase in today’s world, we need to consider how technology influences that. Stereotypically, when someone is upset, they retreat alone and watch Netflix and eat ice cream. Perhaps the encouragement of isolation that stems from technology is more harmful than the benefits of technology, and another paradigm shift is necessary to encourage human connection, the way TV did when I was younger.

 

 

Overall, my speech went better than I expected. Speeches have made me nervous since the first speech I gave in high school, but I think I managed to take lessons I’ve learned from past speeches and apply them to this one.

For example, one of the most common pieces of feedback I received after my speeches in high school was that I played with my hair and clothes a lot. For my civic artifact speech, I purposefully wore my hair up so I wouldn’t play with it, and I successfully avoided any distracting habits of playing with my clothes.

However, I did not manage to prevent all the common mistakes I made in speeches in high school. When I get nervous, I tend to speak very fast, no matter how much I try to pace myself as I speak. This speech was no exception: my speaking was very rushed for most of the speech, at some points so much so that it caused me to stumble over my words. 

I also spent far more time practicing this speech than I did for any speeches in the past, and the consequences were positive. I was very confident with my content, and it allowed me to have good eye contact most of the time, unless I was quoting something or citing a source. I also varied my eye contact well, looking at different places throughout the room rather than at just one person. 

Despite practicing my speech more than usual, I was still super nervous when it came time to actually give the speech. It’s obvious that I was nervous; there are times, for example, when my voice shakes as I pause. I think the only solution to being less nervous is to practice it even more, possibly even with an audience.

As I go through college and my career, I will have to give many more speeches. Hopefully, I will be able to build upon lessons I’ve learned already, becoming far more confident with public speaking.