Free Essay Focusing on the Negative Effects of Technology

The contemporary world is witnessing rapid technological growth which shows no intention of slowing down in the near future. Advancements in domains such as entertainment, education, engineering, transport, communication and medicine are among the areas that have benefited from this swift growth. Technology can be considered to be a double-edged sword since despite presenting these benefits to humans, undesirable effects, especially on children, raise the alarm on the need to integrate technological applications cautiously, which is an issue that every individual cannot afford to overlook. With this in mind, the following paragraphs attempt to explore the negative impacts of this much-acclaimed technology to physical and psychological human well-being.

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In the domestic context, technology is, arguably, culpable for inculcating laziness in guardians, parents and children. Rowan (2013) argues that the foundations of 21st-century households are crumbling resulting in a breakdown of principle morals that kept the family's fabric intact. With the ever-increasing responsibilities at home, places of work and school, parents are tempted to bring transportation, information and communication technologies into action to enhance swift transition between these duties. Additionally, children also exhibit an inclination towards technological devices when playing, which impedes their development of ingenuity and imaginative capabilities. Rowan (2013) continues to liken these youngsters to deskbound bodies experiencing frenzied sensory stimulation that lead to slow childhood development as well as deleterious repercussions on the primary cognitive skills. Owing to the high-speed attributes associated with technological instruments, children in the modern world are enrolling in schools while besieged with inadequate cognitive capacities, self-management and attention techniques needed for proper learning ultimately posing behavioral challenges to educators in the teaching space (ScienceDaily, 2017).

Similarly, the overall health of people hard-wired to this technology culture is jeopardized due to physiological changes brought about by over-indulgence in one lifestyle. According to Northwest Primary Care (2017), the average American spends about 5hours daily gazing at digital screens. This tendency aggravates the chances of such sedentary users to suffer from digital eyestrain and discomforts, whose symptoms include impaired vision, stiff necks, itchiness, headaches and dry eyes. Furthermore, the misuse of mobile technology compromises one's ability to sleep. About 66% of the American residents claim not to have adequate sleep owing to their extreme mobile phone usage. (Northwest Primary Care, 2017) underscore the correlations between heavy use of mobile gadgets before bedtime and increased sleeping disorders by stating that contact with light flashed by these devices subdues the release of melatonin, a hormone that enhances sleep making it challenging for affected people to sleep. In addition to these sleeping conditions, the physical inactivity that characterizes heavy technology users result in uncontrolled weight gain. College students shelled in the smartphone culture perform more dismally in cardiorespiratory fitness nests compared to their less habituated colleagues (Northwest Primary Care, 2017). These health concerns further reiterate the dangers associated with abusing technology.

On a different note, communication is an integral component of the social interaction processes. The advent of social media has superseded human relations with most people, especially teenagers, resorting to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to connect with their friends and relatives. Increased volumes and speeds of these platforms alter the conventional communication regimes by introducing contractions in diction, which are akin to the desires of a few individuals. Rampages.Us (2015) acknowledges that social media has spawned an online community that is oblivious to the need for one-on-one interactions resulting in antisocial and introverted demeanors. Some people even develop intimate relationships through social media, whose longevity is doubtful due to the lack of social connections associated with one-on-one communication. Albert Einstein, a renowned physicist, once expressed his fear that technology would outdo human relations thus creating a society epitomized by idiocy (Rampages.Us, 2015). Moreover, children are also highly susceptible to emotional sicknesses brought about by the vicious cycle of overusing online communication (Bavelier et al., 2010).

Over the past years, mass and social media channels have been subject to heavy civic discourses with claims that they instigate undesirable body images among juveniles. Taylor (2012) argues that excessive screen time in addition to lack of engagement in other meaningful activities such as imaginative plays and reading breeds an unrealistic sense of life among children since their mental and creative abilities become connected in ways that lessen their productivities. Still, on the social media context, a tradition of socialites and vixens seem to be developing, with these figures receiving much acclamation from their peers due to their portrayal of the 'perfect" body and lavish lifestyles.

Young boys will tend to emulate well-built and muscular male models while young girls revere thin-bodied and well-shaped female figures who flash these physique features on social media platforms to enhance their desirability, particularly to the opposite sex (APA, 2014). To alleviate this deleterious influence, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2018) suggests the formulation of regulatory measures through a family media use program that limits screen exposure for children aged below 6years and promotes high-quality programming that is comprehensible to these progenies. Furthermore, parents need to monitor the internet sites that children visit to be aware of their specific content and counsel them accordingly. All the society members also ought to take responsibility for the messages they relay through social and mass media to avoid propagating unwarranted individual details that do not add value to the targeted audience.

Children's biological, chemical and physical processes are dissimilar to those of adult beings due to the gradual developments still taking place. One key aspect that isolates these two groups is the intellectual capacity that encompasses observation, questioning, making decisions, learning, remembering and ingenuity (Taylor, 2012). Since the child's brain is less developed compared to that of an adult, these youngsters are more vulnerable to stressors brought about by electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices. Figure 1 below illustrates the impact of exposure to these rays on the brain tissue across different ages in human development.

Figure 1: Diagrammatic representation of the correlation between age and contact with radiations with regards to the effects observed in brain cells

This diagram shows the fragility of 5-year old children's brains when exposed to harmful emissions from electronics such as mobile devices. Health issues, which include tumors, may ensue that not only compromise their physical welfare but also the rational capacities associated with creativity, linguistic competence, memory, perception, problem solving and perception (Taylor, 2012). These abilities are paramount in guaranteeing successful growth and happiness among children. Activities such as reading immerse young ones in a cognitive and imaginative domain that bolsters their rational processes. Conversely, internet applications spur skimming behavior where the users fail to delve into a single issue critically owing to the high chances of distractions occurring thus limiting the intellectual capabilities of subscribers of these norms.

Moving on, in the school environment, despite technology enhancing learning experiences through systems such as automated interactions, a parallel situation characterized by poor writing skills among students also stems from inadequacies in cursive techniques. (ScienceDaily, 2014) identifies the outcomes of autocorrect features and abbreviations, which include the misfit of learners' written languages where they will likely adopt informal texts in a formal or academic setting. Additionally, faxing and signing eliminate the signature procedure since virtually all documents submitted through the internet are in typed form. Therefore, even as pupils learn how to spell words correctly, their writing skills will continue to deteriorate in the wake of intense technology utilization. Figure 2 below shows the various text fonts available in computers that novices can employ without having to practically learn to jot them down.

Figure 2: Examples of text fonts evident in computers and smartphone devices

Last but not least, environmental integrity is compromised by a needless release of toxic substances into the atmosphere, soil and watercourses. The relentless cycle of replacing outdated technology with modern one is responsible for this waste influx. Stanic (2017) stipulates that dumping old electronics in landfills result in the discharge of poisonous elements such as lithium and mercury, which cause anemia and brain damages. On another note, household appliances such as refrigerators and heaters consume significant amounts of energy obtained from fossil fuels. They also emit fluorocarbons that deplete the ozone layer eventually amplifying climate change and global warming (Stanic, 2017). Figure 3 below represents a summary of the possible effects of technology on the ecological condition.

Figure 3: A summary of the impacts of technology on the environment.

Following the above evaluation, it is now obvious that technology brings about deleterious consequences on both human beings and their environment, arguably on an equal measure of its benefits. However, these repercussions do not call for the complete phasing out of technology since it is already ingrained into the society's fabric. More cautious approaches in its usage and application would be the most effective way of thwarting these implications with proper human development and ecological sustainability in mind. Particularly, vulnerable groups such as children should be prevented from developing addictive behaviors that limit their cognitive processes to the largely un-educative internet space.

Work Cited

"American Academy Of Pediatrics Announces New Recommendations For Children's Media Use". Aap.Org, 2018, https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/american-academy-of-pediatrics-announces-new-recommendations-for-childrens-media-use.aspx. Accessed 1 May 2018.

American Psychological Association. 'Report of the Task Force on the Sexualization of Young Girls'. Composing Gender. Eds Rachael Groner and John O'Hara. New York: Boston, 2014. 268-281.

Bavelier, Daphne, C. Shawn Green, and Matthew WG Dye. "Children, wired: For better and for worse." Neuron 67.5 (2010): 692-701.

Northwest Primary Care. "How Does Technology Use Affect Men'S & Women'S Health?" 2017, https://www.nwpc.com/how-does-technology-use-affect-mens-womens-health/. Accessed 1 May 2018.

Rampages.Us. "The Negative Impacts Of Social Media On Face-To-Face Interactions - Final Inquiry Project". 2015, https://rampages.us/peasedn200/2015/12/01/final-inquiry-project/. Accessed 1 May 2018.

Rowan, Chris. "The Impact Of Technology On The Developing Child". Huffpost, 2013, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/cris-rowan/technology-children-negative-impact_b_3343245.html. Accessed 1 May 2018

ScienceDaily. "Could Texting And Autocorrect Affect Kids' Writing Skills?" 2014, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140519160531.htm. Accessed 1 May 2018.