Even though technological advances have improved the way the human race does things it has however caused major concern in terms of
technology dependency and factors such as environmental pollution which is
majorly a by-product of increasing advancements in technology. Most people
today tend to rely on technology so much more than our own ingenuity. An
average cell-phone owner has become addicted to their own phones and the ever-expanding network of internet pornography has also an adverse effect on the
rising generation.
With that said, let’s look at some of the advantages and
shortcomings of technology as we know it.
Advantages
1. Improves businesses by providing deep insight
Data mining is a great tool for not only
businesses but also organizations like schools. The data that is mined can help
us pinpoint various weaknesses in a business and how to go about them. This has
been a very useful tool for businesses. The same is used by Google the tech
giant that mines data from your cell-phones, Google Chrome web browser, your
android phone and the most recent platform launched by Google for gamers that’s
called Google Stadia.
The use of Technology has improved the
means of manufacturing goods which has greatly reduced the amount of waste emitted
by industries.
2. Technology has allowed us to learn about more cultures.
Emerging new technologies like social media
have taken the world by a storm. This people from all over the world sharing
their experiences on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
have greatly bridged the gap between people all over the world.
The invention of better transport means has
enabled traveling to various destinations very fast and efficient.
3. Better communication
This has been one of the greatest achievements
that have had an impact on almost everybody’s life by now. The best example can be
in the form of social media. People are now able to call each other from
anywhere on the planet, great chat
applications like WhatsApp allows people to share videos, pictures, audios, and
even files and documents. Other platforms like Skype are even used by companies
to conference call. Group calls have become so popular that even WhatsApp has
it too. Communication channels have become so many and are so efficient. Others
like e-mail technology have reduced a lot of paperwork in office communication
and even when applying for jobs.
4. Improvements in Medicine
Increasing the use of technology in medicine
has made surgical operations so efficient and reduced the number of deaths and
accidents all over the world significantly.
5.
Easy access to information
With the availability of the internet, almost everything can be done online. Great search engines like Google and Bing
have enabled people doing research to get the efficient information they need
just by simply searching for whatever information they need and finding millions of results within
seconds. You can even do your shopping online without leaving the house. There are
many websites online that provide a wide variety of goods and services that can
be shipped right to your doorstep. Good examples are Amazon, Jumia amongst
others.
5. Creation of More Job Opportunities
Technology has been growing at such
a fast pace and has increased job opportunities for the people required to
maintain them. Just in the past decade Tech companies have been growing so fast
and have provided employment for millions of people. A good example is Samsung.
Samsung is a mobile phone manufacturing company that has employed many people
in the plants that they have in strategic countries all over the world. This
even helps those economies to grow.
6. Saves on time
The use of computers has really helped with
this. Computers have enabled many of the tedious and monotonous operations that
were once done by human beings to be automated. Computers are also more
efficient. This really saves on time and also allows the human workers to concentrate
on more pressing matters. Manufacturing industries also benefit from meeting
deadlines and making more profit. This was not possible in the early times
where manufacturing companies had to hire many workers to achieve better
results faster.
Disadvantages of Technology
1. Social Divide
Most of the technology that emerges is not affordable
by everybody. This has really created a rift between the upper class and the
class that cannot afford them. It’s only safe to assume that if one cannot
afford a certain gizmo or gadget you cannot interact with the ones who can.
2. The Lazy Generation
Technology has made everything so easy that
almost everything is done by machines. This has resulted in people becoming
very lazy. People are slowly forgetting how things were done in the old fashioned
way before the machines and smartphones and computers. This has adversely
affected children that kids no longer have time to visit the library or even
open a book. Kids are no longer playing outside the way some of us grew up. They
are either playing video games inside or watching cat videos online and this
has really affected how kids interact too. No human touch is required.
3. Creation of Destructive Weapons
With recent advancements in nuclear technology,
scientists have invented weapons that can blow a whole continent up. Nuclear
weapons continue to be a major threat to the planet if they end up into the
wrong hands. Others like the hydrogen bombs and atomic bombs also cause serious
threats to the planet. It has always been long predicted that the last
invention that mankind will ever create will be Artificial Intelligence and
this is the most serious threat of them all and could even spell the end of the
human race.
4. Destruction of the environment
Continued and unsupervised use of these new
technologies has led to the worst damages to the planet that there has been
serious climate change all over the world. Polar ice caps are melting and the
sea lines are rising which may be attributed to the increased emission of carbon
(IV) oxide into the environment by the many industries that keep springing up
as time continues to fly. There have been many cases of hurricanes reported
with so many deaths in the wake of the disasters. Our continued use these techniques
if not well supervised may inevitably lead to the destruction of the planet by
increased pollution rates.
5. Effects on health
Increased use of technology such as cellphones,
computers and iPod, just to mention a few have adverse psychological and
physiological effects on the individuals that use them frequently. Some of them
include;
Social Isolation
People have increased the use of handheld
gadgets to the extent of making the devices their only friends. The physical
human interaction is slowly fading away. People in waiting lines would rather
whip out their cell phones and stare at the screen than talk to the people
around them. Human connection is becoming a thing of the past where people used
to physically interact and talk and enjoy the moment together when handheld
devices were a thing of the past. This has really lead to a generation of
people who lack social skills which can only be gained by actively interacting with
other people. The ability to read body language and social cues have really gone
down. This lack of human contact may also lead to depression which currently
affects millions of people in the world.
Obesity
With everything becoming digitized even games, kids no longer go outside
to play when they can just play games online or on their consoles. People do
not like walking when they can easily drive to their destination. This trend
has made people really lazy and if one is not very careful can develop obesity.
Addiction
People get so restless when you
take away their cellphones away from them. The internet is the home of so much
entertainment just at the press of a button. Millions of teenagers are addicted
to pornographic content that they are exposed to online. Addiction to social
media and so on.
6.Lack of Privacy.
With so many applications monitoring
your moves they always have access to your information and what you do on the internet.
Applications like Facebook monitor even your search queries when you’re not
using the app. The app itself transmit your location to the service provider
whenever you use their app and even when you are not. People’s addresses are all
over the internet it is very easy to find out where somebody stays by just
going to their Facebook profile and picking their information from there which
you can even confirm by looking at their pictures.
