Phenomenon and Behavior Now and in the Future - Assignment Example

Phenomenon and Behavior Now and in the Future Society sets the standards of what is normal and what is abnormal. Society has an already laid out plan of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Whatever is acceptable is deemed as normal while whatever is not acceptable is deemed as abnormal. Whatever is normal conforms to the most common behavior of the society in question. In its simplest form, normalcy is seen as good while abnormality is seen as bad. The determining of normalcy and abnormality has social ramifications, which include being seen as part of the society or being excluded or stigmatized by the same society (Smoller, 2012). Understanding that society is dynamic, meaning that it does not always remain the same throughout the years is important. This will bring to the realization of people that whatever society determines as normal will some day in the future be deemed as abnormal while whatever is determined as abnormal can change to be very normal in the future. This means that the social norms will change in the society say 25 to 100 years to come. Very many phenomenon and behaviors will change from being currently considered as normal to being considered as abnormal in the future. This will also be the case with currently considered abnormal phenomenon or behavior turning out to be normal in the future. Therefore, this paper will compare some of the phenomenon or behavior in the present 2015 and in the future 2040 to 2115. I shall deal with the prisons phenomenon, the education phenomenon, tolerating poverty, language use, the behavior of queuing for goods and services and finally privacy. In the first part, I shall handle the normal things turning out to be abnormal in the future. Looking at the current prisons system sends a chill down one’s spine. Imprisonment is a normal phenomenon currently where the state has little or no alternatives to it (Tonry, 2004). Criminal behaviors are tried in the court system. If the convicts are found guilty, they end up in prison. This is where all judicial systems believe punishment for wrongdoing can be achieved. The main aim is to reform the criminals into becoming good law-abiding citizens. In the future, an alternative might be found far different from the current ones which include house arrest, electronic monitoring among others. The prisons of the future may aim at completely different alternatives of regular imprisonment. Predictions are that innovative prison options for the future will be developed. Countries will come together and share their experiences with the current prison system and viewing it as ineffective, will come up with a different system. This will be through a basis of participatory policy analysis method combining scientific insights and subjective tactic knowledge. Prisons of the future will most likely look like campuses, hospitals, and homes. Prisoners will undergo corrective education system, not be congested and certainly not be mixed up together concerning the crime committed. These changes in the prison system will be beneficial since prison will obviously not be as cruel as it is today offering inmates maximum opportunity to learn new things and fully reform (Tonry, 2004). The other phenomenon is education. It is normal in the current education to follow a syllabus and even use technological gadgets in the education process. This is advancement enough, one may think. The only problem is that in 40 or more years to come, this will simply be abnormal. With the technological advancements predicted by the curriculum developers, who will offer new curricula that will effectively employ technology in education, preparing students to be productive members of the global workforce (The abnormal is normal, 2007). It will not only be enough for students to have tablets, but a completely new array of educational gadgets. This will help students retain more content and feel excited to learn new things daily with the assistance of technology. Queuing is considered normal in our offices, malls, and even social gatherings. Individuals who do not get in the queues as they wait for services are considered abnormal in the sense that they lack social courtesy and patience. This could die out very soon thanks to the internet of things which will connect us with what we want to buy, how we choose to pay for it and even how it is delivered without having to wait in line for it. Though there are attempts to achieve this currently, it is not widely spread to all goods and services providers but I am sure in that future we envision total transformation in the sector with absolutely no queues anywhere. Queuing will be a historical phenomenon which the children of the future will not even be able to describe since they will have seen it nowhere (Loomis & Taylor, 2002). Purchase of goods and services will not even require any communication with a human being. An example is where one’s fridge is connected to the internet and so are the shelves at a grocery store. Therefore, no need to go and buy groceries when they are over in the fridge, just punching some numbers on your fridge, making a request for what is needed and then it is delivered. This change will be very time efficient leaving people to perform other pressing duties with their time. It will also bring about customer satisfaction where there is no fatigue from standing in lines and one gets what he or she ordered for since machines have very little error margins (Atchariyachanvanich et al., 2008). All this different human behaviors and phenomenon are considered normal in this year of 2015 with hardly anyone ever noting that they should be changed. However, they have already been added to Cisco’s Museum of Lasts, their inconveniences set to be killed off by technology. The language used nowadays especially by the youths is considered abnormal. There is this completely new fascination with the use of short forms and slang all over the internet. The youth are communication faster on social media when they do not follow the rules of grammar and basic sentence construction. Teachers and parents are constantly frustrated as they keep asking them to use proper language to no avail. They consider the youth as weird and abnormal and cannot understand the language they are using (Social Trends, 2010). Over the years, language has drastically changed with the masses slowly adapting to the changes groups of individuals perform on it. Due to this historical evidence on the nature of language use being dynamic, the future language will also be quite different but normal to those living in the era. This change may be slow, but it is due to happen. Looking at the changes in language use currently, with slang being familiar and more convenient, there is no doubt that it is only a matter of time before a completely new language of use is adapted. This adaptation will not be a good thing. My reason is that the proper language of use will lose its meaning and be forgotten and for those who are its native speakers, this will be some loss of identity and culture being forced to pick up new ones (Social Trends, 2010). Quality health provision is currently an abnormal behavior. This is because human beings lack the necessary personnel and finances to promote the perfect health of its citizens. This is why you will find nations trying to aim at development in those parts of them experiencing communicable infections. Other countries even from different continents also provide aid caring for their needy neighbors. Those who do not engage in these acts are deemed to love being poor and can even be isolated by the others. In the future, this will most likely not be the case since most countries, according to their development rates, will have gained economic security and formulated ways of assisting their citizens in times of need. This will be good since quality medical health provision makes a country’s workforce healthy and able to work increasing development (Kim & Chan, 2013). The last issue I shall discuss is privacy. People consider exposing personal information and having a large number of people knowing about their business as abnormal. This is why even as one looks into other people’s social media accounts and chats; they have given very little information about their real self. They do not desire an intimacy with the public audience. In the future, this is expected to change. This is most likely because it will be normal for personal and intimate information about people being available online since they will be spending much of their time online. It will be normal and it will not be seen as being nosey when one gathers information about others online. People will share with the public what goes on in their lives without being worried. This change is not extremely good since people deserve privacy and should determine how much of their personal information is available to complete strangers on the internet. This is important especially for safety and security reasons (Van Rooy & Bus, 2010). In conclusion, it is noticeable that most changes will be brought by the internet, which is the world’s most important tool for change in the world. Embracing technology will make the world a global village and since that will be a society on its own with its population, there will be some social norms for the population to conform to. These social norms will determine what is normal from what is abnormal just like in our current societies (McCain & Jukes, 2001).The probability of normalcy changing is very high and what people can do is brace themselves for the changes accepting them and working towards thriving in that society. The future will not be like today in very many aspects just as the past is not like today. Times have to move on and society has to change in the process. Social change is inevitable. References Atchariyachanvanich, K., Okada, H., and Sonehara, N. (2008). Exploring Factors Affecting the Continuance of Purchasing Behavior in Internet Shopping: Extrinsic Benefits and Intrinsic Benefits. IPSJ Digital Courier, 4, 91-102. doi:10.2197/ipsjdc.4.91 Kim, J., and Chan, M. (2013). Poverty, Health, and Societies of the Future. JAMA, 310(9), 901. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.276910 Loomis, D., and Taylor, L. (2002). Forecasting the Internet. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers. McCain, T., and Jukes, I. (2001). Windows on the future. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. Smoller, J. W. (2012). The other side of normal: How biology is providing the clues to unlock the secrets of normal and abnormal behavior. Social Trends - past, present, future. (2010). Social Trends, 40(1), xxvii-xxvii. doi:10.1057/st.2010.3 The Abnormal is Normal. (2007). Monographs of The Society For Research In Child Development, 72(3), 60-66. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.2007.00442.x Tonry, M. (2004). The future of imprisonment. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Van Rooy, D., and Bus, J. (2010). Trust and privacy in the future internet” a research perspective. IDIS, 3(2), 397-404. doi: 10.1007/s12394-010-0058-7 Read More