In this era of modernism, in which evolution happens at a constant pace, technology is a significant component. It is what fuels almost everything that takes place around us. In this context, knowing the primary details about the advantages and disadvantages of technology is fundamental for all of us.
Out of every evolving component of society, technology is continuously winning the race against time. As human beings, we need to adapt to this evolution constantly so that we do not lag. In this article, you will learn about the necessary details of the technology, and its disadvantages, most importantly.
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What are the types of technologies that are trending?
Standing in 2020, we are witness to a considerable part of the evolution that we are always talking about in this post. The journey of mail to e-mails has been pretty impressive. As a result, digital technology rules all other categories of the same.
The below list of the most trending technologies will tell you how everything falls back to the same category of digitization. As soon as you get the basic idea of the types, we will move on to the section in which you will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of technology.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
- Blockchain
- Big Data
- Virtual and Augmented Reality
- I-Apps
- Cognitive Cloud Computing (C3)
- IoT (Internet of Things)
- DevOps
- React and Angular
Now you are sure convinced about the popularity of digital technology after going through the above list. Let’s move on to the most crucial section of this article.
What is digital technology?
Before we learn the primary advantages and disadvantages of technology, why not know a little bit about the hero? Yes, digital technology is the hero because the world is unable to function without it. From the time we wake up in the morning to when we sleep at night, all that we do is somewhere connected to digital technology.
The fun part is that digital technology does not go very long back in history. The concept came into light when a massive group of American engineers started working on its development. What is more interesting is that the seeds of digitization were sowed in the 17th Century by a mathematician from Germany. His name was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and the binary system of computing is his gift to the world.
According to ASCII or the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, the binary codes gave birth to digitization. These codes were the basic interpretations of numbers and objects in the language of computers. Later, when American engineers started working on the evolution of digital technology, the same computations became their guide. Digital technology is nothing but a simple two-base process. In this, binary codes, also called bits, are fed to computers in the form of 1’s and 0’s.
There are several benefits to utilizing digital technology. Out of all, the most essential is the part of data or information storage. Yes, digital data can be easily stored in tiny devices that are easy to preserve as well as transport. Digital technology is also responsible for the increase in the pace of data transmissions. Besides, digitization is what has changed the way of communicating, learning, and working in the present era.
Disadvantages of technology in society
It is better to learn about the disadvantages of technology so that the advantages later can console us. In this section, we will discuss why some people still term digital technology as a curse.
Data security
Like you know, there has to be the wrong side of everything, there are disadvantages of technology too. Data security is probably the most fundamental threat of digitization in society. You already know that digital data is something that can be stored for an extended period. Now, such data may also include private information about individuals and organizations.
It becomes quite challenging to safeguard such information that might cause a problem if leaked. Just a breach of a little information may help criminals, foreign entities, terrorists, and other malign groups.
Terrorism and crime
While discussing the disadvantages of technology in the digital front, you must not miss out on the chances of terror. The internet, especially, is a favorable platform for several operations of evil nature. The credit goes to international outreach, vast scope, and the anonymity that people can enjoy.
There are several examples of terrorism and crime spread through digital platforms. The promotion of terrorist messages on social media, drug dealing, and trade with the help of the dark web is to name a few.
Some pedophiles are continually using digital platforms to exchange videos, photos, and various other information. Besides, the use of digital media platforms to carry on distortion during political elections is a common scenario too.
Complexity
Several people are still not savvy with modern technology. So, understanding how to fix glitches is a significant deal as well. As mentioned earlier, computers and digital technology are required everywhere you go. The same is the case with repairing. For example, when there is a car breakdown, the work is not entirely mechanical.
Modern engineers will do significant troubleshooting via digital platforms before they work on the machine. Fixing computers itself requires troubleshooting on another computer. It is all digitized now, and the complexity is increasing with the addition of newer features and functions. Now you know that there are quite a few disadvantages of technology too.
Privacy issues
It is becoming more difficult to protect personal data with the evolution and popularity of digitization. Nowadays, the disadvantages of technology transfer are becoming more common because we require digital media to share any information. There is a constant fear of our personal and professional data being sold or stolen.
Almost all of us capture videos and photographs on our phones and share it on social media. Your employer may find you on the platform, and the information you share seems controversial. You may even lose your job.
Similarly, several people are getting backlashed for posting their personal opinions on authoritative entities. Also, there are digital cameras that track our moves even in public places, and so you know protecting privacy is now a big deal.
Social disconnect
Human beings, over the years of evolution, have lived to contact with each other in the real world. However, with the increasing popularity of digitization and social media platforms, the rule of nature is being broken. People are now more comfortable communicating with each other via social media platforms.
As a result, there is a constant feeling of isolation in people nowadays. Slowly, people realize how harmful it is to spend so much time communicating through virtual platforms. Also, there are increasing cases of mental illness and depression due to the same reason.
Workload
Are you surprised to know that work overload is also one of the disadvantages of technology? Well, yes, it is because it is often challenging to manage a large number of messages and e-mails at work. Over the weekends, you usually receive hundreds of e-mails and sometimes even on weekends.
Out of these, some are useless promotions, and the other contains essential notes. However, reading each mail to at least segregate is a tedious job too. Moreover, people who manage meeting minutes, and other reports and work-related media are victimized even more.
Manipulation over digital media
Cybercrime is constantly increasing, and manipulating digital media is the primary reason for this. Talking about the disadvantages of technology in society, data manipulation finds a top position. With the help of tools such as Photoshop, people can now easily make alterations to pictures.
Such activities are leading to several cybercrimes globally. You can also record and edit audios and videos using digitized tools. So, digitization and technology is sure a curse, depending on what you are using it for.
Job insecurity
The increasing popularity of automation is becoming the reason for several people losing their jobs. In a lot of organizations, the management realizes that a lot of work can be completed using simple robotics and macros. Therefore, they are choosing cost-cutting by decreasing the workforce. The day is not far when maximum jobs will not require even a single person to manage it. Instead, robots and machines will take over and finish them. It is also a better option keeping in mind the condition of the economy.
Copyright and plagiarism
Despite having several laws related to copyrights, there are hardly a few that have been enforced successfully. It is because a lot of information is continuously available openly on digital platforms. So, several people can just spin them a little to use them elsewhere.
What is worse is that some people try to copy exact notes from the internet. For example, school children are continuously copying projects from the internet without learning any of it properly.
Addiction
Social media and everything digital is addictive, and we already know about this. However, the over-reliability that we possess when it comes to machines and automation increases it more. Everything such as computer games, e-mails, chatting, movies, and more may become addictions for us. As a result, users waste their time and money on these consistently without almost no return.
Advantages of digital technology
We are done discussing the disadvantages of technology, so now you will learn about the pros too.
Social connectivity
One of the most primary benefits of using digital technology and media is that you can remain connected with the world. Irrespective of which part of the world you are staying in, you can connect with the rest of it quickly.
There are facilities of e-mail, messages, social media, and more than act as platforms to enhance global relations. Besides, some tools and applications help people socialize too. Therefore, there are low chances for you to be alone if you can effectively utilize technology.
Versatility of service
By service versatility, we mean that jobs have now become more flexible than ever before. For example, you can take a work call sitting in an entirely different country if it requires. Technology is so secure in today’s world that people can perform the essential jobs from extremely remote locations too. As a result, several businesses are based entirely in the virtual world. It is much more economical and employee-friendly as well.
Learning scope
Digital technology is a boon to the world. The learning opportunities that you get is one of the most significant examples of the same. Anybody who has access to digital media and the internet is exposed to a sea of knowledge.
You can read and gain knowledge about almost everything in the world. For example, several educational and other courses are available online. So, people who stay in remote locations are now getting equal scope to learn irrespective of their locations.
Automation
While on the one hand, automation is the reason of job insecurity for several people, it is a boon for the others. Automation is enhancing the capability of machines, helping them become smarter. As a result, manual labor is becoming useless in managing the already efficient tools. So, people who are bored with doing monotonous jobs can now look for better opportunities. Even better, they can learn about digital technology to implement in other organizations.
Mapping and GPS
Mapping and GPS are two such tools that we require daily on the go. In earlier times, it was a paper map that used to guide people around. Besides, the manual work of mapping on paper was often inaccurate and non-elaborate too. However, with the help of technology, mapping and GPS now helps us find directions with a few clicks only. Apart from this, the tools also notify us about traffic jams, nearby restaurants, petrol pumps, gas stations, and more.
Final thoughts
Technology is, therefore, both a curse and a boon to the society, depending on how we use it. In this article, you are noticing a bit more stress on the disadvantages. It is because the benefits are somewhat more apparent. It is the disadvantages of technology that we often ignore.
