Since the advent of industrial revolution, technological innovations have been the primary determinant of the quality of life, a fact that every individuals can attest, because of the human dependence on technology in everything they do. Currently, technology controls almost every aspect of life, for example, communication is impossible without information communication technologies; most sophisticated global transport systems cannot thrive without technological innovations; medicine cannot meet human and living organisms’ health demands without technology. In addition, currently even delivery of education depends on the availability of technological information systems. That is, with the current e-learning technology individuals can learn from any geographical area or place hence, giving individuals the required flexibility to meet their multiple life demands. Therefore, considering these and many more, to some extent it is not wrong to say that, technology is life, because technological innovations provides mechanisms of adapting to new environments and giving solutions to everyday’s problems. Although this might be the case, it is important to note that, not all individuals use benefits of technology for moral gains, because of the many reported cases of technology abuse for example, cyber bullying, internet frauds, and terrorism, which are great security threats (Mason, p.1).
Good Use of technology
It is not wrong for one to liken computers with human blood vessels, because of the nature of the role played by computers in all daily undertakings, them being ubiquitous. Correct use of the computer technology can be of great gain not only to human beings, but also to other living organism, although its significance to other living organisms depends on human activities.
The advent of the computer technology has brought with it many gains, because of the role played by the computer technology in all aspects of life. One primary use of technology; primarily the computer technology, is in research. Every global development be it educational, economic, health, or social depends on research, it being the primary source of insights necessary for innovations in most life supporting areas. For example, successful implementation of any education intervention measures and their success depends on the success of any early conducted problem solving research by education scholars. In addition, in current school settings a variety of learning programs require individuals to take advantage of the available technological innovations for them to succeed in their education ventures. For instance, as research shows, most computer resources largely reinforce any knowledge already learnt by learners, because of the variety of information that the internet contains (Strayhorn pp. 143-154).
Another positive gain of technology is improvement of communication. No single individuals can deny that, without the current innovations in communication systems, communications could be almost impossible. This is because; current innovations in the information systems have greatly promoted the passing and receiving of information, which in turn has promoted not only general communication, but also education standards. Currently, learners can easily communicate with their tutors and fellow learners via a wireless communication system; business managers can conduct business deals across the internet; managers can control business virtual teams using communication innovations hence, the importance of technology to every aspect of life (Hsieh, pp. 77-80).
In addition to the research and communication significance of technology, to a larger extent technology can help to bridge the gap between individuals with disabilities and “normal” individuals. Technological innovations have proven of great significance to individuals with auditory, speech, or motor coordination anomalies, because of the existence of a variety of technological tools, which provide supportive input and output of information tools (Jurich, pp. 31-34).
On the other hand, technology is of great significance in the entertainment industry. The development of sophisticated entertainment gadgets depends on technology, which primarily relies on the computer technology. One aspect of technology that is of great source of entertainment is the internet. The internet provides almost everything an individual can desire to have, a fact that has made most individuals to develop internet addiction, because through it they can access all sorts of entertainment tools and objects they desire to have. It is important to note that, entertainment is of great significance to every individual, because of the role it plays not only in enhancing individuals’ knowledge bases, but also because of its role in enhancing both children and adults’ social and communication skills (Mason, p.1)
Bad Use of Technology
Although most individuals take advantage of any technological development for positive and moral gains, in nature there cannot lack a class individuals with deviant behaviors, whose aim is to use technology for immoral gains. Good examples of such individuals are cyber bullies, who regardless of their position have misused technological innovations primarily the internet to inflict suffering on others. Although most organizations, learning institutions, or homes may have security systems to curb this practice, majority of individuals involved in this practice use sophisticated communication systems to conduct activities. Cyber bullying has many associated psychological, social, and emotional problems on victims, a fact that most of the perpetrators of this practice do not recognize.
Another unethical use of the internet is hacking of other people or organizations’ website. This primary involves identity theft, which most individuals conduct through either spoofing or phishing. These like practices have made many organizations to lose not only a great deal of data and valuable information, but also millions of dollars through internet frauds. Because of the egocentric and self-centered nature of behavior of majority of these individuals, to them the suffering or collapsing of an organization is not an issue hence, the immoral nature of their behaviors. In addition to hacking, annually many organizations suffer the brunt of copyright infringement and spreading of malicious ware, which in most cases are responsible for the destruction of an organization’s databases (Manesh, pp. 1-16).
The third main unethical use of technology is cybercrime. Cybercrime is one of the worst crimes that involve the use of technological tools. Majority of crime perpetrators take advantage of their technological prowess as the primary mechanism of meeting their terrorism demands. As Halden (p. 1) argues, cybercrime is one of the primary traitors to the U.S. security, because although the federal government has put down security measures to check the crime, terrorist use advanced systems, which can cripple the U.S. security systems in absence of proper security measures. The Canadian Security Intelligence supports this fact by arguing that, majority of cybercrime perpetrators have sophisticated knowledge of the working of most intelligence systems hence, in most case they competence is far much above what most security agents anticipate. Surely, this like a practice is very unethical, because of its impacts to the general population of a country.
In conclusion, although technological innovations are of great significance as far as enhancing the quality of life is concerned, it is important to note that, misuse of such innovations greatly jeopardizes the well-being of not only single individuals, but also that of an entire nation. This makes is necessary for governments to formulate policies to govern the use of technological innovations; for it is the only mechanism of ensuring individuals will utilize technological innovations for the well-being of the entire global societies.
Works Cited
Halden, Erick. The information warfare: the unethical use of cyberspace. Major Information for Information Ethics, 32(216) (2001). Web.
Hsieh, Chang-tseh. Implementing self-service technology to gain competitive Advantages. Communication of the IIM, 5(1) (2005): 77-83. Web.
Jurich, Sonia. Computers in the classroom; how effective? TechKnowLogia. 1999. Web.
Manesh, Mohsen. The immorality of theft, the morality of infringement. 2006. Web.
Mason, Richard. Four ethical issues of the information age. Management Information Systems Quarterly, 10(1) (1986): 1. Web.
Strayhorn, Terrell. College in the information age: gains associated with student’s use of technology. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 5(2) (2006): 143-155. Web.