Communication Technology Invasion

Communications technology is not an inherently bad thing. Like all things that humans want to overuse, it is only bad when we cannot exercise a suitable level of restraint over it. Communications technology has the potential to infiltrate society on a much deeper level than it already has, which would mean destructive consequences. It is very important that awareness be brought to the matter of limiting our interaction with our communication technology so that it does not collectively damage us.

• If communications technology continues to grow rampantly and replace in person human interaction, we face the possibility of a fragmented society, fraught with broken relationships. We evolved as a species to thrive on personal interactions with other people. Our dependence on phones and computers has contributed to the de-evolution of our social abilities. Instead of interacting with one another in person, we interact with keyboards and screens, and we are becoming disconnected from one another.
• There is the potential (albeit somewhat science fiction) hazard of artificial intelligence conflicts and ethics in our future, which would drastically alter our relationship with communications technology. This possibility is on the distant horizon, but it would entail the event when we create technology that is so intelligent that it develops a consciousness. Knowing how to handle this type of technology will either influence us to be more dependent on our communications devices, or it may force us to discard them if the AI is hostile.
• Increased interaction with communications technology certainly has the potential to effect our physical health. Our advancements in this area are relatively very new. We have no idea what the long term effects of being exposed to this many wireless signals and radio waves does to our physical bodies. It could be cancer causing, or increase the likelihood of a number of other diseases.
• A lesser quality of life in general is also a very real possibility if we do not learn to limit our use of communications technology. Our interactions with the natural world are a very important component of who we are as individuals and as a global society. If this element is replaced by our interactions with communications technology, a part of us will be lost.