Technology and Moral decline

Author: Admin, Subject: English Literature, Type: Argumentative Essay, Number of pages: 6

It is undeniable that technology is proving to be a significant component in human lives. Firstly, globalization will not be successful without technology. The biggest beneficiary of technology is communication, as the exchange of information would be impossible without the former. Technology benefit does not concentrate on communication only. Technology in the field such as medicine is improving patient care and outcome. For instance, some of the surgeries, which were taking time to conduct and to heal, are now involving less time because of technology. Technology is also finding its way in the classroom where the teaching methods rely on it, in a bid to improve the prospects of students. The above presents the advantages of technology. Conversely, there have been questions concerning technology and its influence on human beings. There is constant moral decline in the society with arguments pointing on technology as the main force behind these claims. This Essay discusses the issue of technology and if the innovation contributes to the moral decline that is present in contemporary society.

Technology advancement and Morality in Society

Society has specific rules, which individuals must adhere to, to facilitate harmonious living among the population (Kanth, 2016). Morals are the guiding principle in society, with this meaning that personal principles do not count. People, in this case, sacrifice their principles and values for the sake of morals in society. It is important to note that morals in society keep on changing because of history or other factors (Inglehart, 2018). For instance, the government has standards, which keeps on changing but the idea of right remains.

For this reason, individuals have to practice right in all their activities. Besides, it is essential to note that there is minimal difference between ethics and morals. In most instances, they concentrate on the fact that there will always be aright action or a wrong act. Certain factors push individuals in deviating from the right in society to doing wrong acts. One of these factors is technology.

Internet

Technology has risen to be one of the biggest causes of moral decline in the contemporary world (Fromm & Anderson, 2017). Internet, technological innovation is fast growing to be the most significant force, which is contributing to the moral indecency present among the global population. For a start, the internet has been receiving praises on how it is facilitating global communication in addition to knowledge. However, a closer look at the impact of the internet indicates that it is the main reason for the negative cases globally. Take for instance the issue of bullying. Initially, bullying was rife in the society until specific measures corrected the anomalies found among the perpetrators of the vice. The main argument was that the perpetrators of harassment had a difficult childhood, with this prompting them to act the way they did. With technology, bullying is slowly finding its way back into society. The difference is that those engaging in the vice are otherwise “normal” individuals who did not have cases of childhood problems while growing. Bullies are using the internet to spread malicious information about others because of personal fears, society pressures, jealousy, and other factors. The main reason for the above behaviour is that technology provides a platform, where individuals can carry out immoral acts without being seen or judged by society. The society is losing its grip in the identification and dealing with immoral acts at its earlier stages. With the internet, no one is under the pressure of the society to act right. The ultimate end because of bullying is cases of depression and suicide among the victims.

Moral decline is also finding itself in families because of improvement in technology. Families used to be a refuge place, where each member strived to ensure that they check on each other’s progress. This case is not present anymore. Smartphones are replacing face-to-face communication, with members of the families choosing to “text” rather than talk. The breakdown is evident with the number of divorces presents in contemporary families. Again, technology is the main force behind the infidelity cases that is breaking these families (Jain & Sen, 2018). Dating sites and constant communication with the opposite sex is amounting to “cheating,” a significant cause of divorce in most families. For children, the absence of close connection with other family members is the primary basis for the former visiting pornographic sites, in a bid to replace the close connection that is now absent. It is not clear that the main reason for the breakdown is families; an essential unit in society is because of technology.

Besides, the internet is turning out to be the main site for vices such as cybercrimes and trafficking, where perpetrators carry out their acts, without the care of how the victims feel or will turn out in the end. It is now becoming standard for individuals to use the internet to extort money illegally, without the care of what the society thinks of their acts.

Genetic innovation

It is clear how technology has been helpful especially to the scientific field. Great scientific innovation links their triumphs on technology. For example, technology has been instrumental in understanding the infertility phenomenon, which otherwise would be difficult in a traditional case. Immorality in the case of genetic innovations is rife, with scientists working in the background to come up with the most bizarre products. One of the examples is the announcement that He Jiankui, a scientist at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China had created the world’s first genetically engineered babies (Janssens, 2016). Even though it is one of the most significant scientific innovations of all times, the level of criticism from even other scientists pointed out how the issue was controversial.

Firstly, for believers of most religions, the work of Jiankui sought to challenge the existing norm of the Supreme Being as the one that gives life. Jiankui like other scientists has been shifting their practices from the idea of improving human lives to challenging the existing norms of society. This criticism does not mean that genetic innovations are not worth it. Most of the genetic changes are proving to be helpful. However, the development of technology means that more of the disturbing innovations in the line of genetics will fill the world. It is a short time before human beings will start demanding changes in their gender and body parts. Eventually, improvement in technology could result in innovations like a new human being, whose performance will be unknown. Consequently, the world will bring its destruction because of the works of a few immoral scientists.

Besides, the fact that most of the genetic innovations lack proper oversight and control means that the move to control the spread of diseases in the world is at stake. It is still baffling as to how the world that boosts most of the sophisticated technology still fails to attack common diseases like malaria and TB, which has histories of killing its victims. Further, still, there have been claims that some illnesses are the result of scientific experiments. Scientists in the case of the diseases have been using humans for tests. The use of placebos especially in developing nations means that most of the new infections are now present because of the genetic mutation carried out by malicious scientists (Crutchfield, Gibb & Redinger, 2018). There is no care on the outcome of the individuals in the experiments. Consequently, most of the new diseases present in certain races are because of the tests carried out maliciously by scientists. In this regard, the world because of genetic engineering is experiencing new illnesses because of the quest by the scientists to concur the world with their innovation.

Global security

Technology has been at the forefront to ensure the preservation of global security. The continuous development of technology suggests that there will be mitigation of the security issue before its happening. The constant improvement in technology is also accompanying an increase in instances of moral decline in the world. The most significant matter that goes along with the growth in technology is the reduction of the privacy of the population.

Technology is facilitating the growth in the number of stalkers. These individuals are famous for their tactics of invading the privacy of people, in addition to sending them malicious pictures and text messages. Governments are also guilty of the invasion of privacy by installing security systems that are monitoring every move of its citizens. The most significant subject that surrounds the invasion of privacy is how individuals are now picking information from the sources to disgrace others (Bennett & Raab, 2017). Embarrassing conversations are now finding its way to the public. This fact was evident with wiki leaks, where private information was feed to the people in the process embarrassing individuals in several states. Individuals are currently purchasing sophisticated devices with the primary aim being to monitor and disgrace their enemies. Technology, in this case, is not helping in any positive doings, as the latest and powerful the technology becomes, the more there is the urge to invade the privacy of others grows.

The growth in technology has also been the reason as to why global communities are willing to kill each other. Governments are using technology to identify the most dangerous weapons, which they can use to wipe out their enemies. Citizens are also picking up the cue, with the weapons they possess aiming at destroying their enemies. The rise in nuclear weapons is forcing some countries to respect the decision of others, in a bid to safeguard their citizens. One example in North Korea, as the nation is threatening the world with its nuclear weapon.

Conclusion

In conclusion, technology has been instrumental in most of the activities of the global population. Technology is solving most of the problems, which would otherwise take ages to tackle. Nevertheless, technology is also resulting in immorality, which is threatening the overall existence of human beings.

References

Bennett, C. J., & Raab, C. D. (2017). The governance of privacy: Policy instruments in global perspective. Routledge.

Crutchfield, P., Gibb, T., & Redinger, M. (2018). Placebos and a new exception to informed consent. AJOB Neuroscience, 9(3), 200-202.

Fromm, E., & Anderson, L. A. (2017). The sane society. Routledge.

Inglehart, R. (2018). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton University Press.

Jain, G., & Sen, S. (2018). Adultery in the Age of Technology: Complexities and Methodological Challenges in Studying Internet Infidelity. In Internet Infidelity (pp. 31-43). Springer, Singapore.

Janssens, A. C. J. (2016). Designing babies through gene editing: science or science fiction?. Genetics in Medicine, 18(12), 1186.

Kanth, R. (2016). Against Eurocentrism: A transcendent critique of modernist science, society, and morals. Springer.