How the Internet Has Changed Us - Case Study Example

Section/# Better or Worse: A Study into How the Internet Has Changed Us An inarguable fact concerning the recent past is the fact that a great degree of internet profusion into daily life has defined the past few decades. Whether one considers the progression between landline telephones, pagers, car phones, and eventually mobile communications and PDAs, such as are exhibited within the modern era, or whether one considers the growth and development of the microchip from what it was merely 30 years ago and to what it has become today, it is clear and obvious that technological change permeates nearly every aspect of the modern world in which we live. The intent of this brief analysis will be to understand whether or not the way in which humanity currently interacts with the internet is on the whole helpful or harmful – or whether it exhibits key aspects of what can be understood to be an unhealthful and addictive relationship of dependence. Through such an analysis, this student would like to engage the reader with information concerning how individuals must engage in definitive forms of action in order to ensure that subsequent generations do not grow up to become zombie-like internet addicts with poor communication skills and poorly socialized. As such, even though the intended audience is informed of the content and the relevant factors, the discussion will focus upon re-presenting this informative and persuasive information. Firstly, it does not take a great deal of analytical or scientific discovery to realize that the way in which technology and the internet has reshaped and re-classified our world. Moreover, a sociological analysis into the way in which technology has shifted interpersonal dynamics, relationships, and communication has been conducted by a variety of researchers and convincingly pointed to the fact that the current era of texting, instant messaging, Facebook et al. has significantly decreased the amount of time that individuals spend in face-to-face communication and has moved society convincingly towards something of a more introverted nature. Although introversion in and of itself is not necessarily a poor character trait, it must be noted that the overuse and reliance upon these technological tools which have already been discussed has created a dynamic by which formerly extroverted individuals are merely introverted and carrying out a great deal of interpersonal communication that one might otherwise carry out face-to-face via the Internet or other technologically enabled means (Lin et al. 743). However, communication is not the only thing that suffers from an overdependence upon technology. This increase in virtual communication and decrease in inter-personal/face to face communication has meant that individuals are increasingly uncomfortable to communicate in traditional ways. Accordingly, one of the most negative impacts that technological profusion within society has been able to effect is the decreased ability of individuals to relate to one another Carr 28). As one might expect, although this impacts upon all stakeholders within society, the extent to which it impacts upon the younger generation is more profound; as these individuals are the demographic that spends the largest percentage of their time online. Another negative impact that the technological profusion and web addiction has effected within the younger generation is the fact that levels of short term memory have been impacted negatively. As such, the ability and recall rates for information such as capitals of states, a rough understanding and appreciation for the order and number of presidents, how many chromosomes exists in human DNA, who the first woman in space was, for the year in which the state of Israel was created are being lost (Sahin et al. 15). As can be seen, there is something to be said for the amount of memory recall that individual can possess and leverage as a means of readily interjecting key understandings and tidbits of fact, data, and history into conversations and pertinent situations. However, with an overdependence upon technology has, situation in which individuals have placed this premium of memory and recall far down on the list of priorities; choosing instead to merely “Google that” or “look that up”. Whereas the two previous factors which a been discussed, the level to which sociological and communication norms and mores have been shifted as a result of internet overdependence and the means by which memory recall and previously understood information has been harmed as a result of technological overdependence, the third issue which will be discussed will focus mainly upon the means by which technological overdependence/reliance/addiction has begun to show signs with regards to psychological factors that are exhibited within the general population. Although this closely mirrors the means by which sociological and cultural factors are exhibited, it is in fact in and of itself a different metric and determinant (Chew et al. 1621). One does not need to perform an in depth a sociological or psychological evaluation to see the impacts that technological overdependence has had upon an individual stakeholder in society with regards to the overall amount of time that they spend immersed and technology to realize that this has become a very clear and present side effects of the way in which technology exists and is utilized within the modern world. There are of course opposing viewpoints that point to the fact that the internet has greatly improved the overall quality of life and availability of information. Due to the fact that it is impossible for any one individual to know and remember all things at one time, individuals who ascribe to this particular understanding of the weakness of the aforementioned theory point to the fact that technology is actually working hand in glove with human constraints and seeking to maximize overall potential (Frangos et al. 56). By the same token, those individuals that see technology and the means by which humans integrate with it within the current era as the overall net positive also seek to point to the fact that individuals spending a greater amount of time with technology is merely due to the fact that technology has made it possible for them to have such extent and available time in the first place. Additionally, the use and dependence upon aspects of communication such as texting, instant messaging, and social media are viewed not as a net negative; rather, they are viewed as proof that technology has enabled people to keep in contact with more individuals and maintain close relationships that they would have been able to had it not existed within the first place. Though these viewpoints are at least somewhat salient, it must be understood by the reader that they are incomplete with regards to explaining the issues and drawbacks that have been explained in great detail in the first portion of this analysis. Due to the fact that human nature is naturally addictive to many types of behavior, technology has provided yet another means by which this addictive nature can be evidenced within society. To be fair, technology has been both a great benefit and an overall drawback with regards the way in which human behavior and development has taken place over the past several decades. Rather than stating categorically that technology, as is evidenced within the current world invariably leads to a degree of overdependence, a far better handle with which to understand and leverage technology would be to define it as a useful tool that holds within it, as do so many other tools, the ability to become addictive and redefine the way in which the human interacts with the world. Ultimately, the internet addiction that has so often been witnessed throughout the world diminishes the level and extent to which the individual suffering from it can integrate with the outside world. As youth is ultimately a period of great learning, education, and experience, the harm that internet addiction can provide is detrimental with regards to the way in which the individual might be able to communicate with their fellow friends and stakeholders within society. As such, it is incumbent upon individuals to safeguard the amount of time that they spend online and keep a keen eye out for any signs that internet addiction, in any form or manifestation, might be taking place. Works Cited Carr, Nicholas G. The shallows : what the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print. Kok-Wai Chew, et al. "Religiosity, Adolescent Internet Usage Motives And Addiction." Information, Communication & Society16.10 (2013): 1619-1638. Business Source Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Lin, Min-Pei, Huei-Chen Ko, and Jo Yung-Wei Wu. "Prevalence And Psychosocial Risk Factors Associated With Internet Addiction In A Nationally Representative Sample Of College Students In Taiwan." Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking 14.12 (2011): 741-746. Business Source Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Sahin, S., K. Ozdemir, and A. Unsal. "Evaluation Of The Relationship Between Internet Addiction And Depression In University Students." Medicinski Glasnik / Medical Gazette 18.49 (2013): 14-27. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Read More