Benefits and Demerits of the Digital Space to the Society Essay Example

that – when used wisely – the digital space can promote healthy psychological outcomes for its users. In this paper we look at how technology has had diverse demerits on the society, illustrating how technology has ruined lives rather than improving lives. Slowly by slowly “technology has been considered the legit way of communication by many and has hence replaced face to face communication” (Gale 81). As a result, many have been alienated from the digital world and do not exist in the real world. A family in Massachusetts even reacted by setting a technology Sabbath where no Smartphone is used or even any other communication technology.

The father, William Powers set the obligations after realizing they were not living in reality. Another woman, Melisa Niles complains about how technology has made things difficult for her. She says instead of meeting for a quick cup of coffee and save time, she spends 30 minutes texting back and forth about how their days were. This does not only waste her time but also gets her worn out. They do not see physically and do not also communicate effectively because they are not at face to face. So here, we see that “technology is also a time waster” (Bell, Rebecca, and Clive Gifford 96).

She says instead of going in and talks to her professor's face to face during his office hours, she emailed him instead. From this experience, the professor never got to her at all, even though he would have made a great source of a recommendation letter. So here she can easily fail to get the job of her dreams because she did not search for

the professor physically, technology is again limiting her opportunities. At the bus stop, she ignores a cute guy asking her for her time just because she was tied replying to a text from her phone. She spent too much time on Facebook catching up with her 1000+ friends whom she doesn’t even get to know. This story of this woman is evidence that bit by bit technology is destroying the meaningfulness of interaction disconnecting people from the world around them, therefore leading to isolation in the society.

People no longer spend time together with friend or family as ten texts even equal 1 hour of lunch chatting with a friend. The plain truth is that face to face friendship and conversations are more valuable than those made on social media. Pick for instance an individual having over two thousand friends on Facebook, when he or she posts she gets a lot of likes and positive feedbacks yet out of the many people that like her posts online she has very few to trust and even share personal issues with. One with ten friends that are mutual and can meet and chat with them is luckier than that with ten thousand Facebook friends that they never meet nor chat with. Sociology has studied the change in lifestyle and noted two problems that are brought about by technology in communication. Youths bend their necks so much while using their phones and other technological devices in communication.

As a result of this, a large group of young people is straining their necks, and this has given rise to a new disease that is common to the youth. This is a

disease that affects the neck region and causes a lot of pain and might even require surgery in worse medical conditions. This is currently trending globally, and many still do not know about it the risk of affecting many. With face to face communications, there are no such strains to any body parts hence always the best compared to the screen to screen another disease like cancer due to rays from electronics are also a trend in today’s life.

As much as many try to create time for exercise to gain health related fitness they create another gap for chronic diseases to come into people’s life. “Technology comes along with a lot of complications in human life” (Bell, Rebecca, and Clive Gifford 97). Besides, sociology has also proved that “communication technology also ruins relationships in families” (Gale 59). Take for example a married couple that everyone has a tablet for instance. Most of the time they won’t create time for each other as one or all of them will be playing video games or attending to their online chats. “This not only creates a rift between the two but also raises suspicion in the family” as put by (Lee 179).

Honesty questions start to rise as one person will complain about undivided attention and the other would maybe want to know in specificity the people their spouse chat with. Some parents do not have time for their families including children because of these problems. Children also waste a lot of time in technology, therefore, having very little time with their families hence some of them are not taught values. All these “family rifts are caused through technology

in communication” (Clive Gifford 97). ‘Politicians today reach most of their target population through social; media like Twitter and Facebook’(Lee 89).

They try to sell their ideologies through the social media or even woe the public for their votes. Some of their posts are sincere and innocent whereas some are harsh and always convey an inciting message to the public. Many have used the social media before as a platform to share their evil thoughts of incitement and division to the public. Some of these politicians are so famous that a single hatred speech may reach as much as the whole country or even the world and influence many. Many social media users also follow politicians and journalists and read daily what they post.

A large number of this group is influenced by the sentiments made on these platforms. If a political leader from the political; alignment that you are in makes a sentiment, some of the diehard supporters are always ready to defend them whether wrong or not. It is from this perspective that division begin to occur as the other political alignment will also fight back fiercely through the same platforms and the arguments will go viral therefore causing political tension which may lead to political instability. Some of these political figures even employ bloggers who are meant to support whatever sentiments they make whether wrong or right. These bloggers spend most of their time trying to convince people into the ideas of their employers regardless of whether they are moral or not. In general, ‘social media is having more negative impact on politics than the positive ones’ ("Media, Technology, And Society: Theories of Media

Evolution").

‘Another area that cannot go untouched when talking about the demerits of the screen to screen communication is cybercrime’ ("Media, Technology, And Society: Theories of Media Evolution"). Crime through the internet is rising and many get stolen from online, and others conned. With face to face communication, legit trade is done with known traders who can be traced for reference. However, with social media and the new technology, many invest in uncertain futures and make financial deals with those that they haven’t met.

This is a platform that promotes crime. It is from such businesses that money is laundered, people’s accounts hacked and many conned. There are many reported cases of traders making deals with nonexistent online companies that are out to steal from the public or even agents that are fake and purport to be representing some existing organizations and end up stealing from the public. However, the new ways of communication and technological advances also have advantages that they bring in today’s life. First social networking sites have made it ‘easier to make friends’ (Sproat 91).

Decades ago connection was a big problem since not every person is outgoing and would want to talk to everybody. The rise of mobile phones gave the connection a new face and all these was made easier, and then this was followed by social media which made interaction, even more, easier and enjoyable. Today one can have hundreds of friends and interact with as many of them on Facebook. As much as they are not friends, one has met they are still friends nevertheless. Networking has also offered people the ‘platform to share their experiences about life’ (Sproat 94).

Many of us spend our time talking about ourselves on social media, and this is regarded very natural, these includes the hard times, sweet times, twists and even the tricky times of life.

These memories are shared with people who care to listen and may help in offering advice on how to deal with the issues. These memories also bring about empathy on social media and remind us about the sense of humanity. Time frame today is stretched thinner and thinner by family connections and daily duties and commitments, social networking is offering a ‘platform for communication in a speedy way that saves time and increases efficiency’ (Gifford 79). For example, writing a post on Twitter would take twenty seconds to do, but then the post will reach each and every of your target population or even more also.

Social media opens the world up to you and do not only limit you to the circles of your friends and family but a ‘variety from where you can get diverse information’ (Sproat 95). It makes the world look like a global village and one would have so much contacts that they won’t tell where they reside, and in this everyone is equal .no one is more superior to the other in social media you all stand equal chances. Families abroad can be kept updated on the happenings back at home in your same world way as those living next door. Social media has been proven to have broken many relationships, but there is another chapter often ignored. Social media brings strangers together make the fond of each other, and build a strong correlation between them.

Though break ups

may be painful at times they can also be beneficial to parties concerned and in search cases it serves them all right. Social networking has also helped many find those with common grounds as they do. It ‘brings together those with common interests’ (Bell, Rebecca ; Clive Gifford 96). For example, when Facebook asks you to state who you are what you like and what is your favorite sport, another person elsewhere is having common interests as you and you can easily link up together as a result of your interests. This is something that can only be easier to do when online than when offline. Therefore, the networks make fitting in easy.

Same with most things in life there is always a positive and a negative side, and this is no different with social networking. In my conclusion screen to screen communication has corrupted lifestyle according to my previous thesis. It has lowered the empowerment levels of humans as many things are done through machines and not individuals. It has also interfered with general interaction to a great extent making it look more formal than before which is not so friendly for healthy relationships. Therefore, I call upon everyone to take the initiative and employ moderation in the use of technology in communication.

Works Cited

1. "Media, Technology, And Society: Theories of Media Evolution". (2010): n. pag. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.
2. Bell, Rebecca, and Clive Gifford. "How Today's Technology Really Works: Technology." (2013): 96-97.
3. Gale, "Technology and Society.".

   Opposing Viewpoints in context (2016): online.

4. Gifford, Clive. Technology. 1st ed. New York: Scholastic, 2013. Print.
5. Lee, Yeung Chung. "Science?Technology?Society or Technology?Society?Science? Insights from an Ancient Technology." International Journal
   

of Science Education 32.14 (2010): 1927-1950...