The Price of Technology

Much as the advancement of technology in recent times has changed the ways we live our lives especially in terms of quality, it has also come at a price. Modern technology has greatly improved the quality of our lives as a result of new developments in the sciences, medicine, aviation and many other areas of human endeavour.

However, in a lot of other areas there are, to some extent, concerns about the safety of life when using advanced technology tools. The most widely used advanced technology tools today are in the area of the Internet and communications technology, ICT. Here you have social media networks that have completely merged the borders that hitherto existed in the world. What's more, the whole world today can connect through live activities on the internet.

While these are commendable developments in general, they are on the contrary a health hazard in some cases and can distract young people from living normal lives and also lead to some fragmentation of family life. Today, you find children who are for the most part of the day, glued to their phones, iPads and other gadgets at the expense of their school work and other family commitments or activities. You also find spouses not able to have quality family lives due to intrusion of these gadgets in their lives. Parents are always struggling to be ahead of their children to prevent them from accessing adult, criminal and violent materials that flood the millions of internet sites.

Today, millions of people are losing their jobs due to the automation of processes. Tills with cashiers are disappearing from supermarkets and shop floors. Assembly lines in manufacturing industries are being manned by robots resulting in the jobless causing the labour markets to swell, the consequences of which are very obvious. This could in the long run, lead to social uprising.

In conclusion, I would say that much as the advancements in technology have helped shape the world for the better today, some of the consequences are very serious and would need to be addressed fully to minimise their destructive tendencies on our lives.