Overview

There is no doubt that technology has significantly changed society. Over the past three decades, society has witnessed massive advancement in technology which has seen the development of various technological equipment such as cellular devices, computers, and most importantly the internet. These developments have completely overhauled the way people think, behave, or even interact. With the proliferation of technologies, an individual would believe that technological tools would be useful in enabling people- to understand their cultures, to meet and interact, to strengthen and maintain cordial relationships, or to be more socially adept. The truth, however, is that technological advances also comes with myriads negative effects which cause distractions among individuals, increase stress levels, and increasingly make individuals to be isolated. Even with these technologies, people must always accept the fact that overreliance on technology can also affect their personal lives adversely, which if not considered can lead to calamitous implications. This paper, therefore, tries to examine the negative consequences of technology, specifically the computer and smartphone, on a person’s social life.

My Observation

My observational study on how technology affects an individual’s social life kickstarted on January 27^th, 2019. From my observation, I learned that most of the people I observed spent most of their time on their smartphones. I was able to observe this both from family and my classmates. In my family, almost everyone demonstrated a high degree of addiction in using their smartphones even during late night hours when we were supposed to come together as a family and enjoy each other’s company. Rather than spending time together to interact, my family members were all spending their time on social media. In school, some of the students were unable to maximumly concentrate on their teachers because of the effect of using smartphones.  I also noticed that some critical aspects of individuals’ health were affected by technology because of stress, isolation, and addiction that comes with the use of these gadgets.

Inferences

Based on my observation, I firmly believe that technology greatly influences individuals’ daily routine, social behavior, and also their mental and physical health. Technology helps its users to finish their respective work efficiently. Technology makes life more comfortable by enabling individuals to perform different activities easily, but also consumes individuals’ time and concentration. I, therefore, believe, that for every advantage associated with technology, there is always a profound disadvantage comes with it.

Summary

In the journal article titled Impact of Smartphones on Society, the author, Muhammad Sarwar and Tariq Rahim Soomro, state that the use of smartphone has become so crucial in individual’s lives resulting in positive and negative impacts on business, education, health, and social life. The article states that with the introduction of high-speed network and increased Wi-Fi connectivity in public places, the use of smartphones has increased and surpassed the 50% in many European markets (Sarwar & Soomro, 2013). The authors, however, argue that due to the negative aspects associated with smartphones, there is need to introduce strict policies and compliances, both in universities and at the workplace, to ensure proper usage of these gadgets and reduce time wastage and addiction among the users.

In the article titled The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families, Gwenn et al. state that using social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and other gaming sites offers today’s teenagers and children an essential platform for entertainment, communication, and education. The authors, however, argue that even with the positive associated with such sites, teenagers and children are always at risks of being exposed to violent or obscene materials which affect them psychologically and mentally (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). For this, the authors recommend that parents become aware of the nature and the content of various websites that their children access. Since not all of these sites are either educative or entertaining, parents must monitor and ensure at all times that children only access websites where they can learn new issues, involve themselves in non-violent games, or sites that enhance their communication process with their friends or family members.

In the article Medical Students and Personal Smartphones in the Clinical Environment: The Impact on Confidentiality of Personal Health Information and Professionalism, the authors recognize the vital role that technology plays in enhancing the quality of healthcare service delivery. The authors agree that smartphones are becoming ubiquitous in every health care setting thanks to the rise in mobile technology and improvements and efficiency in clinical communication (Tran, Lo, Quan, Abrams, & Wu, 2014). The article argues that most medical students prefer to use their smartphones while undertaking their clinical works because of the perception they hold concerning these devices. They believe that smartphone devices enhance their efficiency as medical practitioners by enabling them to provide better patient care. However, even with such positive experience, there is always the issue of patient’s confidentiality which can be hindered when other people access these devices. The authors, therefore, recommend that it is of immense importance to educate medical professionals on how to appropriately use their smartphones to reduce time wastage and also promote patient’s medical history confidentiality.

As one of the daily users of technology, I can gladly say that technology has a significant impact on three key areas; education, health, and social life. Technology has enabled doctors to perform complex and sophisticated medical experiments and surgeries like heart and brain transplants. In the education sector, technology enhances the accessibility to reading materials, thus enabling students to have an increased array of sources that they can use in retrieving information. Technology also impacts the social aspect of individuals’ lives by allowing individuals to communicate irrespective of their geographical differences. However, if not correctly regulated, the use of technological devices can be disadvantageous rather than being beneficial, hence the need to research on the topic.

Hypothesis

H0: Technology has an insignificant impact on education, health, and social life.

H1: Technology has significant impacts on education, health, and social life.

2. Methods

In order to experiment on the effect of the usage of a computer on my health, I measured my blood pressure before and after using the computer daily, for six days. The materials used in the experiment included; a computer, a sphygmomanometer, and a stopwatch. The research involved using the computer for a specific period and then measuring the blood pressure using the sphygmomanometer before and after using the computer. In the experiment, the independent variable was the time that I took using my computer while the dependent variable was the resulting blood pressure after using the phone.

Results

Data Representation

The results of the above experiment are as shown on the table below

Data Interpretation

During the experiment, I observed that whenever I was using my computer, my blood pressure would always change depending on the time I spent on the screen. For instance, On the first day of the experiment, my blood pressure increased from 92/60 before using the computer to 94/62 after using the computer. On the second day, however, the statistics increased from 100/80 to 111/89. On the third day, the blood pressure increased from 90/63 to 93/62 while it reduced from 110/70 to 100/98 on the fourth day. On the fifth day, the results increased from 84/60 to 112/90 while the results decreased on the last day from 99/67 to 96/72.

Discussion

The above data indicates that the time spent on a computer has a corresponding effect on a person’s blood pressure. However, the blood pressure changes, that is, whether the pressure increased or decreased, significantly depended on the screening time on the computer. For example, the time spent on the computer on the second day increased from 6 hours 48minutes on Jan 29^th to 4hours 26 minutes on 30^th January thus increasing an increase in my blood pressure. However, when I reduced my screen time on the computer from 7hours 41 minutes on January 31^st to 4hours 55 minutes on February 1^st, the blood pressure level reduced. These differences show that the increase in the number of hours one spends on the computer or smartphones the higher the blood pressure level.

The experiment supports the null hypothesis that technology has a corresponding significant effect on an individual’s health, education, and social life. The fact that the screen timing increased my blood pressure is an indication that too much exposure to technological devices such as smartphones and computers is unhealthy and should be reduced if it cannot be avoided. In conclusion, therefore, the above study proves that apart from the positive effects, the use of technological devices also comes with its adverse effects.

References

O’Keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. Pediatrics, 127(4), 800-804.

Sarwar, M., & Soomro, T. R. (2013). Impact of smartphone’s on society. European journal of scientific research, 98(2), 216-226.

Tran, K., Morra, D., Lo, V., Quan, S. D., Abrams, H., & Wu, R. C. (2014). Medical students and personal smartphones in the clinical environment: the impact on confidentiality of personal health information and professionalism. Journal of medical Internet research, 16(5).

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