Is Technology Bad or Good for Us - Essay Example

Technology is bad for us People often discuss how the world was residing in a state of sloth before the industrial revolution came about. What they often neglect to discuss is how much more peace there was in the world prior to this revolution. Before technology started speeding up the lives of people all around the world, the world was in a state of peace and mental relaxation. They had better health from their increased physical exertion and they had more energy from the healthier, fresher food as compared to today. These are only a small fraction of the numerous reasons why technology has been considerably harmful to the lives and wellbeing of the people whom it affects. While it has had a reasonable number of positive effects on the lives of these people also, it seems that if health and the emotional wellbeing of people are priorities for a society, the negative effects outweigh the positive effects. One major reason, which is widely accepted throughout every part of the world, is that the increasing technology is affecting the health of people negatively. This is a fact, which has a significant impact on any country or city, where the people experience a significant influence of technology in their everyday lives. This occurs mainly because technology offers people several alternatives to physical exertion. The people, whose ancestors used to walk for miles to get from any location to the next, have the luxury to drive themselves. This ease has facilitated their lives so much that they hesitate to distances, which require ten-minute walk. Even these ten minutes seem a lot to spare to someone who is living in the fast-moving world of today, a world, which has speeded up immensely due to the rise of technological advancement. Nevertheless, even those people who do not work under the pressure of deadlines and time constraints choose to take this shortcut to travelling, simply because it is the easier, more convenient option. This has led to a very serious problem amongst the people of today, which is obesity and high cholesterol, each of which are avoidable only if one is in the habit of physically exerting themselves daily, whether by exercise, sports or simply walking the distances they need to travel (Kates, Hohenesmer and Kasperson, pp. 402-460). The obesity one sees in the developed countries today is something, which was not so common just a few decades ago. This in itself is proof that technology has had an adverse effect on the wellbeing of people. There are also several other aspects of technology today, which encourage people to choose convenience over hard work, simply due to the ease with which the relevant technology is available. An example of this phenomenon is how people choose to send emails, text messages and call people rather than going to visit them or using a slightly less convenient method of communication, such as writing a letter. This, on the surface of it, is a large advantage of technology, as it is an example of the several ways in which technology makes our lives more efficient and speedy. However, people pay a large price in terms of the negative effect this has on the relationships between people. There was once a time when one would make an effort to meet their family occasionally, if living separately, in order to maintain the relationship, and embellish the bond that exists between them. This has, however, been dismissed from the list of priorities as people have learned to replace a heartfelt meeting with a twenty-minute phone call. The level of intimacy in the interactions has decreased due to this reason, as people do not value meeting in person as much as they used to. Friends, who would keep in touch by meeting occasionally and catching up with each other, are now content with exchanging a few words through text message or Facebook wall posts. One can compare this substitute for live meetings to substituting fresh vegetables for canned food. While the content of both the meetings and the text messages will be the same, they will not have the same positive effect on these relationships. This is a fact, which many people today are oblivious of, as they try to maintain important relationships such as those with parents in another country or that with a busy friend, through faceless text messages and phone calls. This is another large reason why technology has affected the lives of people negatively. Another aspect of technology, which has brought a lot of risks and dangers with it, is the internet. This phenomenon, which came into existence only a few decades ago, has brought with it numerous advantages to the world, on both a corporate level and on a personal level. The risks, which the internet has brought with it, are, however, a major cause for concern. This is due to one main reason: the security threats that it presents. This threat is again, present on both a corporate level and a personal level. While technology helps a firm protect its files and data through digital codes and firewalls, it also makes it susceptible to thievery and fraud. This data of the company is accessible through the internet if an expert is able to find a way to go through the firewall, and in this way, the data can fall into the wrong hands. This is a grave matter for companies such as banks, which depend on their business records for several aspects of their operations. Any discrepancy in their data can result in large losses. In addition, their data is often confidential and its reaching the wrong hands can have severe implications for the company (Defino et al, pp. 146). Because of this reason, technology introduces a new risk to this company, which were not there before when the company would simply lock away their documents in file cabinets, which is only accessible to the employees of the firm, who have the authority. This safety issue also extends to a personal level, for people who are domestic users of the internet. The internet exposed them to a whole world of strangers. Some people are able to derive benefit from the internet by using it to keep in touch with family living abroad, or using it to expand their knowledge and gain information. However, others use it as way of meeting new people, whether to expand their social circles, to find a life partner, or simply through interaction in a chat room. All of these ways expose them to the risk of meeting sexual predators, who are often in search of young, impressionable people, especially women on the internet. There have been numerous stories of such predators succeeding in luring young women into meeting them in person, by meeting them online and earning their trust through long conversations and friendliness (Sommers, pp. 1-65). This is a major risk, from which people were safe before; when the only precaution one had to take from such strangers was to avoid them on the streets. In addition, since there is no age limit on how old a person has to be to use the internet and such sites, young adolescent girls often fall prey to such internet predators, since their age and lack of experience makes them vulnerable. Thus, another way in which the internet has resulted in complication in lives proving to be bad for the victimized people. The ability that the internet gives people to interact socially online is harmful in more ways than mentioned above. Apart from compromising the security of the individual using the internet, it also makes the individual complacent and prone to procrastination. This is especially true for students and other people who work mainly on their computers, for homework or for office work. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter offer these computer users an entertaining break from their work, and many of them treat it as a stress release when working on something, which is requires a lot of mental effort and is potentially mentally exhausting. While this may seem like an advantage of having internet-based social networks, it often proves to be a disadvantage, as many users of Facebook report using it to procrastinate and waste their time, even when they have several important tasks to get done also. While this may be considered as more of a subjective disadvantage, rather than one that affects all users, one should be taken into account when deciding the hazards that technology has brought with it. One can compare this scenario to previous years, when a child would sit and do his homework with full concentration, because the only breaks she could take would be to have a snack or do go play outside (Defino et al, pp. 146). While these breaks were healthy for the child, these new breaks using Facebook are not. Thus, one can assume this to increase the negative effects of technology on our lives. Technological advancements affect one’s life more than they can comprehend at first glance. While there are the obvious effects such as those brought with computers, cars and the internet, there are some effects which we do not give that much notice. For example, technology has made it possible to sell processed food rather than just fresh food. While this is a convenient option for many people, who prefer store brought varieties of food, which claim to be healthy and easier to prepare, it decreases the nutritional value of the meal immensely. When a meal is cooked using canned vegetables or processed ingredients, it takes half the time to prepare, and sometimes is not that different to taste from a meal which used fresh vegetables and freshly ground spices. However, the nutritional value of the ingredients, which was lost when the food was cooked and mixed with preservatives and other artificial ingredients, is of a magnitude that one cannot replace or compromise for the sake of convenience. Apart from this, technology has made it possible to mass produce food in factories in the form of junk food, which is often available in superstores as a cheaper alternative to the healthier options available. This was not the case before machinery was used to cook (Robinson, pp. 10-108). Now, since this food is also easier to eat, being ‘fast food’, people often use it to replace home-cooked meals and healthy snacks, leading to further obesity and increased risk of heart diseases. While this may not be a direct effect of technology, it is attributable to it because the rapid way that the fast food industry has expanded, would not have been possible, had experts not developed the appropriate technology which enables these firms to produce ‘junk food’ on a large scale. Another reason why the substitution of home cooking by fast food has become so popular in the past few decades is the change that the world has experienced, going from a moderate paced world to a ‘fast-tracked’ world (Robinson, pp. 10-108). This again is attributable to the affect that technology has had on our lives. As firms make use of newer technologies available every day, they figure out ways to speed up their operations and catch up pace with the already fast moving world. This puts a direct pressure on the employees to keep up to speed with their companies. They are often expected to meet difficult deadlines, and work overtime in order to fulfill their work responsibilities. This leads to them not only choosing fast food due to its being a quicker alternative to proper meals, but it also leads to them cutting down on the time they spend on themselves. They start to compromise on their sleep, their family time, and personal maintenance time. Before long, these people have forgotten most of their objectives from life other than the work objectives. While several people are able to avoid such problems by living balanced lives, some get caught in this dilemma, and offer suffer huge personal losses in terms of family life and health. The mental exhaustion and stress caused by this change in lifestyle also adds to the problems that one faces when working in a fast-paced world. In addition, with such busy days, people seek relatively lighter pass-times as breaks, such as watching television, when they would have otherwise chosen to concentrate on reading a good book or having a stimulating conversation with another individual, had they not been so mentally exhausted by the end of the day. It is thus, a large disadvantage of rapid technological advancement, to have to move at the pace of this advancement oneself, as it leads to a compromise in many other areas of life. Another way in which technology affects people negatively is by exposing them to several sorts of undesirable entertainment such as pornography and online gambling. Each of these is an addictive pass time for people who turn to these activities in boredom. In addition, both of them have several disadvantages, and have negative implications for an individual’s wellbeing if they do it excessively. For example, there are several disadvantages and downfalls for online gambling. People are usually restricted from going to casinos by family and friends when their addiction becomes a problem, which they cannot control. However, it is more difficult to monitor the person’s online habits, since one can easily hide their actions online by manipulating the records on the computer about browsing history. In addition, a person feels the magnitude of online losses of money less than they would feel the loss of money going physically from their hands, and thus may become numbed to the losses he or she incurs while gambling more quickly than they would in casinos (Young and Nabuco de Abreu, pp. 92, 2010). In other words, the internet may not be responsible for creating these addictions in people, but it aggravates the problems that people already have. While no human being who is that addicted to these activities will resist them just because of the absence of internet, it is true that technology, in the form of the internet, makes these activities more accessible to the person (Garson, pp. 246). This again proves how technology can harmful to the people who use it. Further reinforcing these advantages, was a study held by a columnist from ABC News in Resurrection School, a school in Sunnyvale, California. The researcher gathered the opinions of the eight graders of this school, about whether they consider the technology healthy for them and the reasons for their opinions. The results were unexpected, as a significant proportion of the class admitted to realizing that technology is harmful for them; they identified several reasons for this opinion as well. As one of the eighth grades commented, “I actually think McDonald's is healthier than my computer.” This comment shows that even the thirteen year old is making an informed statement, where he not only highlights his opinion of the dangers that technology subjects him to, but he is able to compare it to other harmful things in his world like junk food. These children were able to identify several reasons for why they considered technology as having an adverse effect on their lives, rather than a positive one. They claimed that it leads to loss of motivation for their young minds, as they get the easiest solution to everything, and do not feel the need to go out into the world to find their answers. Their teacher also reinforced this point, claiming that the real learning a child gets is from exposure to debating and exploration, which they are able to skip since the internet provides them with ‘ready-made solutions’ to every problem. They also pointed out how the internet often affects the ambitions that a child has, and leads to a distortion of their values, if their internet surfing leads them to certain unhealthy sites. Apart from this, the children raised several other points mentioned above, such as the security threats, physical health concerns caused by lacking of physical exertion and the addiction problems. The columnist who published these findings in the news admits that these findings are at the most, anecdotal evidence, and do not prove anything on their own (Malone, 2009). However, this survey shows how even a 13-year old child is able to perceive the flaws associated with influencing one’s life with technology, and that the opinions of several people coincide with these findings. There are several advantages that technology brings, which one cannot ignore or undermine. In a world where the population is expanding at a rapid rate, it would not have been possible to goods and services industries to keep pace with this expansion, if they did not have technology supporting them in several ways. This technology helps production and operations on a large scale (Leaonard, Davies and Binder, pp. 268-295). Not only does it aid the growing population’s needs, but it also helps firms improve the speed and efficiency of their operations. In addition, the internet is a useful learning resource for students as well as other users, and it supplies information in a speedy, effective manner, which greatly facilitates learning and research. This technological development has been greatly responsible for the advancement that the world has seen in several areas in the recent decades. Other than this, it improves the lives of people by making them more convenient and hassle-free. Finally, it gives an individual access to information and people all over the world, which is no doubt one of the largest achievements of technology. These advantages are very beneficial to the world around an individual. Nonetheless, they do not offer a fair trade off for the numerous ways in which they cause harm to a person and put their well-being into risk. The person may live in a more luxurious environment, but in the end the negative effects technology has had on their health and emotional wellbeing is not one, which can be cancelled out by any amount of advancement that the technology brings to the world (Kates, Hohenesmer and Kasperson, pp. 402-460). It is thus they duty of every individual to treat technology in their lives as a medicinal drug. It should be used to the extent that it is needed in one’s life, to derive maximum advantage from it. However, one should refrain from its excessive use, which they will find very addictive, but will end up regretting once it starts to deteriorate their health and emotional wellbeing, with its side effects. Works Cited DeFino, Kaufman, Valenteen and Greenblatt, J. Official Certified Ethical Hacker Review Guide. Cengage Learning. 2009. Garson, G. D. Public information technology and e-governance. Jones and Barlett Learning, 2006. Kates, Hohenemser, and Kasperson, John. Perilous Progress: Managing the Hazards of Technology. Westview Press. 1985. Leonard, H. J., Davies, J.C. and Binder, G. Business and Environment: Toward Common Ground. Conservation Foundation. 1977. Malone, Michael S. Young People Cop to It: Technology Is Bad for Us. Column from ABC News. 2009. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7590263&page=1 Robinson, J. A. Health Unplugged: Can Food & Technology Co-Exist? AuthorHouse, 2010. Sommers, M. A. The Dangers of Online Predators. The Rosen Publishing Group. 2008. Young, Kimberly S. and Nabuco de Abreu, Cristiano. Internet Addiction: A Handbook and Guide to Evaluation and Treatment. John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Read More