Social Impact of Technology - Essay Example

Depending on the matter of debate, computers have had both negative and positive impacts on our societies from time immemorial. Back when computers were but a figment of imagination, most of human communication and data storage was done on paper. If one needed to communicate to a distant relative or office, the convention of the times stated that they would write a letter. And if one wanted to keep records of business ventures and such, papers were the prudent way to go. Needless to say, therefore, before the advent of computers, the rates of desertification and deforestation as a result of this insatiable need for paper (which resulted in environmental degradation) were sky-high not to mention the untidiness associated with littered paper all over.

With the age of computers, however, people could now store a lot of information on tiny microchips that would have otherwise taken up truck-loads of papers in the ancient world. Computers have in this way single-handedly saved our environments (Hintz & Hintz, 1983).Lucrative business engagements can now be initiated via Skype, for instance, or simply by sending mail at the click of a button. In addition, operational costs have been significantly reduced and businesses spend much less on communication, unlike the old days when messengers had to be expensively hired and paid (Knowles, 1976).

Education has been made much easier too. Almost all information and books are now found on the internet unlike in the past where learners had to contend with the mental drawbacks or visiting distant and paying for library fees and tuition to acquire basic information. One can now access almost all information from the comfort of their homes and send and receive feedback on various issues from other students without much hassle.  Perhaps one of the grey areas concerning this fantastic innovation concerns its influence on relationships and morals where it can present both positive and wildly negative impacts.

In as much as computers have allowed relationships to flourish and distant relations to remain alive, it has in numerous instances proliferated into a decline of moral values if not used with certain levels of discipline and personal responsibility. For example, one can get overly addicted to online friends in social media while neglecting other real relations. Surveys show that an increasing number of strains on parent-child relationships stem from children addiction to computers to the point they pay no attention when spoken to by their peers while on a heated video game, for example.

In addition, there is a risk of striking dangerous relations and picking misleading behavior from the internet that would result in unprotected sex, pornography, drug abuse and so on (Knowles, 1976).