Dangerous Effects of IT Innovation - Essay Example

Do all inventions equate to progress? What are some of the adverse consequences of IT innovations? Introduction “Necessity, who is the mother of invention”, (Plato, The republic.) The innovations can be termed as ideas methods and process that can be termed as different ways of thinking and doing and innovations can be termed as inventions that can be beliefs, organizational methods and discoveries. There has been debate about whether inventions and innovations have led to the progress. In reality invention can be termed as creatively finding a new idea and innovation means the marketing of the invented thing. Right from the alphabets to books to the latest gadget everything has been invention and innovation. Invention and innovation has not been limited to any area. The most important Information Technology innovation has been the internet. It has become the buzz word in all spheres of innovations in the last decade. There have been no second thoughts on the fact that internet has been the easiest and flexible entertainment possible .The ease of operating the internet coupled with the flexibility has made internet a favorite with all age groups and mainly youth. The internet has been used by business people to get the business done more speedily. There are every chance that anything can be done online though the physical presence is not garunteed.The governments all over the world has understood the advantages of internet and has taken all the necessary steps to make it part of their policy making. The convenience that the internet provides can make it as the best bet for the innovation in the Information Technology front. The people from all ranges of ages all over the world access internet. The majority uses the services of internet in the right manner and way and there are many cases where the bad effects of internet are highlighted. Those venturing into the darker sides of internet have been termed as internet addicts. The meaning of the word addict can be termed as a condition of being occupied with something for more hours of time. Alcoholism can be termed as addiction in which the user is addicted to the excessive use of alcohol. The other forms of addiction can be termed as drug addiction, smoking, gambling,watching excessive television programs and so on.There are researches that have led to the belief that internet can be termed as addictive.(Griffith,1995)It is a sort of gambling that can be termed as pathological.(Griffith,1996).There are other opinions to the gambling issue .(Grohol,1997) There has been categories like online chatting, online gaming, online message boards, browsing content having sexual explicit have been identified as dangerous effects of IT innovation. There are many positive effects of computer on a person. This essay tries to highlight the negative effects of IT innovations on a person or a society as a whole. Research Question / Thesis Statement The problem with inventions and innovations lies solely with the user.The good effect of the internet lies with the user. Internet has opened a Pandora of bad effects along with the good effects. The harm lies with the people using it rather than the technology. The Positive Effects of Invention “Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation was denounced as fraud and folly. The entire web of culture and "progress," everything on earth that is man-made and not given to us by nature, is the concrete manifestation of some man`s refusal to bow to Authority. We would own no more, know no more, and be no more than the first apelike hominids if it were not for the rebellious, the recalcitrant, and the intransigent. As Oscar Wilde truly said, "Disobedience was man`s Original Virtue." (Robert Anton Wilson) All inventions can lead to progress in the form of new innovations. The best thing about invention is that it can lead to better and useful varaiation.Pager has been invention that was in use some years before. That was upgraded for mobile and other revolution. The early computers were big in size and the latest have been the laptops. Even laptops have changed for like small notebooks. There has been inventions that has bridged the gap between countires.There has been revolution in manufacturing sectors thanks to inventions and that has created more jobs and more economic conditions for the people. Do all Invention lead to progress? The creation of bomb had led to the wrong progress of the world. The invention of nuclear power has also been used for progress like electricity and that has also been used badly for nuclear weapons. The invention of words and letters has helped to world to progress faster but that has also created the spreading of hatred messages. The telecommunication invention started with telephone and has reached mobile revolution. The use of telephone and mobile has helped to reduce the distance between the countries and that has been misused like terror activities and so on. There use of innovations and inventions to progress depends entirely on the hands of the user. “The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting”. (Dave Barry) The Adverse Effects of the Computer Innovation There are many adverse effects that computer innovation has bought. There is lot of frauds that has been done through innovation. The best of computer innovation can be termed as e-mail. The distance between the worlds has been bought down thanks to the e-mail revolution. But e-mail has been used for creating many frauds. There are many health effects that have come from computer innovation. There are many spinal and eye disease that has been associated with computer. “Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila and hand guns”(“ Mitch Ratcliffe”) Some of the Adverse Consequences of Computer Innovation Withdrawal Syndrome The person withdraws from the immediate environment and starts spending more time in front of the computer. The person may be less socially tolerant to other fellow beings and that can lead to severe depression problems in the later stage of life. The friends are avoided and serious discussions with family members are avoided to get more computer time. The users may be getting more irritated if they start spending more time with friends and that can cause more harm. This excessive use of computer can lead to a situation of emotional toll and the user gets into a situation where by which the user gets withdrawn into artificial world. This can be termed as a case of internet addiction and the user withdraws from the family arena fully. There has been cases of divorces that are recorded due to internet addiction where by which one partner may give preference to internet rather than the other partner and that has been seen as the main cause for divorce.(Sutter,2000).In the professional life, people are more content in exchanging more communication through e-mail and messages are passed on through the mode of chatting reducing the need for personal face-to-face communication. The productive time has also been lost by this method as no one outside may not know that the chat services are being used as there is no voice communication. There have been instances of many persons losing their jobs due to this. The Chat rooms Chat rooms give the additional option of being online anoynomously.That may give the users the courage to act viciously. There has to be lot of emotional and psychological skills needed to be talking in face –to-face like reading and understanding facial cues, understanding body language and so on. These personal skills are still in demand in job market and such places. There is every chance that the depression may follow if the real social self is neglected and the online social self is followed. The chat rooms can be used to spread hatred against a nation and a group and this is the next negative effect.(“Internet Addicts”) The harmful effects on the younger generation especially children can be in the form of decreasing grades and the performance of the child being decreased. There will be every chance that the child may not be pursuing a genuine hobby and that can affect the emotional self of the child. Certain child by using excessive chats can become disobedient which can be stated as a refusal to have food at the right time even if pressed by the parent. There has been research that has proved that children spend more time in front of computers when compared with adults. There has been use of instant messaging by the children more when compared with adults.( Media Awareness,2000) Virtual Pornography There has been increase of virtual pornography due to increased use of computers with web cameras and the technology has become widely available thanks to cheaper wider technology. Large scale distribution and production of child pornographic materials has been happening through internet. The growth of IT innovation has created a situation where by which images are created and there is no chance of knowing the difference between the real image of the person and the manipulated image of the person in one sight. By using this technology of morphing, the manipulated images are spread faster by using e-mails in computer and that has harmed the lives of many persons. (“Negative effect of internet”) There has been reports sales of traditional sex related magazines has been on decline and the sales of sex related videos has been on decline due to increased use of internet for this purpose.The sale of Penthouse magazine has been reported to be low and the figure was once more than 3.5 million sales in the 80s to just to 85000 in the 2000s.The magazine Playboy has been reporting loss of 5.3 millions in the year 2000 and the sales has come down to 12%. The temptation of being involved in the viewing of the pornography has been on rise and that has resulted in making sure that many transactions are being happened through credit card. Computer Gaming The computer gaming has become the well established form of popular entertainment among children and adolescents and even adults. There has been increase of computer game software sales in the year 2002 and it has recorded a growth rate of 8% and the amount has been recorded to 6.9 billion Dollar globally. The Entertainment Software Association,2003 has reported that every household in America was sold at least two games .The computer games have been compelling so that the people may be diverted from the normal activities.( Scott, D )There have been concerns of computer violence in games which should be discussed under the innovation of Information Technology field. The use of vivid graphics and the interactive nature of the games have meant that the violence in the games has become more powerful and vivid. There have been computer games that have been instructive also. The games have been used in educational areas of management, medicine and other fields. Games like SimCity have been famous for developing strategic management tools. There have been reports that persons who played violent games have been tended to show more aggressive behavior to others. The violent games has become the forum for affecting aggression by increasing aggressive thoughts and there are chances of being taken into real life also. News Groups and Communities The news groups are similar to the electrical bulletin board where people join or come together and has the shared interst.The information are exchanged and the files having the common matter are posted and the name of the group indicates the subject matter. There has been increase of pornographic materials in these news groups and images are freely transmitted through this method. Online communities are the name given to newsgroups in recent years and various internet companies has given access to this mode of communication. Instant Messaging The internet concept of instant messaging has made sure that people are given more freedom to say whatever they want and to whoever they want. This can be made into a negative situation where by which the people saying things which they would have avoided in normal circumstances. There is a study on the social self and the ideal self in the case of instant messaging. The experience of instant messaging will not be real when compared with the real life situation. Instant messaging has got negative effects in the form of virtual sex bars where by which the users log in and indulge in sexual acts virtually with a person of choice at remote place. This has become the place for persons who are shy or afraid of having sex in normal circumstances being doing things which they normally do. That has led to more consumption of sex trafficking and since this is through internet, it has been increasing every year. The virtual sex have been found in more times of taking away from the partner through there are occasions where it has been found to increase martial life but in minority .This method of sex has attracted the youngsters and they have been found to be believing that this is the real world and that has been seen to affect the martial life and can lead to divorces later in the life. It has opened another form of communication that can be termed as sexual communication. There have been instances of problems arising when the real is overtaken by the virtual side and that has to be understood in detail. The emotional intimacy will be missing in these type of circumstances and doing more of these type of behavior can lead to severe depression issues later in life. This type of behavior will lead to addict and this type of addict is very difficult to be removed when compared with drug addict because of the fact that the image stays more on the brain and it can lead to a form of emotional cheating on the spouse. The increased bandwidth and the increased use of web camera has created a situation where by more and more users are getting hooked to this type of media.(“Virtual Sex”) The users can get the bad effects like showing more aggression to woman and lessening of sensitivity to the feelings of women. The increased use of this type of medium by the married people can lead to a situation where by which there will be less interested to raise a family having children. There have been chances of increasing sexually abusive to others. There are chances of being satisfied with ones wife and that can lead to increase in divorce.( Gonzo,2009) There has been increase of women and child being used for sex trafficking through these types of medium and that has increased the crime level. The internet has created a medium for sexually exploiting medium though instant messaging was not meant for it. That has been the negative effect of instant messaging.( Gonzo,2009) Conclusion and Recommendation There has been instances that technology, invention and innovation has lead to pogress.Overall, every technology has been misused by persons who take control of it and technology need not be blamed for it. What should be done is to not to stop the progress of invention and innovation. What should be done is to make the laws stricter that the negative effects of technology innovation should be stopped once and for all. Reference Dave Barry, Viewed on May 13, 2009,retrived from http://www.quotelucy.com/quotations/7344/201344-dave-barry-2-quote.html Griffiths, M.D. (1995) ‘Technological addictions’, Clinical Psychology Forum, Vol.76,pp. 14-19. Griffiths, M.D. (1996) Internet ‘addiction’: An issue for clinical psychology? Clinical Psychology Forum, Vol.97, pp.32-36. Grohol, J. M. (1997) What’s normal? How much is too much when spending time online? Viewed on May,12,2009,from www.grohol.com/archives/n100397.htm. Gonzo,2009,”Cleaning of internet”, viewed on May 12,2009, http://www.zenit.org/article-24829?l=english Mitch Ratcliffe,viewed on May ,1,2009 ,retrieved from http://www.quotelucy.com/quotations/7328/205128-mitch-ratcliffe-quote.html “Internet addicts often show disorders”, viewed on May 12,2009,http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9808/30/cyberstudy/ Media-Awareness (2000) ‘Canada’s Children in a Wired World: The Parents’ ,’A Survey of Internet Use in Canadian Families’, Media Awareness ,Vol.20(2),pp. 17–18 “Negative effect of internet”,viewed on May 12,2009, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/45919/negative_effects_of_internet_usage.html?cat=9 Plato, viewed on May 13, 2009, retrived from http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/33942.html Robert Anton Wilson “viewed on May 13,2009, http://www.quotelucy.com/quotations/7346/198646-robert-anton-wilson-quote.html Scott, D. (1995) ‘ The effect of games on feelings of aggression’ The Journal of Psychology, Vol.129,pp. 121-132. Sutter, G. (2000) ‘“Nothing New Under the Sun”: Old Fears and New Media’, International Journal of Law and Information 8(3): 338–78. “Virtual Sex”,viewed on May 12,2009, http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/guide/virtual-sex-threat-to-real-intimacy?page=3 Read More