TECHNOLOGY AND ITS EFFECT ON HUMAN FREEDOM

In partial fulfillment of the Requirement in the Course

ENGL4 – Introduction to Research

Submitted by:

Lopez, Jannele

Reyes, Jex

Velasco, Maricel

Submitted to:

Ms. Fatima Foz

ABSTRACT

Technology performs higher role in society development. It serves us a lot of benefits yet at the same time also threats despite it have already appeared or not. As the core of technologies, emerging technologies have a significant impact on the eventual development of human freedom. Furthermore, that it is on the early stage of its path which means to say great uncertainly makes people have to pay more and more intension on its negative impact. How to research the possible negative impact emerging technology and how to response to it is very important.

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study Technology has constantly developed bringing with it different changes in society. The field of technology affects all aspects of human life. People are getting used to it and it is even unimaginable to live without it in the current society. It affects the way things are done in the work place and social life and this has a great impact on human freedom. This paper discusses how technology is influential in these aspects of human life.

Privacy was lessened and suppressed with the help of this invention of technology. Especially on somebody's life. We could kill nowadays with just mere words; hurtful words that would lead to the high rate of suicidal tendency of a youngster. Bullying victims showed greater likelihood of agoraphobia among females, and the likelihood of suicide among males. Those who were only bullies showed a risk of antisocial personality disorder.

"When I joined CNN in 1992, if a person living in Kenya or Tunisia or Cambodia wanted the world to pay attention her story, she had to capture the interest of journalists working for a major news outlets like CNN or the New York Times or Newsweek magazine, whose editors would then decide whether and how they wanted to tell it. By the time I left CNN in 2004, that same person could create her own blog without needing specialized technical training. She could report her story directly onto the World Wide Web where it could be shared globally without relying on powerful media gatekeepers." (Rebecca MacKinnon, 2014). In the light of Internet and technology also affects that even the news industry and journalism are getting more efficient and easier to do, of course, with the help of World Wide Web. Based on journalist Rebecca MacKinnon, some writers and editors do not even need special education such as technical training with the help of the internet because it provides almost all of the information to be used in a news work or other professional works. World Wide Web or the internet also serves as the main connection for the world, with this you do not need the media to post or to proclaim something, you just have to go to the internet and publish it, and many netizens would have looked and have your publication.

Some journalist, or even mass mob rely the future to the web, in fact, some citizens are even faster than the journalist itself since they already have the Facebook, and the web for their personal digital information. It is not really harmful but technology is shaping us and we cannot got out, but it is not too late; having technology does not mean that we are locked in it, but with proper attention and usage, we can shape it for the better, for our own.

Today’s generation uses the internet to communicate with others. They use mobile phones more than books. The internet and mobile phones have a big role in our daily lives and activities. But misuse of technology can ruin someone’s life. Teenagers are the target of cyber bullying using internet that cause why most of the victim of suicide are teenagers. Maybe bullies don’t know the feeling of being bullied that’s why they keep on doing it. Technology gave us a freedom to bully anonymously. As long as technology user expands the chance of preventing the cyber bullying decreases. Making a law about anti cyber bullying is useless, to the fact that everyday there’s a victim of cyber bullying.

Most of the social media sites have chat room where you can chat to your friends online. So it’s so easy to make a fake account so that you can start saying unpleasant or rude things to others. You can also steal someone’s identity then you will send inappropriate pictures or messages even to your teacher or anything that can make someone in trouble even though they

are not the one who did that. You can threaten someone’s life by telling them that you will kill him/her anonymously. Using our gadgets you can record someone while they are snoring then upload it on YouTube and wait until it become viral. You know how judgmental most of the social media user nowadays (Mike Scheff, 2015). We all know that there is a human freedom even in the technology or social media. But the question is why having a freedom of speech became cyber bullying so easy. Because of misuse of social media is the reason why the case of cyber bullying and suicide increases almost every year and the sad part is most of the victims are teenager. Because it gives us a freedom to bully someone we hate through social media. Posting someone’s embarrassing pictures through Facebook can ruin someone’s life, you can post it without your personal information so you will be anonymous. But we must know that by doing this there’s a chance that the victim become depress and anxiety. You can rant someone anonymously using social media, that’s how free we are to do that.

B. Statement of the Problem This study aims to answer these questions.

1. Does the internet bring freedom? 2. What changes has technology brought in our regular lives? 3. What are the disadvantages of technology?

C. Significance of the Study

Teenagers. These people are the ones who will be affected in this study, since they are the one who are mostly attached to social communication thru these machines. They are the one who are connected to technology rather than the elderly ones. They seem to have been living in this world with a special attachment to Social Networking Sites that gave them the freedom to do something inappropriate.

Parents. These people should know the effects of Technology to their children, so that they can prevent their children to do something bad through the internet.

Computer Coursed Students. Knowledge in this Research Paper can help them to realize that too much exposure to gadgets and any other related to Technology can cause and lead to bad effects, in the contrary, this research paper can give them the knowledge and convenience in their studies, help them in their lessons for more clarifications and observations. It can also help them in their future research paper for more proof and more content in their Technology related topics or lessons.

D. Scope and Delimitation

This study focuses on the different negative effects of technology in our generation's freedom, in the present or even in the future, out generation is considered as the Machine Age or the Generation of Computers where upgrades of these various machines and gadgets are vastly increasing. We focus on its negative effects on humanities' freedom.

Technology is being viral in our generation. It is being adapted by our culture, as it helps us in many daily life duties and stressful works by simply making the information precise, accurate and fast. But sure, they make our lives more convenient, making profits out of the

works of these machines, they can also be a great threat to our nation, especially on the young ones of this generation and to the other coming. Social life is one of the most affected factors when it comes to technology. Social Networking sites are sprouting up and we could say that privacy is one of the major cases that we should take good observation at when it comes to issues like this. Our research will be focusing on some major effects; we will not be citing all of the effects due to the limitations of this project, and one good reason for that is the lack of time to conduct more scholarly information.

D. Review of Related Literature

We can consider our generation as the Age of Technology. Technology has been in our culture and it has been upgrading really fast in just a little span of time. Culture and technology can simply adapt to the trends of our current generation. Yes, mobile devices, portable gadgets and social networks can produce a lot of distractions, and resisting these may be very difficult. Technology occurs and even connects to our personal lives as we grew, these technology give us the comfort and the upgrades of almost everything, from the highest and important factors such as news, weather updates, government accessibility; exceptional if this would be a nationwide threat for the many. Until the entertainment and games that would free us from boredom.

This just proves so much of our society. Privacy was lessen and suppressed with the help of this invention of technology. Especially on somebody's life. We could kill nowadays with just mere words, hurtful words that would lead to the high rate of suicidal tendency of a youngster. Although it is not as big threat as the face to face bullying that would affect the physical appearance or that would straighten out injuries, it can still be dangerous that it would spread throughout so many students or youngsters that it would easily take on a life.

"When I joined CNN in 1992, if a person living in Kenya or Tunisia or Cambodia wanted the world to pay attention her story, she had to capture the interest of journalists working for a major news outlets like CNN or the New York Times or Newsweek magazine, whose editors would then decide whether and how they wanted to tell it. By the time I left CNN in 2004, that same person could create her own blog without needing specialized technical training. She could report her story directly onto the World Wide Web where it could be shared globally without relying on powerful media gatekeepers." (Rebecca MacKinnon, 2014)

Internet and Technology also affects so much that even the news industry and journalism are getting more efficient and easier to do, of course, with the help of World Wide Web. Based on journalist Rebecca MacKinnon, some writers and editors do not even need special education such as technical training with the help of the internet because it provides almost all of the information to be used in a news work or other professional works. World Wide Web or the internet also serves as the main connection for the world, with this you do not need the media to post or to proclaim something, you just have to go to the internet and publish it, and many netizens would have looked and have your publication.

Some journalist, or even mass mob rely the future to the Web, in fact, some citizens are even faster than the journalist itself since they already have the Facebook, and the web for their personal digital information. It is not really harmful but technology is shaping us and we can not

got out, but it is not too late; having technology does not mean that we are locked in it, but with proper attention and usage, we can shape it for the better, for our own.

Today’s generation are using internet to communicate to others. They use mobile phones more than to book. The internet and mobile phones has a big role in our daily lives and activities. But misuse of technology can ruin someone’s life. Teenager are the target of cyberbullying using internet that cause why most of the victim of suicide are teenagers. Maybe bullies don’t know the feeling of being bullied that’s why they keep on doing it. Technology gave us a freedom to bully anonymously. As long as technology user expands the chance of preventing the cyber bullying decreases. Making a law about anti cyber bullying is useless, to the fact that everyday there’s a victim of cyber bullying.

We all know that there’s a human freedom even in the technology or social media. But the question is why having a freedom of speech became cyberbullying so easy. Because of misuse of social media is the reason why the case of cyberbullying and suicide increases almost every year and the sad part is most of the victims are teenager. Because it give us a freedom to bully someone we hate through social media. Posting someone’s embarrassing pictures through Facebook can ruin someone’s life, you can post it without your personal information so you will be anonymous. But we must know that by doing this there’s a chance that the victim become depress and anxiety. You can rant someone anonymously using social media, that’s how free we are to do that.

Most of the social media sites have chat room where you can chat to your friends online. So it’s so easy to make a fake account so that you can start saying unpleasant or rude things to others. You can also steal someone’s identity then you will send inappropriate pictures or messages even to your teacher or anything that can make someone in trouble even though they are not the one who did that. You can threaten someone’s life by telling them that you will kill him/her anonymously. Using our gadgets you can record someone while they are snoring then upload it on YouTube and wait until it become viral. You know how judgmental most of the social media user nowadays. (Mike Hardcastle, 2015)

Chapter 2

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Technology has constantly developed bringing with it different changes in the society. The field of technology affects all aspects of human life. People are getting used to it and it is even unimaginable to live without it in the current society. It affects the way things are done in the work place and the social life and this has a great impact on human freedom. This paper discusses how technology has been influential in these aspects of human life, and one aspect of it is the human freedom. Freedom has been suppressed by these machines that it usually dangerous, so dangerous that it can take one's life.

A. Definition

Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods, or services, or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, etc. or it can be embedded in machines, computers, devices and factories, which can be operated by individuals without detailed knowledge of the workings of such things, this also explains why these machines are both an advantage and a disadvantage.

B. Purpose

The subject discussed the effects of technology on human freedom and what are the negative effects of technology to us. The researcher investigated other studies of technology like social media that has been really used by teenagers or even adults nowadays, especially, the working individuals such as labor workers, teachers and even students.

C. Materials

The materials used in this study is going to be a series of survey questionnaires, and we asked 30 individual students to give us a favor by answering it and putting a check mark into the box that will best suit their answers. The surveys collected quantitative data from the surveyors. We also used descriptive method since this study focused on the negative effects of technology in an individual's freedom. Descriptive method is the most used method when it comes to research papers; several data are gathered from the Internet. Some Information is taken from different professors and experts from different countries abroad, especially in the United States. I used the descriptive method to clearly explain what are my points and truths in this research.

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D. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Privacy is the ability of a person or even, of a group to seclude themselves by their act, or by information, or even by the things they do selectively. It affects your personal autonomy and your freedom making it an important factor for human right. It is our duty to respect someone's privacy, and of course, theirs as well. According to J.J. Britz of University of Pretoria in South Africa, his study states that:

"The duty to respect a person's privacy is furthermore a prima facie duty. In other words, it is not an absolute duty that does not allow for exceptions. Two examples can be given. Firstly, the police may violate a criminal's privacy by spying or by seizing personal documents. A government also has the right to gather private and personal information from its citizens with the aim of ensuring order and harmony in society. The right to privacy (as an expression of individual freedom) is thus confined by social responsibility."()

It means that it is not just a duty but it is also a law that can be punishable and can be a criminal accusation against you. We living in an era where almost all of our transactions are information-based, and are mostly recorded and saved as your life goes on. It does not matter if it is a governmental, professional, or even a personal act, as long as it is digital it is probably recorded and saved for future transactions. Yes, it is for accessibility and convenience but it still do not remove the fact that your personal privacy is being suppressed by it.

Figure 1 Internet Sites

Figure 2 Hours spent

Figure 3 Reason

Figure 1 shows that respondents usually use Facebook as their main site. Facebook is one of the most famous social networking site in this generation. It is not so hard to get attached to it, it being close to a billion users to connect with. Through social networking site you can chat or video call other person.

Intriguingly, Figure 3 shows that most of our respondents stay at the internet for 2 to 3 hours, followed by 8 respondents with them staying for 3 to 5 hours exposed to the internet. Obviously, Figure 3 shows that most of the respondents are into social networking sites with this span of time, taking a good effect on our first question. Most of the respondents stay 2 to 3 hours surfing social networking sites

Figure 4

Often Sometimes Just once

Never Minimum Median Maximum Number of Participants

1. Privacy

9 13 2 6 2 7.5 13 30

2. Stalked by someone online

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4. Cursing online

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5. Threatening someone online

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Figure 4.2 shows that out of our 30 participants, 14, which is 46.6 percent, feel that they have been stalked by someone unidentified online sometime, and to add information, 5 participants also states that they feel that they are being stalked often times in the cyber world. It just shows that most of our participants have the huge knowledge that their privacy is at stake when you enter the online, or the Internet, they also acknowledge the fact that their information can be gathered online without them knowing it.

On the contrary, Table 4.1 proves that 13 participants (43.34%) still trust the security that they are having in various internet sites sometimes, even though they are aware of the unknown stalkers and netizens in it; 9 of our participants also states that they are almost certain that they are secured in the sites they are entering. So in total, 22 out of 30 participants, which is 73.33%, are really confident on the safeness of these sites even though their privacy is exposed to publicity.

Figure 5

Based on Figure 5, 67 % of our participants answered that Cyber bullying is happen all the time. In that case, they’re aware that the victims of its increase almost every month. Experts believe that chat rooms are the top source of cyber bullying worldwide. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter users are growing so fast, and so are the cyber bullied victims. Posting hurtful blogs about someone you hate is part of cyber bullying and also spreading rumors online. Cyberbullying can happen 24/7, it can happen any time of the day or night, and to show more evidence, the Cyberbullying Research Center stated that

"There are only two studies that we are aware of that have explored cyberbullying experiences over time. The first analysis was conducted by our friends at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Examining the three

waves of the Youth Internet Safety Survey (2000, 2005, 2010), they find a slight increase in cyberbullying behaviors over that time period (from 6% to 9% to 11%). The second data source is the School Crime Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). In 2011, 9% of students said they were cyberbullied compared to 6.2% in 2009." (Justin Patchin, 2013)

Chapter 3

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

SUMMARY

This paper attempted to give the readers some information about how Technology can control our human behavior that truly affects one of the most important factors in life, our freedom.

The research design used in this research is a descriptive research method and the usage of Figures and Tables where in information and documents were used to answer the research question posted. The research findings are as followed:

1. Technology is used to improve and upgrade things so that it can be more useful and more convenient to use; technology is used to create and help mankind to their works to be easier.

2. Usage of Internet and Technology need to be balanced and controlled since it can suppress our ability to interact with others personally.

3. We must be aware of the risks that are ahead of us when we are using the internet because our privacy is temporarily subdue whenever we employ something in the internet.

4. Parents should be monitoring their children's behaviour, not only on the reality but also when they are using the internet; we can teach them some etiquette whenever they are accessing the web.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Privacy is suppressed and subdue whenever we are using the Web or the Internet, both for the good and for the bad. We should also be aware that it is against the law whenever we violate someone's privacy right, even though if it is just in the World Wide Web.

2. Over depending on technology causes addiction, and your ability for social interaction.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Technology isn’t that bad, it can cause harm only if it is overused or abused, so therefore, we should always balance technology with our own personal lives.

2. We should not always depend on Technology, sure that it may help or give convenience to our lives but we should also need to learn things on how to be dependent even without these gadgets or Technology.

3. Internet gives the convenience of coping up with others and meeting up new friends with the usage of Social Networking sites but still, it is better to have a good talk with them personally rather than by just typing and emailing.

REFERENCE

Rebecca Mackinnon (2014, March 10) </https://www.bigquestionsonline.com/content/digital-technology-advancing-or-limiting-freedom-press/>

Sue Scheff (2012, January 27)

https://www.examiner.com/article/10-ways-technology-makes-bullying-worse

Mike Hardcastle (2015, November 3) </https://teenadvice.about.com/od/schoolviolence/a/cyberbullying1.html/>

Justin Patchin (2013, November 20) </http://cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying-research-2013-update/>

J.J. Britz (2002). ”Technology As A Threat To Privacy: Ethical Challenges to the Information

Profession”. </http://web.simmons.edu/~chen/nit/NIT'96/96-025-Britz.html/>

Rebecca MacKinnon (2014, February). “Digital technology Advancing or Limiting Freedom

Press”. </www.bigquestionsonline.com/content/digital-technology-advancing-or-limiting-

freedom-press/>