THE ISSUES OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT
Communication technologies have evolved so much in the last century, from riding horses to send a message to a tap of a finger, it is easy to overlook the sacrifices we have taken from being so immersed in it. There have been occurring issues such as self isolation, cyber crime, child safety, and distraction. There are also upcoming technologies we should be careful of, such as the Metaverse and Unimals.
Social Isolation
Email, online chat rooms, and social networking sites are great ways to keep in touch, however, psychologists are concerned that the lack of human contact may have an impact on people's social and emotional well-being. In Aric Sigman's article, "Biologist", he says:
"The lack of real face-to-face contact fostered by online communication could alter gene functioning, interfere with the immune system, adversely affect arteries and impair mental performance. By contrast, personal interaction has a positive effect on our well-being."
Solutions to prevent this is to find productive coping methods (painting, drawing, gardening, build), or to go out in public without a cellphone.
Cyber Crime
Cyber criminals exploit communication technology to steal financial information, such as bank accounts, logins, and card numbers. They do this by installing malicious spyware on people's computers without consent, via a download link, or fake instructions. With the spyware, they have access to many things on your computer, such as saved accounts, webcam, and external devices. These criminals can also send phishing emails that direct recipients to fake websites, like a fake bank website. Solutions to prevent cyber criminals is to install trustworthy software to halt viruses and spyware, such as VPNs and firewalls.
Child Safety
Children of this generation are born at a time where technology is easily accessible, however, this exposes them to many risks. Children can be exposed to graphic images, adult content, cyber bullying, and child predators. Communication technology takes a huge part with child predators, as they lure children into online chat rooms to talk to them privately. To ensure the safety of children, parents or guardians can give extra supervision while their child is on a device, or install software's that can filter only child friendly results such as Surf Safely, YouTube Kids, and Ask Kids.
Distraction
Communication technology can be very fast and efficient. You are able to send a message to someone across the world in a matter of seconds. This efficiency is what makes a lot of people so attached to their devices, to the point where they forget the world apart from their screens. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than 2,800 deaths and 400,00 injuries in car crashes involving a distracted driver in 2018. Solutions for this would be to keep devices out of arms reach when it is vital to stay focuses, or to use the do not disturb feature that most cellphones have.
upcoming technology
Our current communications technology has generated many issues, so let's take a look at upcoming technologies to see what we should be careful of.
Metaverse
The metaverse is an upcoming and current communication technology created by Neal Stephenson. It is a network of 3D virtual worlds, focused on social connection with the use of virtual augmented reality headsets. This technology sounds exciting, though it also comes with many risks. For example, any form of online harassment will feel realistic, and especially since there seems to be less consequences for acts done online, it may become a common thing. There is also a risk for hackers and fraudsters, as it will become a very dangerous place in the wrong hands. There are many great figures that do not support the metaverse, such as the creator of PlayStation, Ken Kutaragi.
Unimals
Unimals are nothing to worry about at the moment. It is nothing but brilliant research from a PhD student from Stanford University, Agrim Gupta. Unimals, short for "universal animals", are essentially artificial intelligence in which a virtual creature is given a body and evolves after going through various terrains and objects. The body consists of one head and multiple limbs. Gupta believes that if the goal is to recreate intelligence, we must go back and look how intelligence is developed naturally, and that would be through trial and error. Unimals continue evolving until it achieves a body that can best perform a certain task. In the future, unimals can be used in a form of communication technology, such as an AI to talk to, virtual assistance, and many more. This is dangerous because the method of unimal development is not completely in a persons control, so there is a chance for their intelligence to develop in a negative way.
