Impact of Telephone Technology on Society - Research Paper Example

Impact of Telephone Technology on Society Introduction In 1876 when Alexander Graham devised telephone, he never knew the level to which the invention was to revolutionize our society for eras and eras to come. Alexander`s intent was simply to produce a garget that could make it easier to communicate across great distances. His discovery simply did more than he anticipated: it totally transformed the world. Since the discovery of the telephone technology, our society has been economically, socially, and politically transformed. This paper scrutinizes all these impacts alongside its impact on health. Social impact Telephone has modified how we convey our affection and relationships with family, close friends, and spouses. Howard (2011) argues that his technology promise a broader social network since over half of an individual`s average calls or texts reach more than six different people. The telephone technology was the first kind of communication channel to allow people maintain their relationships even when they are across borders. Because of this garget our social network and fabric have been improved. We have never consider the level of social comfort this technology has brought in our lives. However, it`s worth mentioning that this technology has both good and bad impacts on our social life. It affect our social lives in so many ways that we might not even know. For instance, consider a teen whose moral values deteriorates by watching pornographic movies over his mobile telephone. The teen does not need to visit a cyber café or time when the parents are not home and watch the movie. He can simply use his phone to watch such staffs. Several uncensored contents that are detrimental to the society`s social fabric can be accessed via mobile telephone. The largest social influence of the telephone technology was its impact on rural life. Isolated farm or areas became “reachable”. The advantage was that communication was made efficient and loneliness for rural dwellers or farmer’s wife was reduced (Howard, 2011, pg. 63). To be specific party line, for instance, became the first conference telephone call that farmers and rural dwellers used to hold community meetings in specific days. The telephone also offer security and is useful, up-to-date, in emergency situations. It functions like a security mechanism that keeps criminals away and illuminate criminal activities in dankness. That is, criminals know that with telephone technology, their crime activities can be reported to the authority just by a telephone call. Economic impact Telecommunications sector still offers extraordinary opportunities for developmental and economic growth in developed and even developing markets. Telephone services is currently an essential part that dictates how economies function or work. In developed markets, present years have been characterize by unprecedented usage of mobile data services that are accessed through tablets, smartphones, and dongles. It is definite that mobile data has altered consumer expectations regarding wireless services and has renovated the way individuals connect and work; which is a potential factor that can improve economic development. Specifically, the upsurge in 3G connections, sustained by the production of the current data-enabled devices which permit mobile internet connectivity, caused a huge growth in mobile data use. Currently, an examination of the economic influence of this technological transformation has been restricted by data availability. However, Van (2012) used VNI Index data of Cisco for 14 nations to investigate this concern and he found a strong relationship existed between economic growth and mobile data usage per 3G connection. Van also asserts that doubling the use of mobile data causes the GDP per capita to increase by 0.5 percentage points. Although the effects of telephone have fully been realized in developed markets, telephone technology continues to offer strongly assist developing markets. Issa, Isaias & Kommers (2013) who measured the influence of ‘simple’ telephone penetration on Total Factor Productivity of a nation – a parameter of economic productivity which always reflects the technological dynamism of an economy – found out that an increase of 10% in telephone penetration upsurges Total Factor Productivity by 4.2% in long run. Telephone technologies add considerably to GDP growth. It is projected that the technology will occasion a 1.8% GDP growth in UK and 24.9% GDP growth in Egypt across 2010-2020. Again, Issa, Isaias & Kommers (2013) claim that the impact will be great in developing nations. They claim that the impact of increasing phone subscriptions, across 10 nations, on GDP growth are all positive over the period 2010-2020. Phones enable fresh applications and services that offer opportunities for people to generate income. Moreover, the access to data and improved communication via phone communication simplifies coordination that in turn results in gains in productivity. Telephone also allow instant responses to crises which when neglected may cause destruction of machinery or crops. In practice, telephone fill the gap which other poor infrastructure in most countries neglect. As such, it is not shocking that several innovations linked to phones are embraced more rapidly in developing nations. Telephones are also normally the first and single way of communication minus traveling under difficult situations. In developed nations, there are smaller influence for telephone subscriptions on GDP growth. The effects are possibly less pronounced in these nations due to negligible growth in telephone subscriptions. Political impact It is evident that governors and powerful politicians make use of telephone when making significant decisions regarding the state of their nation.  This is because communication via the telephone guarantee more privacy since it offers anonymity that is deprived of written records or even documentation. For example, presidential campaign of Obama in U.S. gave another instance of the transformative influence of the telephone technology. The campaign mobilized the public via the web since the public were accessible to internet-enabled phone. This managed to repress the anti-democratic influence of cash in the electoral system. The Supreme Court of United States passed a verdict that contributions of political campaign was a kind of speech which could not be restricted. The ruling incapacitated the democrats` ability to control the influence of money in American politics. However, the use of web facilitated by phone technology enabled other political parties to raise campaign money; something which first became prominence during the presidential campaign of Howard Dean but was elevated to the art form in the presidential campaign of Obama. The influence the web has on political mobilization has been made even easier by telephone technology. The web and phones enhance the dimension of political know-how; phones facilitates the use of internet as an interactive media. Moreover, aside from the images accessible through the web, phones allows individuals to speedily spread information, ideas and coordinate political protest. Telephone technology has proven that information can get to the society and from the society as well.  Consider the case of Iran where no one is able to predict what will happen in future or the immediate end result of that conflict.  Nonetheless, something is happening in politics. And right now, the world is witnessing how the Iranian citizen’s belief in justice and truth, and world will continue bearing witness even to other nations facing political turmoil. In the previous two years, there has been a transformative influence of the telephone technology in Iran. Instead of a few photographers hiding in order to capture political images in Iran, we now witness many individuals in the street with phones capturing high quality photos and videos of state oppression (Chong &Yahya, 2014, pg. 48). Each day the images from Iran emerge with graphic feature on our screens. All these are powered by telephone technology. The gains from a world that has no privacy can very well emanate from a world that has no secrecy. Observing the mass movement toward democracy, aided by telephone technology, in Iran over previous years has been alternately terrifying and inspiring at the same time. Today, something is distinct about political participation and that something is telephone technology. Health impact Regarding the health impact, several studies have been conducted over the previous two decades to ascertain whether telephones have a probable health risk. Presently, no serious health impact have been recognized as being initiated by phone use. However, we argue in terms of long-term and short-term impacts as follows: i. Short-term impact A short term impact would be tissue heating, which is the prime mechanism in which radiofrequency energy interact with human body. The frequencies utilized by phones have a considerable part of the energy absorbed through the skin and even other superficial tissues. This causes a negligible temperature increase in human brain or other body organs. Various studies have inspected the impact radiofrequency fields have on human brain`s electrical activity, heart rate, sleep, blood pressure and cognitive function in volunteers. However, the research does not submit any reliable evidence of serious health impact from radiofrequency fields’ exposure at other than tissue heating. Moreover, research did not provide enough evidence for a causal association between electromagnetic fields` exposure and “electromagnetic hypersensitivity” or self-reported symptoms. ii. Long-term impact As for the health effects in long-term, epidemiological research has tried to investigate a probable long-term risks occasioned by radiofrequency exposure by mostly examining a relationship between telephone use and brain tumors. However, since most cancers are not noticeable until several years of interactions by what caused the tumor, and because telephones were not extensively in use until late1980s, epidemiological research at present might only evaluate those cancers which become noticeable within shorter periods. Nevertheless, findings on animal studies steadily reveal no augmented cancer risk for radiofrequency fields` exposure in long-term. Several big multinational epidemiological research have been accomplished or are uncompleted, including prospective cohort studies and case-control research investigating various health endpoints in humans. According to Chong &Yahya (2014) the biggest retrospective case-control research on human was designed to ascertain whether links between telephones usage and neck and head cancers exist in adults. Analysis of data collected from 13 participating nations found no significant risk of meningioma or glioma with telephone use of over 10 years. Based on these findings radiofrequency electromagnetic fields were classified as probably carcinogenic to people (Group 2B), a group used if a causal relationship is perceived credible, but then again when chance or bias cannot be omitted with reasonable confidence. Whereas an augmented risk of tumors in the brain is not well-known, the increasing telephones use and inadequate data for telephone usage over periods of more than 15 years deserve further studies on brain cancer risk and telephone use. Conclusion This paper has mentioned that Alexander Graham did not expect his discovery of telephone will have much influence on the society. Alexander never knew the level to which the invention was to revolutionize our society for eras and eras to come. His concern was simply to produce a garget that could make it easier to communicate across great distances. His discovery simply did more than he anticipated: it totally transformed the world. Since the discovery of the telephone technology, our society has been economically, socially, and politically transformed. This paper scrutinizes all these impacts alongside its impact on health. Telephone technology offers extraordinary opportunities for developmental and economic growth in developed and even developing markets. Telephone services is currently an essential part that dictates how economies function or work. In developed markets, present years have been characterize by unprecedented usage of mobile data services that are accessed through tablets, smartphones, and dongles. It is definite that mobile data has altered consumer expectations regarding wireless services and has renovated the way individuals connect and work; which is a potential factor that can improve economic development. Politically speaking, powerful politicians make use of telephone when making significant decisions regarding the state of their nation.  This is because communication via the telephone guarantee more privacy since it offers anonymity that is deprived of written records or even documentation. The web and phones enhance the dimension of political know-how; phones facilitates the use of internet as an interactive media. Moreover, aside from the images accessible through the web, phones allows individuals to speedily spread information, ideas and coordinate political protest. Telephone technology has proven that information can get to the society and from the society as well.  The paper has also recognized that no serious health impact have been recognized as being initiated by phone use. However, we have argued in terms of long-term and short-term health impacts. References Howard, M. C. (2011). Transnationalism and society: An introduction. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co. In Chong, A., & In Yahya, F. (2014). State, society and information technology in Asia: Alterity between online and offline politics. Issa, T., Isaias, P., & Kommers, P. A. M. (2013). Information systems and technology for organizations in a networked society. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Van, Z. P. (2012). Current trends in technology and society. Brisbane, Qld: Primrose Hall. Read More