Technological Innovations and Their Impact on US Society
Technological innovations are proving to be a fundamental part of our everyday life. The massive additions to the innovations continue to contribute extensively to the running of errands and corporations in the modern society. The mobile-phone technology is proving to be a mixed blessing for the U.S society in many ways. While the invention of the mobile phones seemed to be exactly what the globe was missing; the innovations have come at a cost to the contemporary USA society in many ways including facilitation of the terrorist acts. Secondly, the mobile phone usage has led to increased rates of accidents, and finally, the mobile phones have led to a poor state of relationships.
Terrorist Activities and Mobile Phones
The mobile phones, rather than serving its useful purpose of facilitating communications for the betterment of the society, have ended up easing the execution of the terrorist activities (Allan, Stuart, and Chris Peters, 478). According to Allan, Stuart, and Chris, “In the past, the terrorists did not have it easy in their activities due to communication breakdown” (478). The terror activities are executed in a well-laid plan and timely manner, leaving nothing to chance. With the invention of the mobile phones, the terror activities in the US have continued to scale, going by the examples of the Boston terror activities, the rampant school shootouts among other cases. John Sutter, however, argues that the mobile phone invention has been used by the federal security states to avert possible terror activities through thorough monitoring of the suspected terror individuals. The rise in the number of terrorist attacks in the US has, however, raised in recent times than in the past, thanks to the invention of the mobile phones technology that facilitates communications between terrorists.
Increase in Road Accidents
The invention of the mobile phone devices has made drivers in the US roads ignore simple traffic rule: ‘do not drive while on the phone.’ The numbers of road accidents that have resulted from the smile ignorance of the traffic rules, of not talking on the phone while driving are on the rise (Delgado et al., 79). It is obvious that the mobile phones take away the concentration span of the drivers who are in charge of many other lives. According to Delgado et at., “Several rules and stringent measures have been created to ensure that offenders caught driving while speaking on their phones is harshly prosecuted”(79). However, this has not brought forth any benefit, going by the increasing number of lives lost or broken limbs attributed to talking on the phones while driving. In defense of the innovation and technological improvements, researchers argue that the invention of wireless Bluetooth devices that facilitate the communications should make things better. “Your phone’s location services automatically pick up your location, so all you have to do is type in the address of your destination, and your Smartphone will tell you which roads you will need to turn on,” (Nu-telecom, n.p). However, it is not just a matter of using one hand to drive while the other holding the phone to talk, but the information that one may receive while driving may be so shocking that it may end up jeopardizing the lives of the driver alongside that of other passengers and pedestrians. It is, therefore, adequate to state that, the invention of the smartphones have come at a higher cost than was anticipated by the innovators.
The Impact on Relationships
The costly nature of mobile phones inventions has drained its essentiality in the maintenance of communication and betterment of relationships. However, this has not been true as the mobile gadgets have ended up breaking up many potential relationships and marriages than in the past. According to Jean, Twenge, “the rise in some extra-marital affairs have been on the rise owing to the ease of communication of the ‘other partner’ while keeping the current relationship running.” The mobile phones have made it very easy for the promiscuous partners to keep up with their misbehavior, by hiding the identity of their partners from their current lovers. The result of these acts usually are divorce cases, breakups, and to some extent, suicide attempts. According to the article written by analysis by Burton Orlando, “It is true that the mobile phones have also helped in strengthening the relationships due to constant communications making partners feel closer even for the long-distance relationships.” It is not entirely true that the phones have worked to the advantage of relationships, owing to the increasing cases of cheating, and extramarital affairs on the trail.
Undoubtedly, the mobile phone innovation has brought with it a mixed bag of fortune to the US country. The innovators of the mobile phone were of good intent, to facilitate communication, ease office operations, and share photos amongst other good factors. However, the disadvantages that have come up as a result of the mobile phone inventions are not things that we can close our eyes to. The increased flaw-less rates of terror attacks, not just in the US but across the globe, is a pointer to the negative effects that the mobile phones have had in the US. The rampant number of accidents committed either by the drivers or by the pedestrians on the phone depicts a bad precedent of failure on the part of mobile phone technology and its resultant effects. Nobody enjoys when peaceful relationships and families have to part ways due to the allure of an attraction of a compromised partner that you either met online or that random text. The mobile, with its good chunk of benefits, have ended up making the USA a worse off county than it was before. It is therefore, in the best interest of the US society to find critical means of controlling the devastating and implicit dangers that the smartphones pose to the lives of the contemporary US. society. However, the dilemma may be the anticipated legal issues that may ensue whenever the government attempts to be too involved with the management and the control of the individual use of the smartphones.
Works cited
Allan, Stuart, and Chris Peters. "The “Public Eye” or “Disaster Tourists” Investigating public perceptions of citizen smartphone imagery." Digital Journalism 3.4 (2015): 478.
Burton Sr, Dorian Orlando. Do Social Networking Sites Influence Christian Marriages?. Diss. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2017.
Delgado, M. Kit, Kathryn J. Wanner, and Catherine McDonald. "Adolescent cellphone use while driving: An overview of the literature and promising future directions for prevention." Media and communication 4.3 (2016): 79.
Jean, Twenge. Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? The Atlantic Daily, (2017). Accessed on 15th Feb 2017 from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
John D. Sutter. How smartphones make us superhuman. CNN,2012.accessed on 15th Feb 2017 from https://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/10/tech/mobile/our-mobile-society-intro-oms/index.html
Nu-telecom. 10 Ways Smartphones Make Life Easy. Business Residential, (2014). Accessed on 15th Feb 2017 from https://www.nutelecom.net/10-ways-smartphones-make-life-easy/
