The iPhone 4, Galaxy 2, Ipad2, Galaxy tab, and iPhone 5…What comes next? According to the Nokia Research Centre and Cambridge University, in the future there will be a morphed concept phone where one can change the shape of their phones into any shape one desires. Technology that is becoming advanced so fast is a great and brilliant truth. Our lives are becoming more and more comfortable and convenient. This is definitely something worth celebrating. But wait, perhaps everything is simply going much too fast. It has only been 20 years since the internet was first popularized and in less than 20 years smartphones with 4G have come out into the market. Smartphones are becoming smarter so quickly that old ones left in stock are being sold with money. But above all, this rush of technology breakthroughs definitely brings about drawbacks that we forget about. Yes, this means that we forget about the ‘cuts’ that we receive from ‘cutting edge’ technology.
Electromagnetic Waves
Most know that electromagnetic waves are harmful to our body. It has already been proven medically that they damage our brain and the effects are now known. Yet, everyone forgets about the fact that it is detrimental and as a result, we wake in the morning to the sound of our mobile phones ringing next to our heads, sit in front of the computer, stare at the television, and wait for the microwave oven…It’s almost as if these things are already a part of our body. But when we remember that the waves are harmful, we usually forget eventually by concluding that nothing can be done about it. Well, for some electromagnetic waves, this may be the case. However, for things such as your PC or your television, just simple adjustments such as putting iron boards around them can be very effective.
But of course, most of the adjustments preventing harm from electromagnetic waves are somewhat unrealistic. So it would be best to keep in mind that the damage that these waves gives us are not Mickey Mouse, but are just happening slowly.
Environmental Issues
To advance in technology, you need resources. To obtain resources, you need to take them from the earth. If we were to just take the resources, the problem wouldn’t be as bad as it is today. The problem is that we take good resources and return bad polluted waste back to the earth. Every year hundreds of tons of CO2 are being released into the atmosphere and deforestation is in progress. To put it plainly, nature is slowly being annihilated. This is so serious that probably the next Nobel Prize winning technology will be one that cures the environment.
Of course, unless you are someone who has direct large-scale influence over the earth’s environment, you can’t make much of a difference. But small things such as recycling garbage and separating trash into different categories, if done by about a million people, would definitely make a big difference.
Other than that, there are numerous drawbacks of cutting edge technology. We should think again about the things that we sacrifice to have all the wonderful technology around us. The fact that the weather has recently been changing dramatically is something that we all can feel with our skin. Stopping technology from advancing is impossible, but the least we can do is know what we are losing and try our best to reduce the damage now and in the future.
Whang Joon-yong
Joon2kk@nate.com