Among all other things in society, technology has the greatest manifestations of development throughout human history. Military, transportation, medicine, communications, and so on; these can be and has been redefined by technological advancement. At first, technology simply begun with agricultural and transportation purposes, but now, it is already the ‘standardized form’ of human processes – even in the most critical medicinal treatments. Since the Scientific Revolution, many claimed that such technological/industrial advancement gave way to the philosophers to produce and extend true knowledge to everyone (Shapin 119), and that such happening is a surge forward and watershed advancement (Kreis, “Medieval Synthesis and the Secularization of Human Knowledge”) in human society. However, is it really true that technological development serves as picture of human excellence? The only measure of this question is the view of the various extents of the results of technological advancement as to whether it serves for the good of everyone or not.
For many, more particularly those who lived many years ago, life would be better without any of these technological developments nowadays. On the other hand, many claim that technology make human lives easier, more comfortable, and more capable of withholding life deterioration. In light this argument, however, the answer depends on some aspects and on some occasions. Technological advancement can be not so beneficial, as people deem it, when it is used to destroy, or when it results into the loss of fundamental form of human learning, or when it results into the loss of fundamental skills of every workman. Technology is significantly good but in many – if not all – points, adverse effects could happen when people become too dependent on it. This paper includes the discussion on how people become overly dependent on technology, along with some evidences in reality. Some definite positions on the areas of environment, communications, education, and medicine will also be included.
Indeed, technology serves well for the good of mankind. It made way for the globalization of trade and industry – which resulted into the development of nations. It gave greater means for an individual to communicate with other people despite any distance. It provided certain tools and services helpful for educating the minds of people. It complemented the traditional way of honing the skills of every worker in various trades and careers. In fact, almost every human activity nowadays points to the necessity of technology in life. But the point is that when people go farther than having technology as mere complement to things we do and interact with, they lose significant things within themselves.
Take environment for instance, which everybody can see is the one mainly affected negatively by technology. Technology improves the procedures of agricultural systems but adverse effects are still present from the tractors and the chemicals applied to the farms. Having this in a general and wider perspective, when society tends to focus more on the ‘beauty’ of technology, natural environment becomes at great stake.
Another form of negative results from technology is in the context of communications. Whether it is with mobile phones or with instant messaging through the internet, overdependence on technology has some disadvantages. One, it may affect the [formal] literacy of an individual. In text messaging, people want to have ease in their conversation by shortening some words within their message. In fact, text communication is deemed notorious for forming misunderstandings (Baldauf and Stair 225). If a young uneducated person will get used of this, he/she will certainly find it hard to make formal and complete in many occasions. Another one, which is also related to the aforementioned example, is the significant loss of “self-sufficiency”. Overuse on text messaging can make someone overly dependent on other people’s answers and other response rather than have it on his/her own. This is discussed more in the latter part.
Another perspective on the downsides of overuse of technology is in the context of medicine – particularly its practices. Indeed, when it comes to drugs and other medicinal intakes, technology is truly necessary. Computerized provider order entry and other clinical information systems can help reduce critical medical errors, promote practice standardization, and develop the quality of patient care (Campbell et al. 94). However, here are some negative results that could happen from this. First, when there are no other backup systems aside from the computerized ones, great clinical chaos will definitely happen when these “computerized” systems [accidentally] breaks down. Second, when providing clinical information from computerized systems, clinicians’ reports and opinions vary from strong scepticism to complete trust of what is shown in the computer (Campbell et al. 96). Since the output is computer-generated, research attests that information becomes inconsistent. Third, many clinicians are unable to work absolutely with computer-generated clinical systems. This suggests that if clinicians will be overly dependent on technology for their practices, significant skills would be lost – keeping them from professional excellence. Another example for the context of clinical practices is the use of breastfeeding technology. Breast pumps, for instance, are used by many mothers as an alternative – in order to ease them in breastfeeding, and to allow them to do other activities. But research study affirms that this leads into “breast pain, soreness, and discomfort; the need for medical intervention; breast tissue damage; and contamination of the breast milk during the pumping” (qtd. in Buckley 13). Overdependence on technology in clinical practices is when clinicians no longer take technology as merely flexible tools to support work activities (Sittig and Ash 126). When it is already used as a substitute for natural practices – such as breastfeeding – or for the natural methods of clinical operations, technology is of no good at all.
Lastly, the downside of technology is in the context of education and profession. With “cool” gadgets such as Android phones, and PSPs, parents become more negligent of the education of their children. Overdependence on technology is a major concern, to the extent that people experience gradual to drastic loss of essential skills, mental toughness, and physical stability to survive (Stevens 3). Parents think that with these gadgets, their children will find their way to educating themselves anyway. Even older people get affected with the overuse of technological innovations. The “need” for social interaction and communication through social networks could lead into serious “addiction”. In fact, a job-seeker may use the internet for looking for jobs, yet overuse of this could not lead to a good result. In formal education, some contends that ‘technocratic consciousness is the new educational mechanism for generating classroom health.” (qtd. in Mahajan 5). But this still results to unhealthy learning.
There are more examples of adverse consequences of man’s overdependence on technology such as the cyber bullying, cyber crimes, and so on. But in conclusion, technology is absolutely not bad by itself. The way people use it and to what extent they use it determines whether it is for the good or for the bad of everyone. Man must use technology the proper way.
Works Cited
Baldauf, Kenneth, and Ralph Stair. Succeeding With Technology. Massachusetts: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Buckley, Kathleen M. “A Double-Edged Sword: Lactation Consultants' Perceptions of the Impact of Breast Pumps on the Practice of Breastfeeding.” The Journal Perinatal Education 18.2 (2009): 13-22. Print.
Campbell, Emily, Dean Sittig, Kenneth Guappone, Richard Dykstra, and Joan Ash. “Overdependence on Technology: An Unintended Adverse Consequence of Computerized Provider Order Entry.” AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings (2007): 94-98. Print.
Kreis, Steven. The Medieval Synthesis and the Secularization of Human Knowledge: The Scientific Revolution, 1642-1730. The History Guide, 13 Aug. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. < http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture7a.html>
Mahajan, Gourav. “Multimedia in Teacher Education: Perception & Uses.” Journal of Education and Practice 3.1 (2012): 5-13. Print.
Shapin, Steven. The Scientific Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Print.
Sittig, Dean, and Joan Ash. Clinical Information Systems: Overcoming Adverse Consequences. Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2011. Print.
Stevens, David. “The Menace of Micros.” Computerworld 3 Nov. 1980: 3-22. Print.
