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 26th, 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
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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
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
As a responsible user of an Australian broadband service provider, I will make sure technology will very useful in my kid's life.
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