Negative Effects of Modern Technology on Society

Proposal

Negative Effects of Modern Technology on Society

A Comprehensive Scheme to Solve Problems

Caused by Modern Technology

Submitted to: Yuan Rengui, Education Minister of China

Submitted by: Monica, Research director of science and technology

Date submitted: April 26^th, 2013

Executive Summary

Modern technology is widely used in social life in the forms of electronic products. A large number of people get addicted to electronic products because of its convenience. However, modern technology has many negative effects on society. Many environment and health problems are caused by modern technology. Besides, people have poor interpersonal skills.

In this proposal, a series of solutions will be recommended to solve related problems. Solutions include:

ž   Saving Resource and Recycling E-waste

ž   Promoting Healthy Life to Today’s People

ž   Educating Students to Have More Face-to-face Interactions

1.      Position

1.1  Recent Development of the Electronic Products Market

With the development of Technology and improvement of people’s living standard, the

worldwide electronics industry has been growing rapidly. The number and variety of electronic products increase with an astonishing speed. From 2008 to 2013, the world electronics market rises from 1135548 million euros to 1298226 million euros (Decision, 2009, p.15). Figure 1.1 illustrates the fast growth of the total electronics world market over the last 6 years respectively (Decision, 2009, p.13). These data also indicates the importance of electronic products in the world.

1.2  Popularity of Electronic Products

Advanced technology and convenient use made electronic products widespread and highly popular in society. Electronic products become part of people’s life. 6 billion mobile phones are sold till 2012, which means 80% people in the world hold a cell phone (GEORGE, 2012). Apple is an electronics company which owns a large number of fans among the world. Figure 1.2 illustrates the high sales of iPhone. Till now almost 318.6 million iPhones were sold in the world. The considerable number of electronic products indicates its indispensable position in society.

2.      Problems

2.1  Resource Consumption and Environment Pollution

Most electronic products’ materials are from natural resources, including various nonrenewable resources. As there is a high demand for electronic products, huge consumption of resources results in a resource shortage. Moreover, rapid products replacement and high output of electronic products generate large amounts of e-waste. According to Electronics TakeBack Coalition (2012, p.3), 384,000,000 units’ e-waste is generated and only 19% of them are recycled in 2010. By calculation, more than 416,000 mobile products and 142,000 computers are discarded every day. These e-wastes cause serious environmental pollution.

2.2  Health-related Problem resulting from addiction to Modern Technology

Modern technology affects people’s health both physically and mentally. Most electronic products nowadays are operated with a screen. When people use electronic products, they concentrate on the screen for a long time with the same posture. This can easily cause illnesses like computer vision syndrome and backache. The internet access and games in electronic products make people get addicted to them and reduce activities time. Less outdoor sports lead to poor health and obesity, especially for teenagers. According to a research conducted in UK, people will get depressed, lonely and anxious when they are not playing with their electronic products (Admin, 2011).

2.3  Insufficient Acquisition on Social Skills

Because of the popularity and convenience of electronic products, people prefer to communicate through electronic devices with high technology. People are busy with email, text message, chatting tools and online meeting every day. These forms of communication make people connected but physically separated. The ability of face-to-face communication skills for people is gradual lost. Besides, much dependent on technology make it hard for people to recognize facial expression (Ebben, 2012). The performance is worse when people are involved in real contacts. Especially for young teenagers, lack of social skills is harm for their future development.

3.      Possibilities

It can be seen from above analysis that technology has negative effects on society, including resource consumption, environment pollution, health problems and poor social skills. This proposal aims to suggest a series of possible solutions in response to the negative influence of modern technology on society. To solve these problems, the solutions need to focus on environment enhancement which includes resource saving and e-waste recycling, healthy life promotion and also improvement of social skills.  

4.      Proposal

4.1  Saving Resource and Recycling E-waste

To improve environment, both saving resource and dealing with e-waste should be considered. Since electronics is necessary in people’s life, the demand is high and large amounts of materials are required. For the sustainable development, electronics industry should use renewable or new materials which are less harmful to environment. Additionally, many electronic products have high power consumption. Everyone should save energy by reducing electricity consumption. For example, turn off electronics when it’s not in use. Furthermore, the huge amounts of e-wastes should be recycled for other use and some e-wastes can be reused after refurbishment. All the people should help to classify rubbish to better recycle e-wastes.

4.2  Promoting Healthy Life to Today’s People

Large amount of people addicted to modern technology without awareness that it is an unhealthy lifestyle. It is necessary to promote healthy life style and make people realize the negative effects of technology. Public-service advertising should be put on internet and TV. Additionally, regular talk about modern technology and health should be conducted. Inviting famous people to appeal healthy lifestyle is also a feasible way. Government and educational department should also organize some outdoor sports competition to get more people involved in and encourage people to do more exercise to protect their health.

4.3  Educating Students to Have More Face-to-face Interactions

Lack of face-to-face interaction causes people’s poor social skills. Encouragement for more interactions and activities in real life is important and essential. Because addiction of modern technology is quite serious among young generation, the target group can be firstly set to be students. The target group can be expanded if this solution is helpful. The school should require students to carry out one-hour outdoor activities each day and involve more face-to-face communication in classes. Besides, School should carry out some talks about how to build good social skills to help students better understand social interaction. Meanwhile, contests about social skills should be hold to draw students’ interest and improve their performance.  

5.      Conclusion

Modern technology is widely used, but it has many negative effects on society. Many environment problems are generated because of resource consumption and e-wastes. Addiction of technology results in people’s poor health and insufficient acquisition on social skills. In this proposal, three solutions are proposed, including saving resource, reducing e-waste, promoting healthy life and encouraging face-to-face interactions.

     

References

Admin (July 26 2011). How Technology Can Impact Your Mental Health. Retrieved April 10, 2013 from http://rapidnewsnetwork.com/how-technology-can-impact-your-mental-health/1428/

Apple iphone: global sales 2007-2013 by quater| Statistic (2013). Retrieved April 10, 2013 from http://www.statista.com/statistics/12743/worldwide-apple-iphone-sales-since-3rd-quarter-2007/

Decision (April 2009). World Electronic Industries 2008 - 2013 . Decision, 15 15.

Decision (April 2009). World Electronic Industries 2008 - 2013 . Decision, 13 15.

Ebben (2012). How Technology Impacts Physical And Emotional Health < CBS Boston. Retrieved April 26, 2013 from http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/02/07/how-technology-impacts-physical-and-emotional-health/

Electronics Takeback Coalition (2012). Facts and Figures on E‐Waste and Recycling,7(3). Retrieved April 26, 2013 from http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts_and_Figures_on_EWaste_and_Recycling.pdf

George (2012). The world population hits its 6 billionth cell phone subscription. Retrieved April 26, 2013 from http://www.intomobile.com/2012/10/11/itu-6-billion-cell-phones-worldwide-11-billion-gigabytes-data/

Word count: 907

High Housing Prices in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, one of the most populous metropolises in Asia even in the world, has witnessed its boom of property market and also the ever-increasing housing prices. According to Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department, till the end of 2012 there are 7173.9 thousands people in Hong Kong (‘Hong Kong-The Facts,’ 2012), sharing the valuable four present of the livable land out of its 1,104.32 km² total land area (‘Land Utilization in Hong Kong,’ 2012). Although averagely each resident in Hong Kong only own about 12m² of residential area, the housing prices in Hong Kong has still increased to an high position. The average residential property prices which have grown to 226,200/sq. Ft., same as 12 times the median salary of the typical buyers, is already among the world’s highest (‘Mid-levels They Ain’t,’ 2012).

The theory that once the supply decreases and the demand increases, prices always go up (Smith, 1776) can be adapted to the property market in Hong Kong, giving the reason for the extremely high housing prices. With limited land and rough landscape, Hong Kong faces the shortage on livable land. Meanwhile, the Government’s strict land policy, which leads to low supply, exacerbates the shortage situations, as the percentage of land in use is less than 25% in which only approximately 76km² were developed for residential purpose (Poon, 2011). Moreover, land-hoarding behaviors contribute to the high demand for land. Since 2008, the World Financial Crisis tense the world and left recession in the stock market. The investors and local privileges bought properties for securing their capitals. The more robust demand has dramatically contributed to the doubling of Housing prices since 2008 as reflected on figure 1.1.

High housing prices in Hong Kong have raise considerable social problems. Due to the high pressure from high housing prices, social unrest is looming. As most of people’s incomes just satisfy the expense on housing, there is less money remained for health care, education, food and transportation. The hardship leads to the rise in mental pressure which can finally increase the crime rate of the society (Jackson, 2012).

With the increase of housing price, wealth gap widens in Hong Kong. According to Gini coefficient (Lo, 2012), 16% Hong Kong people live in poverty while the wealth gap is among the highest in the world. Wealthy people have the ability to purchase houses and will become richer as housing price increases while the unprivileged have to work harder to afford daily expenses the price of which is rising due to inflation caused by high housing prices. The wealth gap is unavoidably and continuously broadened.

Another effect caused by high housing prices is the delay of marriage of young generations. A research of Census and Statistics Department indicates that the average age at first marriage for both men and woman increased by four years from 1981 to 2006 (‘Marriage and Divorce Trends in Hong Kong, 1981 to 2006,’ 2007). Nowadays, the young generation is independent and will not settle down until they can afford their own houses. Young adults usually need to struggle for years to afford a house, resulting in delay of marriage.

Hong Kong’s high housing prices are a serious problem. Shortage of land, the government’s policy and land-hoarding altogether lead to the continuous increasing of housing prices. It has already caused considerable social issues and affects the stability of society, balance of poverty and also residents’ daily life.

  

(Word Count: 568)

Bibliography

Hill, A. (2010). House Prices Force Couples to Delay Marriages and Families, Survey

Shows. In The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from, Web site: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/mar/21/house-prices-young-couples-marriage

Hong Kong - the Facts (2011). Retrieved March 12, 2013 from

Hong Kong Government, Web site:

http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/facts.htm

Hong Kong Property - Mid-levels They Ain’t (2012). The Economist.

Retrieved March 5, 2013 from

http://www.economist.com/node/21553462

Hong Kong property - Taxing times (2012). The Economist.

Retrieved March 5, 2013 from

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21565645-new-tax-foreign-buyers-will-not-prick-hong-kong%E2%80%99s-property-bubble-taxing

Jackson, A. (2012). The Effects of High Housing Prices on Low Income Families .

Retrieved March 12, 2013 from, Web site: http://www.ehow.com/list_7206993_effects-prices-low-income-families.html

Land Utilization in Hong Kong (2012). Retrieved March 12, 2013 from

Hong Kong Government, Planning Department Web site: http://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/info_serv/statistic/landu.html

LCQ12: Population Projection and Land Demand (2012).

The Government Information Centre. Retrieved March 5, 2013 from http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201202/22/P201202220312.htm

Lo A. (2012). Hong Kong's widening wealth gap needs home-grown solution.

In South China Morning Post.

Retrieved March 12, 2013 from Web site:

http://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1063478/hong-kongs-widening-wealth-gap-needs-home-grown-solution

Lui, M. & Boehler, P. (2012). Hong Kong’s Wealth Gap Widens as City Ages,

Industries Fade. In Bloomberg. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from, Web site: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-18/hong-kong-s-wealth-gap-widens-amid-aging-population-inflation.html

Marriage and Divorce Trends in Hong Kong, 1981 to 2006 (2007). 

Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from Hong Kong Government, Demographic Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department Web site: http://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B70711FB2007XXXXB0100.pdf

Poon A. (2011). Hong Kong’s Land Policy: A Recipe For Social Trouble.

Hong Kong Journal. Retrieved March 5, 2013 from http://www.hkjournal.org/archive/2011_spring/3.htm

Smith, A. (1776). The Wealth of Nations. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell.

The Street

“Cock-a-doodle-doo” with the crowing of roosters, morning dawned.  The first ray of sunshine shone on the quiet street, signifying a bright and busy day. The sky was turning blue and the noise from vehicles was waking up the street.

It is in my hometown. When I was young, I spent lots of happy time on the street. It witnessed my growth. I haven’t seen this old friend for a long time. I miss it. It was a narrow and short street. I can easily see the opposite. On it's cement surface, there were two rows of vibrant trees. They always refreshed me and let me feel warm.

In every day’s morning, the empty street got crowded and busy. The doors of stores were opened widely, like big mouths and attempting to swallow all customers. Every shopkeeper wanted to have more business, like everyone desiring better life. In a store, a middle-age woman carried a pack basket of groceries. She was haggling with the store owner, while her children were chasing one another around the shelves. The image that I ran after my sister and mom who asked us to be careful came up to my mind. It reminded me my carefree childhood and the precious days with my family.

A minibus from the countryside arrived. The driver honked the horn to battle for space with pedestrians. Then passengers jumped out of the car excitedly. They joined the throngs of people and exchanged greetings. People chatted and played jokes with each other. Everyone wore a smile on the face. I loved this friendly and harmonious atmosphere. It delivered love and warmth that made people closer.

On the street, there were many vendors putting their goods orderly on the ground and talking with each other. When customers came, they stood up immediately and helped them to pick up the goods enthusiastically. Not only did adults enjoy the fair, but children also loved. An old man who sold sugar-coated haws walked along the street. He became the king of children since many greedy children followed him all the way. No one can image how much I envied him when I was a child. Those sugar-coated haws seemed to be the most delicious snack in the world. Some people walked on the street just for recreation. They usually carried their bird cages leisurely.

As time passed by, vendors started to pack along their goods, and store owners began to clean their shops. Parents took their children home and the minibus was full of tired but satisfied  passengers on the way back to the countryside. The busy street became quiet again.

I left my hometown for several years.  My memory of the street has begun to fade away slowly. But I’ll never forget things that the street brought to me:  happiness, love, friendship and honesty. I will keep these deep in my heart and not lose myself in the fast developing world.                                               

Total words: 487

Personal Reflection

1st February 2013

Dear Sir/Madam,

Firstly, thank you for sparing your precious time to read my letter and I’m writing to recommend Monica who is an outstanding student and eager to get into the Department of Computer Science.

Monica is a very diligent student. For everything she decides to do, she will spare no effort to do it to the best. When you ask her a question, if she doesn't know the answer, she will tell you she doesn't know. But she will try her best to find if and she believes that she will find it. I think these qualities can help her on research or project related to computer science.

     

Besides, Monica is good at communication, which is important in future studying. When Monica is talking with others, she listens carefully with her mind and expresses herself with a true heart. She also does a lot of thinking and always gives appropriate advice to others. All her friends like sharing with her. In group interaction, Monica usually provides many creative ideas and also plays an important role in building a harmonious atmosphere. Whenever there is conflict in team, Monica will take the responsibility to help the team to form a good environment.

     

Furthermore, Monica is very curious about original things like new discoveries and technologies. She loves to do logical thinking and cares about details, which will benefit her studying for computer science. The future for the internet is infinite, curiosity will help Monica explore more and devotion to thinking can definitely help her master the knowledge.

     

Monica is a talented and hardworking student. She really wants to get into the Department of Computer Science. I hope my words will help her to achieve the goal. Thank you!

                                                                                    

Yours faithfully,

Mary

Mary Wong

Student, City University of Hong Kong