The Information Highway
Technology
it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, presenting a paradox of blessings and curses
neatly packaged in the forms of television, cell phones and the internet. In
modern American culture only a few people have not listen to a radio, watch TV,
surf the Internet, sent an email or text. These things are essential parts of
society as we know it, but when too much technology becomes dangerous. This
essay will extend my point of view on the dangers associated with technology
and its influences on pop culture. Other
topics include: Pros and cons of technology and do the benefits out-weight the
negatives.
Today the Internet is an
integral part of life and has revolutionized the world. By connecting people at
the blink of an eye, it has brought lives closer in ways no one could have
imagined. The internet has made it easy to stay in touch, send pictures, and
reconnect with old acquaintances. For
businesses, it has given local companies the ability to market to a world-wide
audience at the fraction of the cost. A great example of this is Yahoo, Google,
E-bay, and the thousand other web-based companies that are now household
names. It is a platform to stay
connected. An example of this is the ever-growing popularity of
social-networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.
We
are more connected than ever, but at what price? Identity theft, fraud, viruses,
child predators, email scams, invasion of privacy, mass expansion of
pornography, misleading information, and junk mail just to name a few. The Internet is a playground for predators
from hackers to con-artist, and individuals looking to exploit children.
Internet pornography, along with blogging, and other illegitimate websites have
pushed the concept of freedom of speech and expression to a whole new level. Hackers
have made computers a mystery to older users. From spyware, adware, malware,
shareware, freeware, pop ups, and root kits it is like learning something that
changes and evolves on a daily basis. It is complicated, confusing and foreign
to most people. The recent rise in identity thief has made things more
complicated and confusing. Now you need to create passwords that are 8 to 10
characters long. They are required to have alpha, numeric, and special
characters. Because of viruses you are required to have a firewall, viruses
protection software (all other protection sold separately), and an external
hard drive to store confidential information. Hackers have been using the
internet to steal your information, sending program spiders to gather account
information on your computer when you click on a website.
Another
issue involves the use of email for the purpose of sending email scams. Foreign
governments have created scams to drain your bank account dry like vampires.
Theses scams include all of the following: The "Nigerian" Email Scam, Phishing,
Work-at-Home Scams, Weight Loss Claims, Foreign Lotteries, Cure-All Products,
Check Overpayment Scams, Pay-in-Advance Credit Offers, Debt Relief, and
Investment Schemes. If that is not enough to scare you there is an IRS scam
also.
Like the printing press
to scribing, the internet has commercialized communication. Today it is common
to have 10 conversations at the same time via email and text. Talking on the
phone is even disappearing. Before people would meet and create relationships
for business. Next the phone, made it easy to call a person and conduct
business, and now email and texting has made it unnecessary to even call an
individual to conduct business. Emailing
proposes an interesting problem. How do you convey emotions and meaning in the
context of an email. Even emails are getting shorter with emotion cons or
acronyms like lol or WTF. Children have even begun to speak in these acronyms. For me there is nothing weirder than a child
saying lol instead of laughing. It just seems unnatural. Emailing has taken
out the personal interaction that was necessary when communicating. Now if a girl wants to break up with a guy
she just sends him an email doing the act.