In one of my last discussion posts for Psychology: 532, I was asked to make three predictions about how technology will improve in the future. I thought this was such a great question to ask because prior to taking this class, I think that I would have said that the only way to improve technology would be to rid society of technology completely.
After learning everything about the positive effects of technology, my mindset has changed completely, and I now see that society's rhetoric regarding the internet, computers, and cell phones is extremely negative. This negativity is often based on exaggerated or falsified claims. Rather than looking at the future with dread, perhaps fearing that our children will be corrupted by too much technology use, we should be hopeful about the future of technology.
The internet has the potential to grow and benefit society in many ways, but social media in particular gives us vast amounts of data for potential research studies. I read a study that used Twitter data and the Center for Disease Control's data to better understand how living in a more "hate-filled" environment may increase one's risk of heart disease. I wrote a discussion post about this study answering the question, "Can Tweets Provide Data about Heart Disease."
The following is an excerpt from my discussion post describing the results of the study: "The results from this study demonstrated that counties with a higher incidence of hate-filled tweets had a higher incidence of cardiovascular-related deaths. Interestingly, this same article demonstrated that if more of the tweets in the counties were goals oriented, for instance, if they contained the word overcome or goal, the residents there were less likely to die from heart disease. Similarly, occupation-oriented tweets were also protective of heart disease. In other words, tweeting about your job or your goals more than about how you hate your neighbor actually decreases one's risk of heart disease. "
In addition to providing a plethora of data both now and in the future, the internet may evolve in ways we never thought possible. Or perhaps, like it has done in the past, technology will evolve exactly like we predict that it will. For instance, when Steve Jobs introduced the very first iPhone, he predicted that it would change the cell phone industry. Or, in 1926, Nikola Tesla predicted that people would be able to communicate with each other through items that would fit in our "vest pockets." He also predicted that we would be able to see each other's faces while we talked.
If I were to become a modern-day Nikola Tesla and attempt to predict the future of technology, I would base my predictions on the current negative effects of the internet. Of all the things that I am concerned about regarding technology, the increase in the amount of sitting that we do because of our cell phones is the most concerning to me. Therefore, I first predicted that we will see self-driving green cars with bicycle pedals inside to allow for exercise while commuting. Although people may not be apt to commuting to work via bicycle for the planet, they may be more likely to get their exercise if the floor of the driver's side of the car had bike pedals.
Comentários