Impact of Technological Developments on Peoples Health - Essay Example

Impact of Technological Developments on People’s Health Over the past 30 years, technology has had various effects on human health, both positive and negative ones. A few areas in technology such as medical technology, Internet technology, and biotechnology, have enhanced human life and health. Examples of these are minimally invasive surgeries, control of infectious diseases by drugs, remote medical systems, electronic health records, creation of insulin, and increased food production. Technological developments have also had adverse effects on people’s health, such as contributing to mental and physical illnesses, creating the “superbug,” increasing the risk of infectious diseases, and causing allergic reactions. Therefore, to a large extent, technological developments have not only had positive effects on human health but there have been negative effects as well. Advances in medical technology have played a huge role in increasing the quality of care and life of patients. Minimally invasive surgeries are basically those surgeries done with a very small incision, or no incision at all. An example of this can be lithotripsy, which mashes kidney and bile stones by using shock waves. Such minimally invasive surgeries have made the experience less traumatic for patients and have reduced the time usually taken for recovery. Therefore, apart from making patients go through less pain, minimally invasive surgeries make it quicker for the patient to return to his or her normal life. Moreover, they improve longevity and diminish morbidity. Besides, it is important to control or prevent infectious or dangerous diseases such as HIV/AIDS, end-stage renal disease, heart disease and diabetes. Owing to major technological advances, new categories of drugs are available. These drugs relieve pain and suffering caused by certain diseases by stabilizing chronic conditions and improving many people’s quality of life. As a result of this modern treatment, HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence anymore, but a chronic disease (Shi and Singh 103–118). On the other hand, medical technology has had some pretty bad impacts on the physical as well as mental health of humans. Plastic surgery, which is known to be adopted by people who want to change their physical features (or only a part of thereof), has adverse psychological effects on its patients. For instance, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is an obsession one has with one’s appearance, where the offending body part is constantly changed till it interferes with other aspects of one’s life. Other psychological issues regarding plastic surgery involve depression, hostility against the surgeon, isolation from society, and problems with one’s family. Besides plastic surgery, another technological development in the medical field has increased the risk to human health: the constant use of antibiotics to treat illnesses has resulted in the development of a new strain of bacteria. This type of bacteria is potentially fatal because of its resistance to all kinds of antibiotics ever made, causing it to be known as the “superbug.” It has also been said that the appearance of such a strain of bacteria could result in the end of the antibiotics era. Therefore, this is another area where medical technological development has been unable to improve human health (BBC News; Dittmann). Internet technology has become an essential part of human health care delivery. It is a well-known fact that people living in rural areas have difficulty in accessing medical care. However, Internet technology such as mobile devices and video conferencing allow patients to contact doctors who are geographically remote from them. Through certain mobile health applications, patients can ask the doctor detailed questions about certain illnesses and can get examined and diagnosed by the doctor due to the possibility of “virtual visits.” What is more, some clinical information systems even provide patients with a list of medical symptoms and possible treatments. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) take the place of traditional paper records. They allow doctors to access individual records on the Internet from many independent and interoperable systems within an electronic network. A normal EHR system consists of four basic components: compilation and storage of health information on separate patients over time; easy electronic access to that information by authorized users; availability of knowledge and decision support that improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care; and maintenance of efficient processes for patient care delivery. Doctors can even remotely consult with specialists in urban systems regarding treatment of certain problems. Therefore, EHRs give fast and reliable information necessary to help clinical decision making and to come up with timely reports on the value of care delivered (West 7; Shi and Singh 106–107). Then again, constant exposure to the computer can result in additional health problems. Spending a lot of time on the computer can cause various physical discomforts such as dry eyes, sleep disturbances, strained vision, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, severe headaches caused by backache and neck pain, and significant gain or loss of weight. It can also lead to a health disorder known as computer /Internet addiction (IAD). This controls a number of impulse-control problems such as information overload due to excessive web surfing, addiction to off-line computer games, and compulsive Internet-related actions (online gaming, gambling, and excessive use of auction sites). This can lead to people putting less effort or lower productivity in work, and becoming isolated from their friends and family. Additionally, Internet addiction can result in cybersex addiction and cyber-relationship addiction, which can cause adverse impacts on real-life intimate relationships and choosing online friends over real-life family and friends. People can also lose their complete track of time due to being engrossed in the Internet, and therefore face difficulties in completing tasks at home or at work. Teenagers and children are at a more risk than adults to becoming victims of IAD (Saisan et al.). The last impact of developments in technology to be discussed in this paper is biotechnology. Advances in biotechnology are first seen in the areas of medicine and health care, the biggest example of which is the synthesis of insulin. Before the late twentieth century, insulin used by diabetics was taken from the pancreas of cows and pigs. Later on, advances in biotechnology allowed the gene for human insulin to be isolated from those pancreases and cloned into microorganisms. These microorganisms were then grown and cultured through fermentation, resulting in the availability of genetically engineered human insulin which was identical to the normal human insulin. Therefore, use of this insulin by diabetics decreased the side effects normally caused by animal insulin. Apart from synthesizing insulin, biotechnology has contributed to increasing the productivity of crops and, thus, the amount of food globally. It has achieved this by retrieving disease resistance genes from other species and transferring them to important crops. Certain genes from drought-resistant plants have also been taken and relocated to crucial crops. This causes crops to be protected from various diseases and has made them more tolerant to droughts. More developments in biotechnology include enhanced crop protection, upgrade of food processing, and advantages to developing countries. For instance, some plants have been genetically engineered to kill insects which eat them. A bacterium has been genetically engineered to increase supply and yield of cheese, and nutrition-rich “golden rice” has been made available in poor countries (Wieczorek 2–3; Smith 10). In contrast, biotechnology also has some negative effects on human health. The eating of genetically engineered food products has resulted in allergies and spread of toxins in humans. People who have food allergies go through a strange immune reaction when exposed to certain kinds of proteins. These proteins are called allergens, and people with food allergies only react to a few allergens in one or two specific foods. A major safety issue regarding biotechnology is the chance of allergens and/or toxins being transferred to foods derived from genetically engineered crops. Toxins which end up in such foods are also harmful to human health. Another health issue regarding genetically engineered foods is the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. These genes are normally used to make sure whether the desired gene is transferred to the concerned plant, and therefore end up in plants. This can result in the transfer of the antibiotic resistance gene from plants to bacteria, therefore creating diseases in humans which cannot be treated by these antibiotics. Cloning is also an area of biotechnology which poses a threat to human health. Apart from loss of biodiversity, the development of recombinant DNA and reverse transcriptase (and the introduction of the genetically altered viral genome into mammalian cells) can cause the production of viruses. Since this process was carried out, infections have been found in the family of the genetically altered animals, which can cause a threat to it spreading to humans (Wieczorek 4–5; Racaniello). Advances in medical technology, Internet technology, and biotechnology have had both positive and negative impacts on human health. Even though medical technology has resulted in better quality of health care due to minimally invasive surgeries and drug treatment, plastic surgery and excessive use of antibiotics have had the opposite result. Internet technology has improved global access to medical care and medical information. However, excessive use of the Internet can result in Internet addiction disorder, which has a bad impact on people’s health. Besides this, biotechnology has increased the yield of food and helped in the development of medical technology. In contrast, cloning and food derived from genetically engineered foods can harm one’s health. Works Cited BBC News. “Superbug beats Superdrug.” BBC. 1999. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. . Dittmann, Melissa. Plastic Surgery: Beauty or Beast? American Psychological Association. 2005. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep05/surgery.aspx. Racaniello, Vincent. “Infectious DNA Clones.” Virology Blog about Viruses and Viral Disease. 12 Feb. 2009. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. . Saisan Joanna, Melinda Smith, Lawrence Robinson, and Jeanne Segal. Internet and Computer Addiction. HelpGuide.org., 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. Shi, Leiyu, and Douglas A. Singh. Essentials of the U.S. Health Care System. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Print. Smith, John E. Biotechnology. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. West, Darrell. “How Mobile Devices Are Transforming Healthcare.” Issues in Technology Innovation 18 (2012). Web. 26 Apr. 2013. . Wieczorek, Ania. Use of Biotechnology in Agriculture: Benefits and Risks. Honolulu, Hawaii: Cooperative Extension Service, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. . Read More