Over Dependence on Technology: Socio-Ethical Issues - Essay Example

? Over Dependence on Technology: Socio-ethical Issues Assignment) Introduction The modern society is alarmed at the speed at which modern technology, especially computer, invades their workplace and personal life. One can undoubtedly say that computer has become an inevitable part of workplace these days. Obviously, the present trend is to do ones work partially or fully from home using computer. Admittedly, telecommuting has a lot of advantages; firstly, there is no need of an expensive office in the downtown, no tiring traffic jam of the office-going hours, no hurried breakfasts in the morning and most importantly, no threatening eyes of the supervisor that make you sweat. However, there are number of adverse effects of this trend, though only visible in the long term. Less communication leading to isolation One would easily assume that working from home using computer helps reduce wastage of time on travel to and fro. However, it also means that people no longer interact with others in the community. In other words, when someone works from home using computer, he shrinks into his own private world and does not get any chance to interact with other people, even the people next door. In simple words, it leads to alienation of individuals in the society. As Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark et al (1998) state man is a social animal that requires constant socialization, the absence of which will lead to many physical and mental illnesses which are seem to be increasing in the present world. For example, the increasing levels of stress related problems are attributed directly to the modern working culture, and thus to the use of computer that restricts social interaction (Kraut et al). This, in turn, will lead to problems like high blood pressure. These issues are accompanied by all those problems which are associated with sedentary jobs in general starting from obesity. In addition, computer can be termed an asocial means of communication. The normal way of communication people have is to spend more time with ones friends and family and less time with strangers. However, computer altered this concept totally. Now, people prefer to spend more time with strangers whom they meet on the net and less time their near and dear ones. In other words, the entertainment offered by computer is totally asocial in nature. Impact of telecommuting on family Family, as the basic unit of society, requires proper attention and is the sphere where telecommuting has the greatest impact. To begin with, it is a common concept that when one works from home, he would get more time to interact with his family, thus leading to an improvement in familial relations. According to many, it also provides time flexibility. However, in practice, what is seen is quite contradictory in nature. People often tend to spend more time on work than their usual working hours thus reducing the time spent on social interactions. In addition, there is more possibility of their work spillover affecting their family relations and family situations can affect the quality of their work. In addition, working from home takes away the usual concepts of weekend holidays and other free times and thus, instead of helping the people have more freedom, it only adds to their tension as many a time, working independently involves more care and responsibility than working under supervision. Effect on the quality of work It is often found that telecommuting seriously affects the quality of work done by employees. There are various reasons behind this fall. First of all, the raw recruits are denied the chance to interact with the more experienced ones who might be happy sharing their work-related experiences over a cup of coffee. In the office culture, a junior may get a ridiculously simple solution for a jargon nagging him for many days from a senior who had such experiences in the past. In addition, for bosses, it provides a chance to give a warning to an employee who errs very often. In fact, work-related knowledge grows only through sharing except for the so called stereotypical academics who invent things from vacuum. However, in the absence of a chance to interact with other people in the same profession, in the absence of a competitive spirit, it is highly likely that the quality of work will go down. According to Johnson (2001, pp. 9-10), even in traditional office settings, it is very common for employees to engage in unethical practices like visiting porn sites and downloading unpardonable materials. Then, when they are allowed independence, it is possible that the rate of immorality will increase considerable (pp. 9-10). In addition, factors like employee satisfaction will not be measurable altogether. Impact on personal qualities It is quite commonly heard from the older ones that the new generation is growing more and more lazy and disrespectful in nature lacking basic social skills or qualities but very few realizes the role of computer and internet in this issue. As computer became the primary means of communication, it became possible to communicate with anyone anywhere and at any time. Thus, the young ones do not go out and interact with others in the society, thus lacking basic social skills of communication, cooperation, patience and sympathy. Most young people of the new generation possess little knowledge or concern about their social responsibilities. It is evident that these modern day morons lack severely in confidence and are totally unaware about the normal norms of social interaction. According to Jones, internet provides a false feeling of “being” to an isolated individual by ‘lurking on mailing lists, user net newsgroups and relay chat’ thus providing a pseudo social life (Jones, 2002, p. 13). Demise of languages and culture It is a known fact that there are thousands of languages and cultures in the world today and the beauty of world lies in this diversity. However, telecommuting has resulted in the disappearance of many languages and cultures as English dominated as the single most important language. In addition, lack of public interaction of individuals is leading to the disappearance of festivals and many such programs of social involvement. Instead, individuals seem quite happy remaining indoors as they find it easy to have work done online, shopping online, interactions online and thus creating a society in which individuals are always suspicious of each other, unwilling to help each other and most importantly, never ready to interact each other as they feel more comfortable interacting on net. Education and computer Computer has made it possible to study anything from ones home without the aid of a tutor. However, it is pointed out that in this case, the content of motivation and personal support will be totally absent which are two essential things for human beings. In addition, education without ethical education will give birth to knowledge without wisdom which certainly will have serious social implications. According to Pew Internet and American Life Project (Fallows, 2004), a vast majority of Americans consider internet as a major means of entertainment and everyday tasks; and alarmingly, 92% of the users consider use internet as the place for getting everyday information. In total, it becomes evident that though computer added to the comfort of people a lot, it has adverse impact on the existing social norms and values and to protect them, it is necessary to limit the use of computer. In other words, time should be derived for social interaction and relaxation. References Fallows, D. (Aug 11, 2004). The internet and daily life. Many Americans Use internet in everyday activities, but traditional offline habits still dominates. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved 8 Feb 2011 from http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i385e/readings/PIP_Internet_and_Daily_Life.pdf Kraut, K., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukophadhyay, T & Scherila, W. (June 6, 1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reducers social involvement and psychological well-being? Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 8 Feb 2011 from http://paedpsych.jk.uni-linz.ac.at/paedpsych/NETSCHULE/NETSCHULELITERATUR/KRAUTetal98/Krautetal98.html Johnson, N. J. (2001). Telecommuting and virtual offices: issues and opportunities. US: Idea Group Publishing. Jones, S. G. (2002). Virtual culture: identity and communication in cyber society. Sage Publications. Read More