There are a million ways how technology changes our lives. As a matter of fact, we do not even notice its influence, taking it as given. It seems that public transportation, computers, and quality healthcare have been there forever.
Nonetheless, we never really took a moment to think if technology makes our lives genuinely simpler. Or, on the contrary, more complicated or even more dangerous.
Smartphones on Campus
Various mobile devices are particularly helpful when it comes to education, aren’t they?
A student can barely do anything without their trusty friend: a smartphone. Mainly, they stay in touch with their mates, play media, and swipe their social media feeds. Meanwhile, you can study online or browse for help paper writing services from PaperWriter in order to get a perfect college essay.
In some cases, tablets are a necessary part of a lesson for the same reasons. They enable instant communication between a teacher and their audience. They also give access to special software and automatically evaluate students’ knowledge.
More often than not, smartphones are classy and productive, so you could even film short FHD movies with them.
Vulnerable Information
Students can type any query into the search bar at any moment. By doing so, they get access to the majority of human knowledge concerning the subject. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest advancements of technology in the 21st century. It is extremely hard to imagine a way it could be harmful or suggest the factual data of its harm.
What is the controversy here?
- One of the things that come to mind is a copyright violation. Information is valuable. But those who get it for free rarely appreciate its value.
- The more free information lies around free to grab, the fewer people who create it earn for living.
- It is not easy to create art, code, and journalist reports knowing that it all “wants to be free.” Yet, the situation calls for new ethical principles when it comes to info.
Still, the Internet made remote education possible during the COVID pandemic. The possibilities the Internet brings do outweigh the cases of abuse.
Instantly Communicate with Anyone Anywhere
We are not here to give you a history lesson. But hey, can you imagine that people had to wait months before their paper letters were delivered? Imagine that the letters got lost along the way too.
Compared to post office services, telegrams, and radio, modern messengers are way more reliable. You can reach out to anyone faster, either you want just to hear their voice or to see them in the flesh.
It kind of leaves no doubt as to the usefulness of modern communication technologies. Just stay away from online trolls, bullies, and scammers.
Transportation
Motorcycles, trucks, cars, buses, ferries, trains, planes… Can you name another one? They are everywhere. Of all the innovations on our list, vehicles make us pay the highest price.
Polluted air is one result of the mass production of vehicles we all know. There are also impressive statistics of deaths and injuries caused by various means of transportation. Bad luck is all it takes to become one of the accident victims. And vehicles actually make it harder for pedestrians to move around.
On the bright side, an electric scooter never seriously hurts anyone. Drive it away from massive cars.
Virtual Reality
Take the Internet and combine it with cutting-edge virtual reality equipment. Add photographic quality graphics. What you get is a dangerous 3D virtual reality. Its roots probably go back to Minecraft or earlier games.
Its appearance only implies danger to addictive personalities. Don’t worry, you’re on the safe side. If you happen to be one of the developers of these marvelous worlds, even better for you!
In fact, 3D virtual reality or Metaverse is getting more popular nowadays. Facebook believes in the future of virtual realities so much they changed the company name to Meta. It’s official, no kidding.
The question is, do we really want the people who spur hate and collect every piece of user data on the web to build a virtual world for us?
Heavy Industry and Pollution
As we talk about innovation, we think of information technologies first. The technologies that revolve around material goods do not stand still as well. Mining, construction, machine building, to name a few.
The resources that are being extracted and processed eventually end up in the items we use in daily life. Including the aforementioned gadgets and vehicles. It is therefore fair to say that this branch of technology serves as a base for them.
Mass production drives progress worldwide. Nonetheless, it also brings the issues of sustainability and recycling to the table. The industrial process produces pollution and greenhouse gasses. Meanwhile, the products themselves often end up in landfills. At a certain point, all of it will have to be cleaned up.
Conquer Space or Save Earth First?
The temptation of becoming an interstellar species is so real that many countries fall for it. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson are leading the way in space exploration and tourism. At the same time, they improve various earth-based industries.
There’s an opinion that these influential entrepreneurs should focus their efforts on Earth first. Most people will barely notice any difference in their life after a manned mission successfully lands on Mars. The damage to the ozone layer, on the other hand, could be quite noticeable.
Final Thoughts
Every technology is neutral per se. What matters is how people use it. For example, it only becomes restrictive or liberating if people choose to apply it in that certain way. Does a smartphone give one the power to multitask or introduce dozens of distractions? Does gold mining result in the appearance of beautiful jewelry or total ruin of the surrounding ecosystem?
Irresponsible use of technology turns “simple” into “boring” and “power” into “abuse.” Let us make sure it doesn’t happen with our personal choices.
