For this tech blog, I decided to do some research on APA: the American Psychological Association. As the home page of the website states, "APA is the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States." The goal of this website is to educate society about the beneficial applications of psychology, so that they can incorporate it into their lives to make them more functional. The website covers numerous topics, from explaining what a psychologist is to explaining how psychotherapy works and how it is helpful. As well as working toward educating the population about psychology, APA posts research publications that aim to better the lives of those who are suffering from numerous physical disabilities. One of the website's studies involves exploring new approaches to chronic pain, which implement the use of several physical therapies rather than addictive medications or expensive surgery. 

This website can be extremely helpful for those in my field of study, psychology, because of the ample amount of information it provides. Psychology students as well as scholars can use this site to get ideas about participating in and conducting research, provide information to patients about their heath issues, and gain knowledge on how to better their own personal conduct and practice in the field. APA is an exceptionally useful tool, for it provides important information for patients and doctors alike to help them better understand the many aspects of psychology.

For this week's Smackdown I decided to present a website that I find helpful - mayoclinic.org. The most common use of this website is to get information about diseases, their symptoms and their treatments. Though Mayo Clinic may seem to be identical to WebMD, it is much more complex than that. Mayo Clinic is the largest and only non-profit medical group practice with its own medical research group. Instead of having only a website like WebMD does, Mayo Clinic also has its own doctors, researchers, scientists, clinics and hospitals. Their hospitals are very prestigious - they are ranked #1 in the nation for eight different specialties.
Along with providing information about disease and treatment, the Mayo Clinic website has much to offer. For people looking to make an appointment, there is an easy way to do it right through the website's homepage. One can also find the Clinic's complete list of physicians and read up on doctors that practice in specific areas of healthcare. There is a tab that allows you to view all of the different types of research they are conducting as well. If you are in the medical field, you can find jobs and references right from the site's homepage. This website would be helpful to someone in my future occupation, psychotherapy, because they could search their patient's diagnosis to show them all the information about it, and help them better undertstand what they are going through and the treatment they are receiving.

Tech blog 2 - Smackdown 1 reflection

I really enjoyed watching everyone's presentations last week. I learned a lot because there were several apps/websites which were discussed that I had never heard of before. One of the websites that I found to be extremely interesting was the one Matt presented, Incompetech. I loved the fact that you can choose any genre or characteristic you can think of, and instantly find music that relates to it. I also loved that the music is not copyrighted, so you can use it in any video or presentation you create. Incompetech is a very useful tool that I am sure I will be utilizing for my presentations in the future.
Another website that I really enjoyed learning about was Daily Strength, which was presented by Jennifer. This website was especially meaningful to me because I have a lot of close friends and family who struggle with mental and physical illnesses. I really appreciate the fact that there is an online community specifically dedicated to helping people who are struggling with health issues, both mental and physical. The thing I loved most about the website was the support groups. I think it is imperative that people who are struggling can talk and exchange advice with one another. I also loved the fact that there are professionals and experts available to answer any questions you might have. I think Daily Strength is an extremely progressive and useful website.

Smackdown 1

The application I decided to do my first Smackdown on is Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual discovery application that has taken the internet by storm. While on this app you can search any topic you can think of, and receive pictures, articles, and informational posts about this topic. You can follow other pinners, save pins, and organize them into groups. Many people use the app to find arts and crafts ideas, as well as ideas for decorating and organizing. Pinterest is also a promoter of the newly discovered acronym DIY - do it yourself. The app has countless step-by-step tutorials of how to create something yourself instead of having to pay a ridiculous amount of money for it. I love Pinterest because there are an almost infinite amount of things you can discover.

In relation to my major, Pinterest can be an extremely helpful tool. If you search the word "psychology," a plethora of posts come up. For anyone who is studying psychology or already in the field, Pinterest is the app you want to have. There are many helpful tips to guide you in understanding all fields of psychology. If you are looking for information on mental disorders, there are many articles and pamphlets containing pictures and bullets describing specific mental illnesses. If you are looking for ideas for treatment, there are many posts describing helpful plans and tactics. But most importantly, if you are concerned about your own mental health, whether it be stress or illness, there are plenty of very helpful tips and practices that can bring your mind to a more stable and pleasant state.

Tech blog 1

A great app that I like and use daily is the Twitter app. Twitter is a social media platform where one can post pictures, videos, and text posts under 140 characters. The purpose of Twitter is for people to connect and stay updated on each other’s lives. But Twitter is really much more than that. It is a way for people to share their thoughts, beliefs and ideas, relate to one another, and voice their opinions. For someone in my field of study, psychology, Twitter is the entrance into a world of endless opportunities for observing human behavior. 

Twitter is an extremely useful tool for conducting social experiments. For example, say psychologists want to find out which form of advertising for animal welfare works most effectively. They create a twitter account for a local animal shelter. First, they post a tweet with the picture of a healthy and happy puppy, and the caption “Please adopt!” Then, they post a tweet with the picture of a newly rescued and malnourished puppy, with the same caption: “Please adopt!” By monitoring the favorites, retweets and responses these tweets receive, the psychologists can determine which tweet gets the most attention and produces the most emotionally-charged response. Psychologists can take the results of this experiment and determine whether the positive use of pathos or the negative use of pathos is more effective in attracting people’s attention to an advertisement.