Everyone’s worried about smartphones. Headlines like “Have smartphones destroyed a generation? ” and “Smartphone addiction could be changing your brain” paint a bleak picture of our smartphone addiction and its long-term consequences. This isn’t a new lament—public opinion at the advent of the newspaper worried that people would forego the stimulating pleasures of early-morning conversation in favor of reading the daily.
Is the story of technology really that bad? Certainly there’s some reason to worry. Smartphone use has been linked to serious issues, such as dwindling attention spans, crippling depression, and even increased incidence of brain cancer. Ultimately, though, the same concern comes up again and again: Smartphones can’t be good for us, because they’re replacing the real human connection of the good old days.
Everyone’s heard how today’s teens just sit together in a room, texting, instead of actually talking to each other. But could those teenagers actually be getting something meaningful and real out of all that texting? The social problems presented by the computer are easy to see and understand
according to some authors on the topic. However, why the computer has had the impact
it has had must be addressed when fully comprehending all that the computer does to
society. There are many characteristics which are considered factors in the social impact
of computer technology. Technology is not value neutral, so to say, as it has been
thought, but rather the computer and the advancement of technology contains grand
adjustments to society that are far from neutral. Blaise W. Liffick, Ph. D. , in the
department of computer science at Millersville University, argues there are twelve major
characteristics of the social impact that has come about due to the computer. Some of Dr.
Liffick’s characteristics include ubiquity, magnification, accessibility, reproducibility and
distributability, lack of accountability, temporality, spatiality, and shifting of
relationships/changes in intercommunication protocols. 7
Liffick uses the term ubiquity to
express how computers appear basically everywhere in this modern day. Even when
people do not encounter computers directly in modern convenience devices, “the utility
companies are recording usage, the phone company records incoming calls, answering
machine might be recording a message while we are doing something else, and someone
is performing a credit check on us. ”8
Computers tend toward magnification in several
different ways. “First, the explosion of the availability of information is due in large part
to the computer's ability to generate, collect, and store an ever increasing amount of raw
data. ”9
Data can be collected and synthesized at such a rapid pace that there is more time
to divulge into the information and understand what lies beneath the surface. Information
is accessible to an unprecedented number of people regardless of their location
Everyone’s worried about smartphones. Headlines like “Have smartphones
destroyed
a generation? ” and “Smartphone addiction could be changing your brain” paint a bleak picture of our smartphone addiction and its long-term consequences. This isn’t a new lament—public opinion at the advent of the newspaper worried that
people
would forego the stimulating pleasures of early-morning conversation in favor of reading the daily.
Is the story of
technology
really
that
bad
?
Certainly
there’s
some
reason to worry. Smartphone
use
has
been linked
to serious issues, such as dwindling attention spans, crippling depression, and even increased incidence of brain cancer.
Ultimately
, though, the same concern
comes
up again and again: Smartphones can’t be
good
for us,
because
they’re replacing the real human connection of the
good
old
days.
Everyone’s heard how
today
’s teens
just
sit together in a room, texting,
instead
of actually talking to each other.
But
could those
teenagers
actually be getting something meaningful and real out of all that texting? The social problems presented by the computer are easy to
see
and
understand
according
to
some
authors on the topic.
However
, why the computer has had the impact
it has had
must
be addressed
when
fully
comprehending all that the computer does to
society
. There are
many
characteristics which
are considered
factors in the social
impact
of
computer
technology
.
Technology
is not value neutral,
so
to say, as it has
been
thought
,
but
rather
the computer and the advancement of
technology
contains grand
adjustments
to society that are far from neutral.
Blaise
W.
Liffick
,
Ph. D.
,
in
the
department of computer science at
Millersville
University, argues there are twelve
major
characteristics
of the social impact that has
come
about due to the computer.
Some
of Dr.
Liffick
’s characteristics include ubiquity, magnification, accessibility, reproducibility and
distributability
, lack of accountability, temporality,
spatiality
, and shifting of
relationships
/
changes
in intercommunication protocols. 7
Liffick
uses
the term ubiquity to
express
how computers appear
basically
everywhere in this modern day. Even
when
people
do not encounter computers
directly
in modern convenience devices, “the utility
companies
are recording usage, the phone
company
records incoming calls, answering
machine might be recording a message while we are doing something else, and someone
is
performing a credit
check
on us.
”8
Computers tend toward magnification in several
different
ways. “
First
, the explosion of the availability of information is due in large part
to the computer's ability to generate, collect, and store an
ever increasing
amount of raw
data
.
”9
Data can
be collected
and synthesized at such a rapid pace that there is more time
to
divulge into the information and understand what lies beneath the surface. Information
is accessible to an unprecedented number of
people
regardless of their location
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