Changing Technology, human communication and the ethical issues associated…
I feel socially exhausted from the multiple social media accounts. It’s hard to monitor and check the numerous digital platforms keeping us in the loop. Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Messenger. Does anyone else feel the social pressure to have every social media app? Each one shifting the way we communicate.
Technology and therefore communication evolution is subject to arguments for and against, which I recognise, but you cannot deny that Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 has sky rocketed human communication. This evolution is clearly evident within the transformation of the iPhone:
The constant adaptations of technology demands for the ‘freshest’ in store, to maximise entertainment, communication, lifestyle and other life enjoyments, portraying the digital universe as a popular commodity, that I am a sucker for. Communication technology evolution now has an impeccable nature of instantaneity, allowing multiple avenues of communicating without physical human contact. However, won’t we lack the interpersonal skills when in person? Furthermore, “In an age of the privatisation of entertainment, people spend more time at home compared to earlier generations — isolating themselves from other people and removing them from opportunities for civic dialogue”(Kraut, Brynin, & Kiesler, 2006). Hence, presenting two forms of technology that encourage and discourage the flourishing of communication.
I am paranoid that changing technology is not safeguarding my digital footprint. Putting personal information on the internet is not practical due to the lingering ideology of permanency and how it directly affects me socially and professionally. Unethical practices regarding copyright, privacy, piracy, hacking, social dynamics and industrial issues complicate the digital realm.
One fundamental ethical issue that is abused is the equity of access to evolving technology. Technological barriers such as energy, economic barriers including the cost of acquisition and cultural barriers like dominance of English on the internet, prevents equal access. Deducing that “Entire nations…may not have the economic, political, or educational resources to participate in the information age”(Mirabito & Morgenstern, 2004). Secondly, Cyberbullying is currently trending and correlating statistics of “an estimated 2.2 million (79%) children accessed the Internet either during school hours or outside of school hours“(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009) and “over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied online, and about the same number have engaged in cyber-bullying” (“Cyber Bullying Statistics”, 2009) demonstrating compromised ethics in children/adolescents on the internet due inexperience.
Publishing a digital footprint without consent, viruses, online stalking, anonymity of users and identity theft contribute to my cautionary behaviour, being realistic situations of occurrence in a modernising technology world. Netizens are emerging and requires global unison to combat the disregard for laws governing technology and its use. Therefore, I believe that as long as I remain aware and ethically conscious of the changing technologies and the ways they facilitate communication, I can administer positive online behaviour to the next generations.
REFERENCES
Australian Bureau of Statistics,. (2009). INTERNET USE AND MOBILE PHONES. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/4901.0~Apr+2009~Main+Features~Internet+use+and+mobile+phones?OpenDocument
Cyber Bullying Statistics. (2009). Bullying Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html
Kraut, R., Brynin, M., & Kiesler, S. (2006). Computers, phones, and the Internet(p. 8). New York: Oxford University Press.
Mirabito, M. & Morgenstern, B. (2004). The New Communications Technologies (5th ed., p. Implications of the Communication Revolution). Focal Press.
