Due to the development of modern technology, humanity is presented with new inventions capable of facilitating everyday life almost every year. Nowadays, people have a variety of technological solutions to use. Sophisticated gadgets, new opportunities for instant communication, and other things are meant to improve people’s experiences with daily tasks. Despite the benefits of new technology, it can affect people by causing cognitive problems or issues related to inappropriate content, and such concerns require common users’ active participation to be reduced.
Background
The use of modern technology is increasing rapidly, and it can have both positive and negative consequences. According to Farmer and Lafond (2016), even though technological progress is “a driver of economic growth,” this process should be highly predictable and historically trackable to avoid economic collapses and other issues (p. 647). It means that sometimes, rapid technological growth and digitalization can present a problem since the rates of technological advancement can be incompatible with social conditions. First of all, modern technology can become dangerous when it is overused, or the resources needed for its implementation are more significant than its actual benefits. Apart from that, there are numerous concerns related to modern technology’s supposed impact on people’s health.
Discussion
The Role of Technology
People use modern technology daily, but its effects and the perceived benefits may vary depending on its type. For instance, numerous food production technologies have been improved recently. All individuals who do not produce alimentary products on their own present a party that receives benefits in this regard. The same is true when it comes to new technology in construction, healthcare, and many other fields of activity. The field typically associated with the most obvious growth of impact on people’s daily lives is information and communications technology. According to Given et al. (2016), in 2010, more than 90% of teenagers from the United States had an opportunity to access the Internet. The increasing access to technologies for data sharing and communication impacts millions of people, encouraging them to become faster at data searching, which is particularly important for educational purposes. Therefore, in general, modern technology heavily impacts people’s lives, removing the necessity of tiring housework activities and facilitating communication.
Advantages
The advantages of technological growth are numerous, and they strictly relate to specific fields. For example, in ITC, technological advancement leads to faster exchange of information, which has positive implications to awareness of disastrous events, people’s overall area of thought, and access to new knowledge. To some extent, new opportunities in ITC are capable of reducing finance-based barriers to information. As for other advantages, some examples of new technology can be life-saving (Farmer & Lafond; 2016; Hamet, & Tremblay, 2017). For instance, the emergence of new medical robots helps to eliminate mistakes related to the human factor and monitor “the guided delivery of drugs to target organs, tissues, and tumors” (Hamet, & Tremblay, 2017, p. S39). As is clear from this example, further technological advancement can potentially increase the quality of medical care by reducing the rates of complications. In general, new technology is advantageous since it facilitates education and can help to eliminate medical mistakes.
Disadvantages and Potential Solutions
The disadvantages of modern technology involve numerous risks related to people’s cognitive intelligence and children’s healthy development. Nowadays, even pre-school children have access to gadgets and some online sources, which helps them to learn “by modeling the adult world” (Given et al., 2016, p. 350). This “world” may involve different types of content, and the age-appropriateness of children’s online activities presents a significant issue to discuss. Samaha and Hawi (2017) report that “American youth intense exposure to new media systems… negatively affects their sexuality” (p. 352). This fact adds to the problem of technology use related to exposure to unwanted materials. According to Moledina and Khoja (2018), “overindulgence on the internet and internet-enabled devices causes cognitive impairment such as reduced attention and decreased memory span” (p. 12). Nowadays, many children possess technology literacy, but as research indicates, memory issues at an early age are a reverse of the coin. Both disadvantages discussed in the section are related to problems widely discussed today, and the ability to address them is crucial.
The problem related to the exposure to age-inappropriate materials with the help of new technology can be solved due to the concerted efforts of parents and software developers. Apart from using applications helping to filter content, parents can reduce unwanted influences on their children by introducing specific rules at home (Samaha & Hawi, 2017). Among other things, time limits related to media use can make children more disciplined. The next issue, the threat of cognitive impairment, should be solved with the help of focused education and again, parental control. For instance, Moledina and Khoja (2018) recommend the so-called digital diet and increased social activity to both adults and children. These measures are supposed to help a person strike the right balance between online and real-life activities, thus helping to prevent addiction to technology.
Conclusion
Finally, although the growth of research and new technology has several advantages related to people’s quality of life and the amount of time needed to perform certain operations, its negative effects deserve close attention and specific solutions. Technology overuse and the availability of age-inappropriate content are among the most obvious negative effects of technological advancement. To solve such problems, people should become more conscious concerning modern technology and closely monitor their children’s use of it.
References
Farmer, J. D., & Lafond, F. (2016). How predictable is technological progress? Research Policy, 45(3), 647-665.
Given, L. M., Winkler, D. C., Willson, R., Davidson, C., Danby, S., & Thorpe, K. (2016). Watching young children “play” with information technology: Everyday life information seeking in the home. Library & Information Science Research, 38(4), 344-352.
Hamet, P., & Tremblay, J. (2017). Artificial intelligence in medicine. Metabolism, 69, S36-S40.
Moledina, S., & Khoja, A. (2018). Letter to the editor: Digital dementia – is smart technology making us dumb? The Ochsner Journal, 18(1), 12.
Samaha, M., & Hawi, N. S. (2017). Associations between screen media parenting practices and children’s screen time in Lebanon. Telematics and Informatics, 34(1), 351-358.