Technology has revolutionized the world. But it has as many drawbacks as it does benefits, and that’s something no one can be in doubt about. After all, we wouldn’t be without all of the modern advancements and digital tech on our hands, but there’s quite a few ways we’re still let down by them! And one of the main ways this happens, according to the tech we keep in our homes and in our pockets, is due to connectivity.
You don’t have to get off from your phone and pay attention to the world around you. But, it’d be good to realise how much of a problem things like a phone or a laptop or using the internet or both can become. So let’s examine that idea below.
A Constant Social World
Having a mobile phone in your pocket means you can call, text, instant message, and connect to some kind of internet signal wherever you are in the world. And yes, this is a situation much more preferable to not having a phone on you when you go out! But at the end of the day, how often do you need to connect to other people?
On the one hand, it’s good we now have social messaging and community portals at our fingertips, like muslim apps for people always looking to keep in touch with their faith, or dating apps where women are the only ones allowed to message first. But how often do the lines blur between the real connections you have, and the parasocial ones you invent after having a boom in your followers on sites like Twitter and Tumblr?
Accessing Information at the Touch of a Button
Of course, being able to access the answers you need whenever you need them is a great use of the technology present in our world. But once again, this idea can tip over into dangerous territory. How many times have you been presented with what you thought were symptoms of a cold or flu, and you looked them up just to be sure, and found a website telling you that you may have something a lot more serious? How much did that ‘finding’ scare you?
It’s times like these that being able to access information whenever you need to can work against you, considering a lack of professionalism about the resources you can find online. You can never be sure that the person behind the screen that writes and runs the website you’re using is a real doctor or nurse, and that’s always something to keep in mind.
A Lack of Privacy
The technological world has often been accused of having an innate lack of privacy, and there’s been quite a few occasions where this accusation has rung true. Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, Target in the USA, Wikileaks, — the list goes on and on. It’s hard to erase data from the internet as soon as that data is put out there.
Technology can connect us, but it’s good at tearing us apart too.
