The
introduction and integration of technology into society has significantly
influenced our lifestyle. Modern advancements have made life on earth much
easier for the human kind. We all can easily recall the plots from watching
movies and cartoons which pictured how easy life would be in the future. We don’t
need use hand washing anymore. Washing machine can work automatically for us,
washing, drying, and hanging up them for us. With a hand clap, we can easily
turn on and turn off the light and fan. Meals can be cooked in the microwave at
the press of a button within a few seconds. From sending letter to sending
email, from calling phone to webcam via smart phone, from shopping at shop to
shopping online, everything seems so easy to be done. We all could not imagine
that there are a lot of things that seems impossible to do so but they are all
working now. The invention of internet has shortened the progress of
communication to each other. Internet makes the world becomes smaller. Advances
in science and technology have been the major source of change in recent
decades and this change has led to progress. In this new era, we all need inspiration;
discovery and exploration, the latest generation are exposed with a lot of
temptations and rumour and they have to identify whether it is true or false;
correct or wrong. But still, a coin has two sides, does technology really help
us or destroy us?
In socio-cultural aspect, people can
connect to each other easily since the innovation of internet. By having smart
phone, we can enjoy huge conveniences that we never had before. By downloading chatting apps, we all can text
and call each other free of charges. Using photo sharing apps or websites, such
as instagram, flickr, tumblr, we can now upload photos or videos to share our latest
life moments with our friends and families. Using foursquare app, we checked in
the location wherever we at and to know where our friends at now. Through social
website such as Facebook, Google+, we may know the latest news and trends of all over the world and get to
know what happened lately around our friends. Don’t know the way to your friend’s
place? Smartphone’s built-in GPS (Global Position System) can aid you by
showing direction services. Every problem seems can be solved easily by having
a single smart phone on your hand. But wait, is it true? People less talking face
to face even though they are just sitting next to each other. Smartphone
addiction has become a norm in modern society. When taking public transport, we
can see that everyone is wearing earphones and playing theirs smartphone.
People can increase their self-esteem and help them feel less isolated, as if
they belong to a group. Facebook also allows those who are shy or have trouble
making friends to socialize more easily. Social networking has been the major
way for people to have discussions, expand business market, promoting the brand
itself and so on. These are all the pros of Facebook. In virtue reality, we
seem to be closer to each other. But in reality, we don’t even say hi to each
other. This is really awkward. Relationship are meant to be built by meeting up
in real often, showing cares by attentions and actions instead of liking and
commenting on each other’s posts on website. People nowadays more likely to
spend more time to online instead of exercising, As seen in TED talks, Turkle
shares her thoughts on technology’s impacts. She says, “As we expect more from
technology; we start to expect less from each other”. She suggests we often
hide by sending messages electronically rather than discussing difficult issues
in person. She points out that people are more electronically connected. She
points out that we are not building relationships with each other, but building
relationship with technology as if it is
a real thing. There is a balance. We must use technology to enhance, not to
replace, our social interaction. We are still human and still have need for
actual physical connection. The internet has been a miracle outlet for people
from all over the world to share ideas and thoughts that are inspiring people. We
do need time away from technology, just like we need time away from people at
times.
The news resourced from internet might be just
a rumour as trick. Not all of them is true, people might believe it and spread
the fake news out and misunderstood causes. The pranks of spreading death news
of celebrity by hates are very common online. Online users have to be smart to
identify the authenticity of news.
Another problem caused by technology is
privacy reveal, people always share out where is their current location and
this may causes crime happens. Privacy is a major concern for most Facebook
users, and it’s really important to understand the site’s privacy settings and
set them accordingly. Even though site’s security has been improved a lot, it
can still be easy-access for hackers to hack and misuse personal information. We
all have to bear the risks of sharing our latest location, contact numbers or
home address. Sharing out nude photos is what youth like to do so now. It is
like a trend. The widespread use of the Internet, mobile phones and other
digital communication means has brought with it a new type of building ---
cyberbullying. Cyber bullying is the sending or posting of damaging or cruel
text or images using the Internet or other digital communication devices such
as webpages, Windows Live Messenger, social networking sites (Facebook, Google+),
chat rooms, forums, e-mail, blogs, mobile phones, virtual worlds. Cyber bullying
can have devastating consequences. Suicide is one. There many real cases happened.
They have been committed suicide for several times after they have been cyber
bullied for many times even though they have moved to a new place for a whole
new life. They are being bullied like a recycle in life and they felt that they
are meaning less to live in the world. We should have set online protect law with no leaking. Online safety is
what we should concern on now.
The arts,
artists, and culture do not seem as valued as in the past. No one cares the
origins of the idea or artwork. How would the Beatles promote their music
today? They will probably sell their songs on iTunes instead of selling Vinyl
record. With a Creative Commons license, they would probably allow others to
use but not modify their work. Artists have to change the way they promote their
artworks and the way of making money. There are many singers or video producer promote
themselves via Youtube, a free platform for them to increase publicity. Justin
Bieber is a well-known example as a successful Youtube singer. Bieber was
discovered in 2008 by American Talent manager Scooter Braun, who came across
Bieber’s videos on Youtube and later became his manager. He was nominated for
Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
His fans came from all over the world and termed as “Beliebers”. Nowadays,
everyone can have their own channel online easily, people can create a blog and
share their thoughts on websites free of charges. We all have free platform to
present our talents and thoughts to the world. Having advanced technology,
video, audio, images, and words can be shared openly to worlds and cultures
that we could never learn in a book. We can well save all the documents by
uploading to skydrive, an online document saving system free of charges. We
must use these tools smartly to reach the fullest potential. But for sure, we
need to support the arts and artists and value each other’s culture. E-learning
and home schooling are the new ways to study by self instead of attending
traditional school classes. There are a lot of good tutorial videos have been shared
out and we can learn a lot of things online such as baking a cheesecake,
playing guitar, speaking French and so on. They are all free lessons provided
online.
Globalisation
which is a new term has pop out, with the well development of information
technology, business expand to worldwide market and consumer are benefited by
having imported products from international countries. People are exposed with
the latest information from worldwide and we can share our knowledge and
experiences to everyone who is online regardless of nationality, races, and
gender. Everyone has the right to voice out their thoughts. To be responsible, people should always use
their real name and real display photos of themselves and responsible for what
they have said. Leaving comments anonymously is a coward way to present
themselves.
In
conclusion, technology does benefit people by providing the conveniences to interact
with people from international, expose latest news to people, providing free
platform to sharing thoughts and works online and so on. Technology is great, it
is up to humankind to misuse it or use it in the right way. This is the whole new era that we can explore freely, get inspiration and update ourselves freely. We must make sure that we have used technology tools and gadgets to the fullest potential, do not waste of the power of technology.
References
Turkle, S.
(2012) Connected, but alone?. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.html
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