Abstract
One of the most crucial things that gives the society a meaning and also gives a clear definition of human beings is the interaction between technology and the society. Presently, technology has taken the society as a captive whereby it steers almost every day-to-day life activity. Many forms of entertainment used today such as internet, televisions and video games may seem harmless, but in the real sense they have negatively affected the society. The strong interaction between technology and the society has both positive and negative effects. This discussion will deal with technology’s social side effects by addressing two texts. The first text of great importance to this discussion is an article from Living Enterprise published on March 8, 2013. The article is entitled “The negative side effects of social technology”. The second article was retrieved from BBC News on August 15, 2013 showing how facebook has affected people in the society.
Text No. 1 (The negative effects of social technology)
The writer’s purpose
This article was written by Sudhir Desai from Living Enterprise on March 8, 2013. In the article, the writer pointed out the importance of communication among people. He argued that people must gossip for life to go on, however, the introduction of technology through social media has given people a better avenue to share information. The article was written with an objective of demonstrating how technology has affected the society negatively. He calls for the public to be careful with this invention because it has ruined many lives. The writer admits that there is a strong interaction between technology and the society but, the interaction has resulted into aggressiveness. Society has been eroded with things that bring no value as people take advantage of technology, especially the social media networks, to perform evils. The writer also pointed out the potentiality of abuse and misuse of technology even if it was not meant to be inherently destructive (Desai).
The comments written in response to this post indicate that most readers were not satisfied with the way the writer argued his topic. However, according to me the writer has really tried to show the public that technology really is the source of most evil happening in the society today (Holmes 15).
Text No. 2 (Facebook use 'makes people feel worse about themselves)
Purpose
This text came from BBC news read on August 15, 2013. The person who presented this text was more concerned with facebook because it is the most used social network site in the world today. Facebook is a form of technology that enables users to communicate and share information. A study conducted on the negative effects of facebook for a period of two weeks revealed that most users feel worse as they use the site. The writer’s main purpose was to show how facebook users end up feeling worse about them after getting addicted to the site. Facebook has the potential of providing a user with invaluable resources that can fulfill human needs in terms of social connection. Consequently, the research conducted with the help of internet psychologist Graham Jones concluded that facebook has negative social impacts (BBC).
How is the problem being socially constructed?
The issue of technology and its effects to the society has generated a lot of debates in the world today. Some people, especially religious leaders have condemned the introduction of technology because it has created a rotten society. Looking at the two texts, there is a clear indication that both writers never hate technology but, they were concerned about the wellbeing of human beings. The presenter at BBC sympathizes with his viewers especially when he produces graphs with statistics showing technology’s side effects to the people (BBC 1). Desai also sympathized with his readers when he calls the web a monster ready to swallow its users (Desai 1).
Theoretical perspectives of each text
Desai’s perspectives are based on effects of technology and how it has transformed the society negatively. According to Desai’s theoretical point of view, people should positively make use of technology and avoid misusing it. On the other hand, the writer could have approached this issue with a different format. For instance, he may give us a live example of people in a society, like an institution, where technology has greatly affected their performance. This approach could enable a reader get to know better the right way to use technology.
On the other hand, the BBC news text has used facebook to explain how technology has misled the society. Using facebook as a case study earned BBC great audience because most people are addicted to facebook but, find it hard to get rid of the addiction.
Basic similarities and differences between the two
Similarities
Firstly, both two texts focus on the technology’s side effects. Desai focused on how the web has affected people in the society while BBC focuses on one form of technology, Facebook. Secondly, both texts share the same purpose of warning people against spending more time in the web. Differences
The only difference between the two texts is on the perspective. Desai talked about the side effects of technology to the society but, he did not provide any example to support his argument. His perspective was based only on theory. On the other hand, the BBC News article discusses the effects of technology and goes ahead to specify one form of technology. In addition, the presenter gave an example of a case study conducted on facebook usage. This argument is based on facts and practical work.
Works cited
BBC. "Facebook use 'makes people feel worse about themselves'." BBC News. BBC, 15 Aug.
2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23709009>.
Desai S. The Negative side-effects of Social Technology. 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
<http://livingenterprise.net/the-negative-side-effects-of-social-technology/>.
Holmes, N. "Side Effects Of Digital Technology." Computer 35.4 (2002): 104-103. Print.
