Technology and Society
Technology and the human life in the contemporary world cannot be separated because society has a cyclical co-reliance on technology. People use technology, depend on technology in the daily life and the needs of people in society makes a demand for technology keep on increasing. The major uses of technology in the society include communication, traveling, learning, business, and entertainment. However, technology has also raised some concerns. Its poor use has resulted in the negative impacts to the society socially, mentally and physically. This calls for the proper application of the technology. The biggest challenge facing society is to determine the type of future needed and then create relevant to technologies which will simplify the way things are done. Therefore, it is relevant if society will understand how technology has positive and negative affect society socially, mentally and physically.
Social Effects
The advancement of technologies that are able to overcome time and space makes people think that these tools would be applied to gain an understanding of other cultures, meet people all over the world, communicate effectively with others, strengthen familiar relationships and assist people in the society to become more socially adept. It is true that technology enhances interaction or socialization since it brings interaction efficiency. However, some of the technologies cause people to be destructed, overly stressed and increasingly isolated. Therefore, it is essential to have some knowledge the positive impacts of the technological factors that impact on people’s social matters (New York Times). Technology brings easy accessibility connections. Use of internet enabled devices such as phones and computers does not only simplify the way individuals keep in touch with the people they care about, but the information is also much accessible to everyone. For example, even if an individual does not keep up with the current events in the news, the statuses from friends, he or she can be in good position to keep informed about what is going on in the world. A study shows that most of the young people especially students use social networking sites. Most of the social network users utilize social network platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and, LinkedIn (Roose). Recent studies also show that use of these sites is increasing every year and it indicates some favorable impacts on the relationships among people in the society. Creating strong and meaningful relationships is normally about sharing lives with others, and technology can allow people to do so through, texts, photos, videos, and music. In a broader perspective, technology has improved communication particularly broadcasting of news or information to the people in the society. Radios, television, internet and social media platforms have improved the way individuals broadcast news and exchange ideas which can help in developing society. In various nations, television and radios are applied to vice the concerns of the society. Live forums are always organized where the community can make their contributions via text services or call using mobile phones. At the political elections, contestants use radios, television and internet mead to reach people they are aspiring to serve. Regardless of various important effects of technology on society’s social life, there are some adverse impacts that need to be known. There is need to find the problems with social networks sites since they are the most applied sites as far as interaction is concerned. Some of the sites contribute to the poor relations among the people in the society; for example sites such as Facebook, Instagram among other sites have contributed to social issues such as racism and enmity among the diverse social networks users (Roose). Some of the cruel users tend to abuse people via social media networks thus contribute to animosity among the people in the diverse parts of the world since it brings some ideologies that certain communities are not friendly; for instance, the scene where a white person abuses a black person. Technology has also contributed to divorces and job loss. Recent researches show that use of the social networks have highly led to family breakups especially where one of the spouses is not faithful because most of the communication that is made between the cheating spouses are done via mobile phones and computers where they can be easily accessed by other parties considering that most of the social sites do not provide sufficient security to the date of the users (New York Times). Many employees have been fired because of the contents they post on the social networks that undermined the person’s professional standings. In addition to the negative social impacts brought by social threats is the isolation issue. Some of the online communities and virtual worlds feel isolated and outcast due to the criticism that some of the online communities make over others. It is advisable for the social network users to consider some communication ethics as a way of avoiding adverse impacts of technology to socialization.
Mental Effects
Recent researches indicate that widespread application of digital technology such as computers, smartphones, internet and video games has significant on the development adaptation of the human brain, causing changes in people’s moods, sleep, learning, memory, and concentration as well as behaviors such as aggression and risk-taking (Tiwari, and Rajeev). These impacts appear to be more pronounced for the young people in the society. In the general point of view, technology helps people improve diets, track fitness efforts and manage all kinds of health conditions. According to the most researches, being overly connected can lead to psychological issues such as destruction such as depression, distraction, the expectation of gratification and narcissism. Before the widespread of smartphones and internet, students used to have a clear focus and less distraction at school. Currently, most of the students do not feel well without smartphone and internet. Students waste a lot of time browsing the internet, particularly social networks. Before the smartphones and internet era, students used to spend most of their time in libraries and they were always attentive in class and thus their academic performances were good. Current students are not good researchers as compared to the 19th and 20th-century students because internet and computers have made work easier for them especially when carrying out some research due to the availability of the resources in the search engines. Google is one of the famous search engines which help in making research simple because it contains huge information (Tiwari, and Rajeev). However, performing research manually is costly and consumes most of the researcher’s time thus search engines have great importance to all the researchers. Contrarily, people who rely on search engines are more likely to be less creative and innovative since accessing information online is simple and does not require one to think critically. There are disorders that are connected to the digital technologies. During the past decade, online social networking has led to some changes in the way people communicate and interact and thus it has caused certain psychiatric disorders (Tiwari, and Rajeev). Many studies have indicated that the prolonged use of the social media networking sites, such as Facebook and Instagram may be related to the signs and symptoms of depression. Some authors have advocated that certain social network sites activities might be connected to low self-esteem, mostly in children and adolescents. Low-esteem issues are associated to the reason that most of the youth who are addicted to social media access some valuable items or lifestyles and believe that such items or lifestyles are the key goals of every human person. Young people tend to desire what they access online thus raising their expectation without understanding that people have different lifestyles social standards and therefore, they should also be satisfied with whatever they have. High expectations always cause bad moods especially when such desires are not met. Bad moods cause lack of happiness and eventually cause the bad relationship between those who have bad moods and those who are in their good moods. Spending more time online cause sleeplessness and low memory performance due to the exhaustion considering that most people like spending most of their time on their phones and computers instead of relaxing. For example, many people use their phones while in bed instead of sleeping (Tiwari, and Rajeev). The most affected population is the students and people who are working during the day because they are supposed to sleep at night as a way of relaxing their brains. Therefore, people should understand that digital technologies among other advanced technologies are supposed to be applied in the right manner to avoid metal issues that are associated with the technology.
Physical Effects
Contemporary day living is a multifaceted compendium of the rapidly advancing technology and the social media. Communication channels are impacting on every part of the society that it may be complex to adjust. Technology has improved the lives of many individuals, with about half of the adults in the United States unable to think of life without their computers and smartphones (BBC News). American Psychology Association’s stress in the America Survey 2017 indicates that 99% of the adults own an electronic device, about 86% own computer, 55% own tablet and 74% own smartphone (McClellan, et al). Spending more time on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers cause physical effects. These physical effects include vision problems, neck strain, and hearing loss. Studies show that “Computer Vision Syndrome” as the main problem associated with excessive screen time, including the blurred vision, eyestrain, and dry eyes. Most people spend an aggregate of 5 hours daily on the screen of their devices (McClellan, et al). A good example is that people make calls and before they make a call, they must check the contacts, and when they interact with their friends and family via social media they also face the screen. Televisions also contribute to the vision problems because most of the people watch television especially when watching the news, TV shows among other programs. Neck strains results due to the wrong position of the devices while using. People put their devices at some angles that make one either bend neck down or up; for instance, people hold their smartphones and tablets lower thus forcing them to bend their necks down while chatting or browsing (McClellan, et al). Therefore, due to the reason that people bend their necks down for long, some of the neck pains are experienced especially by those who are addicted to their tablets, smartphones, and computers. Hearing loss is caused by noise caused by modern technologies such as music systems. Music systems produce some sound that is always supposed to be regulated, but unfortunately, most of the users prefer high volume. High volume cause damages of the essential ear parts such as eardrums. It is unfortunate that people prefer using headphones while listening to music and other entertainments especially when they are in public places. According to various research analyses, over 50% of the people who frequently use headphones have earing because they do not adjust the volume to the recommended levels (McClellan, et al). In the ancient era, people had physical exercise culture, but in the contemporary world, people prefer spending their leisure time in social places where they can play video games and drink. Relaxing cause accumulation of calories in the blood vessels and belly thus causing physical disorders such as obesity and heart failure. Watching and relaxing while chatting with friends online is the biggest contribution to the lifestyle diseases; hence it is always recommended for people to develop a physical exercise culture. Finally, governments and non-government organizations are supposed to hold serious campaigns to enlighten the entire society regarding the adverse effects of the current technology as a way of reducing physical issues in the community.
Conclusion
Human interaction is important, but it is always essential to consider both positive and negative impacts of the technologies that are being used to interact with the society. Social mental and physical effects are of great concern as far as modern technologies and interaction are concerned thus everyone is supposed to get enlightened regarding the favorable and adverse impacts of the technology. Positive impacts of technology in the society particularly in social, mental and physical perspective outweighs the negative impacts. Thus it is important for the society to make some little adjustment to reduce any further harmful effects technology to save the current and the future generations.
Works Cited
BBC News. Jeremy Hunt threatens social media with new child-protection laws. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43853678. Accessed on May 12, 2018
Kevin Roose. Can social Media be Saved?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/technology/social-media-privacy.html. Accessed May 12, 2018
McClellan, Chandler, et al. "Using social media to monitor mental health discussions− evidence from Twitter." Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 24.3 (2017): 496-502.
New York Times. Are My Friends Really My Friends? The quantity of human interactions has increased, but the quality is arguably diminished. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/style/who-are-my-real-friends.html. May 12, 2018
Tiwari, Shuchi Upadhyay, and Rajeev Tiwari. "Impact of Information Technology and Sedentary Lifestyle on Occupational Health." Advances in Health and Environment Safety. Springer, Singapore, 2018. 377-383.
