Technology Pro's and Con's and How it can Destroy Society

Digital technology is a double-edged sword. There are many beneficial aspects of technology; however, there are also many non-beneficial aspects as well. For my generation (Gen Z), digital technology has been around for as long as I can remember. My generation with technology was a little different in the fact that we were not glued to iPads like the generation now (Gen Alpha) is. In my experience, whenever I go out to a restaurant, I always see kids either on their iPads or parent’s phones, watching videos or playing games.

Pros:

I feel older generations have this notion that technology is ruining the world. In some aspects, yes, but in others, no. Technology has played a massive role in developing new medical equipment and medications. It has also increased life expectancy and reduced child mortality. Another big thing it has helped is finding cures to diseases people would have never thought would be cureable.Cons: 

Technology has also made our lives a lot easier. Technology has allowed us to send messages anywhere in the world in seconds. It has also allowed us to become more connected than ever and be able to meet new people all over the world. Another thing that has allowed us to do is get news instantly. Before this, you had to wait for the evening news to broadcast the latest story or the newspaper to come the next morning. Lastly, technology has made our lives a lot easier by finding information. Nowadays, if you don’t know the answer to a question, you go straight to Google and look up the answer. 

Con's

Now, as good as all of that sounds, technology has downfalls. I believe technology is ruining the way we communicate with each other. Many people are glued to their phones and only text people. I feel that it hurts society as a whole because people will soon be unable to talk to others. This will cause huge mental health concerns because people are not going to be able to talk about their feelings or be able to sustain relationships. On the topic of mental health, cyberbullying is at an all-time high. Many people are being bullied on social media with pictures or posts about other people. 

AI has become a little too real. The people who created it have taught the AI to be just like us. This causes people to talk to AI, believing the AI bot is real after some time. There is a reason why ChatGPT only allows a certain number of submissions before it resets. Lastly, AI is taking over many jobs. AI is able to do tasks more accurately and at a lower cost than employees. Due to this, many companies have decided to hire humans instead of AI. In the short term, this might not sound as bad, but in the long term, this could be devastating for the economy, and people will be jobless. 

  

It sounds like I don’t like technology, but that’s not true. I use technology all the time. I use AI to answer emails or ask questions about something we’re learning. I use Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and TikTok every day. I know it sounds terrible, but that is usually how I receive my news. I have been told a million times to not believe everything you read on the internet, but I will admit I believe many things I read. After taking this class and reading about how people write misleading and misinformation all the time, I see myself double-checking stories I read on Instagram and putting them into Google to see if multiple news agencies covered the topic. There is no escaping technology. 97.1% of U.S population uses technology. Technology is only going to improve. That’s why we need to be careful in how we use it; we need to educate kids at a young age on how to use technology responsibly and limit the usage we allow people to use it.