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Are Changes in Technology Beneficial or Harmful?
As technology and society evolve, there become changes in the ways we consume media, news, and information. These changes, while necessary to the evolution of humanity, are both beneficial and harmful. These changes provide us with information that we would not have been able to access years ago but also display some disadvantages such as desensitization and overly graphic content. Here are some of the pros and cons to our everchanging technological society.
The Good in the Change
With the invention and evolution of drones, mobile smartphones, tablets, TVs, virtual reality, etc. we see that society is more active in what is going on around the world. We can connect ourselves with any part of the world by learning about their struggles and joining in on their causes within seconds. This accessibility in information has made us see how small the world is after all. Technology has the power to connect people from all backgrounds, all distances, and all beliefs. Technology has the power to build communities and spread news at a much faster rate than years past. This spread of news and information can really benefit those in need of help.
Live-streaming "has given incredible power to victims of systemic violence, both online and offline," meaning that it has given the people the ability to share anything they want without media interference.
Jesse Hertzberg, chief executive of Livestream, a popular service among activists and protesters, said, “You used to find out about something like a protest or police shooting after the fact. Now you have this ability to transport yourself to where it’s actually happening — it’s a real visceral, emotional connection.” This gives people more freedom and more access to information.
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| Courtesy of The Washington Post |
The Bad in the Change
We are a culture "famished for entertainment." We will go extreme lengths for entertainment. We want to film every aspect of our lives to relive them later on. Our privacy is invaded, fake news is spread constantly, and so much information is thrown at us that we are desensitized and overwhelmed. The use of live-streaming has granted us the ability to see graphic content whenever we want, arguably desensitizing us to a point where the violence going on in the world is constantly shoved in our faces, becoming a recurring topic we view, often desensitizing viewers.
With people posting videos of people's deaths, we forget how disrespectful this can be to the families of the victims. We tend to forget about others' feelings. Our phones and the technology around us can affect the way we communicate with others and cause us to lose sense of ourselves.
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