BLOG POST 3-

Driving Question: An understanding of how changes in technology impact on the way humans communicate, and the ethical issues that surround these changes

Technology greatly affects the way we communicate in the 21st century. It has made communication, work, travel, education among other things much easier and more efficient. Giving the ability to contact people from around the world with a push of a button. It's amazing, to see how far we have come and what we can do today because of digital and communication technology.

Iphones, Skype, Messager, Instagram and Facebook, Snap Chat... all of these things have impacted the way we communicate. But at what expense has technology negatively impacted the way we communicate? Are there ethical issues, or negative aspects to technology?

The cyber-bullying epidemic is one of many issues that have emerged as a result of technology. While technology has made communication much easier and more convenient it as has also made bullying easier as well. These days more and more children are experiencing bullying online. According to Unicef, Office of the Children's eSafety conducted a survey and found that from the group of participants; 8% of kids and 19% of teens were cyber-bullied in only 12 months (Unicef, 2017). It is sad to read that because of technology nearly 20% of teenagers in one year were cyber-bullied. This is because young people often do not think about the consequences technology. It provides young people with a way of saying what ever they want without having to actually confront the person. Russell Sabella points out that the problem with technology is that it makes Cyber-bullying "effortless" and the speed that "hurtful content" is sent makes bullying easier. Thus we have an epidemic of young people being cyber-bullied (Sabella, 2009).

This is one of the many ethical issues that technology has caused. However, technology also has many benefits and we just need to be careful when using it. This is for the benefit of all people.

References:

Sabella, R. (2009). Cyberbullying: Who, What, Where, Why, and What Now? Counseling and Human Development, 41(8), 1-14,16.

Unicef, (2017) THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2017: CHILDREN IN A DIGITAL WORLD - Australian perspectives, retrived from: https://www.unicef.org.au/Upload/UNICEF/Media/Documents/Children-in-a-Digital-World-Australia-Fact-Sheet-051217.pdf

Photos from wix.