uses and abuses of technology short essay

Essay on Uses and Abuses of Internet

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100 Words Essay on Uses and Abuses of Internet

The uses of internet.

The internet is a powerful tool that has revolutionized our world. It provides us with information, communication, and entertainment. We can research any topic, connect with friends, and enjoy movies or games.

The Abuses of Internet

However, the internet can also be misused. Cyberbullying, online scams, and the spread of false information are common problems. Furthermore, excessive internet use can lead to addiction, affecting our health and social life.

In conclusion, while the internet offers numerous benefits, it’s crucial to use it responsibly to avoid its potential pitfalls.

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Paragraph on Uses and Abuses of Internet

250 Words Essay on Uses and Abuses of Internet

Introduction.

The internet, a revolutionary invention of the 20th century, has transformed our lives in profound ways. It has become an indispensable tool in various sectors, including education, business, communication, and entertainment. However, like any tool, it can be used both for constructive and destructive purposes.

Uses of Internet

The internet has democratized access to information, breaking down geographical barriers. It has made education more accessible, with countless resources and online learning platforms available at our fingertips. It has also revolutionized communication, enabling instant interaction across the globe. The internet has made business operations more efficient, from online banking to e-commerce. It has also provided a platform for creative expression and entertainment, with platforms like YouTube and Spotify.

Abuses of Internet

However, the internet’s misuse is a growing concern. Cyberbullying, identity theft, and online harassment are rampant, causing psychological harm to individuals. The internet has also facilitated the spread of misinformation and fake news, leading to societal discord and distrust. Additionally, it has given rise to internet addiction, affecting individuals’ mental health and productivity. The proliferation of explicit content is another issue, impacting the moral fabric of society.

In conclusion, while the internet has myriad benefits, its misuse can lead to serious consequences. It is crucial to use this tool responsibly, promoting digital literacy and ethical online behavior. As we stride further into the digital age, we must strike a balance between leveraging the internet’s potential and mitigating its pitfalls.

500 Words Essay on Uses and Abuses of Internet

The advent of the internet has revolutionized the world, bringing about profound changes in the way we live, learn, and work. It has become an integral part of our lives, providing us with a plethora of information and services at our fingertips. However, like any other invention, the internet also has its share of uses and abuses. This essay explores the beneficial aspects of the internet and its potential pitfalls.

Uses of the Internet

The internet’s most significant advantage is its ability to connect people globally. It has made communication faster, cheaper, and more efficient, breaking down geographical barriers. Through email, social media, video conferencing, and instant messaging, we can interact with anyone, anywhere, at any time.

The internet has also democratized education. Online learning platforms, digital libraries, and educational websites have made knowledge accessible to all, regardless of location or financial status. It has also facilitated research, with a vast amount of information available on any conceivable topic.

Moreover, the internet has transformed the business landscape. E-commerce has opened up new markets, enabling businesses to reach customers globally. It has also made financial transactions more straightforward and faster through online banking and digital payments.

Abuses of the Internet

Despite its advantages, the internet is not without its downsides. One of the most prevalent abuses is cybercrime. This encompasses a wide range of malicious activities, from identity theft and fraud to cyberstalking and cyberbullying. The anonymity that the internet provides can be exploited by unscrupulous individuals to harm others.

Another significant issue is the spread of false information or ‘fake news’. The speed at which information spreads online can lead to the rapid dissemination of misinformation, often leading to panic, confusion, and mistrust.

Additionally, the internet can be a source of addiction. Excessive use of social media, online gaming, or other digital activities can lead to internet addiction, negatively impacting mental health and personal relationships.

In conclusion, the internet is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it offers immense benefits, facilitating communication, education, and business. On the other hand, it can be a tool for harm, enabling cybercrime, the spread of misinformation, and addiction. As users, it is incumbent upon us to use the internet responsibly. We must be vigilant in protecting ourselves from its potential abuses while harnessing its vast potential for our benefit. As the internet continues to evolve, so too must our understanding and regulation of its use and abuse.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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The Uses and Abuses of Technologies and Medias Essay

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Statement of the solution

Works cited.

Smartphone have various pedagogical advantages that can be leveraged by the education system. For instance, educational institutions have embraced technology through the development of social media platforms that facilitate discussion forums between the students and the instructors. Such discussions can be constructively developed to help the students to attain course objectives faster and more effectively. However, recent trends in the use of smartphones have seen more students bringing the devices to class and using them during their classes. Technology has become uncontrollable because the students spend most of their time on social media, and it is a distraction in class.

Furthermore, the use of smartphones to access various social media platforms have also led to an increase in cases of cyber-bullying. For instance, students may use their smartphones to critic the dressing code of one of their classmates or even ill-talk their teacher while in class. These are some of the issues that are threatening the performance of the students because they are sources of distraction, rather than an advantage to the education system. It follows that parents, teachers, and the authorities in the education system must look into the development of a feasible way to eliminate the use of smartphones and social media during the class time. Children at school need to be discouraged against cyber-bullying, sending malicious text messages to their peers, and sharing inappropriate videos and images during class time.

Growth in technology has seen many teenagers being lured into the use of social media platforms, and the addictive nature of the platforms is associated with negative effects. Some of the issues highlighted by researchers on the issue include an increase in cyber-bullying cases, lower performance in school, and erosion in the social skills of the teenagers. This paper focuses on the effects of smartphones on students when they are used during class time. Teachers have repeatedly reported cases of students being addicted to their phones to a level that they cannot concentrate in class. While some of the proposed solutions are viable, it is apparent that there is a need to develop more comprehensive solutions that consider the needs of the students. Students should particularly have the chance to access the internet through their smartphones at all times, but it is imperative to control the type of information accessed during class time.

Critics claim that it is not necessary to teach students how to use their smartphones because they already know when and how to use them. It is apparent that most teenagers have a higher prowess in using smartphones when considering the ability to text faster and to use various texting skills that pass messages faster to their peers. This implies that the students using smartphones in class spend very little time sending various messages, and this would typically serve as a way to keep the classes interesting by breaking the monotony of the long lectures and notes taking. However, a study conducted at the Boston College revealed that when students are allowed to send random text messages through social media platforms in class, they are likely to lose concentration, and they end up missing some of the major points introduced by the instructors (Kowalski par. 2).

This results in lower grades for the students who are constantly texting in class. The study at also proposed that while it is not possible or ethical to force students to keep their smartphones away from the classroom, it is possible to train them to use the smartphones more effectively. The solution lies in the development of a platform where the students can only send texts that are related to the subject matter in class (Bik and Goldstein 1). This implies that they have to be attentive to find interesting facts or opinions to post on their social media platforms. The study clearly highlighted the fact that using this approach increases the performance of the students because the smartphones do not act as sources of distraction; rather, they provide a platform for the students to ask relevant questions and make some appropriate observations about the lessons.

The contemporary world has seen the global society embracing technology fully, and the use of smartphones is particularly one of the most popular ways of spreading and accessing information. Banning smartphones in schools is, therefore, an injustice to the students because it limits their ability to connect with the rest of the world in information sharing. However, it is apparent that using smartphones is one of the major distractions in class, and it is likely to result in the lowering of the performance levels of the students (Warnich and Gordon 44).

Since the classrooms are designed to provide information relevant to the curriculum, it is imperative for the administrative functions in schools to banning the use of smartphones in class, unless authorized by the teachers. Studies have revealed that one of the primary characteristics of smartphones is the ability to multitask; hence, the users have all their attention drawn from the instructors in class when they use their phones. Studies have also shown that excessive use of smartphones and the associated social networks might have a negative effect on the psychological development of the students (Thomas et al. 296). For instance, when teenagers are forced to keep away from their smartphones, they portray withdrawal symptoms that are associated with boredom and agitation. Banning smartphones from the classrooms will ultimately train the teenagers to stay without using them for hours; hence, it is a rehabilitative solution.

While most people believe that everyone should have the freedom to access information through the internet, it is important to develop a system that monitors the use of smartphones in class. It would not be ethical to ban smartphones in schools, but an alternative to banning them in class is the development of a system that monitors the usage of smartphones in class. For instance, some students may need to search for more information about the topics introduced during a particular lesson, while others may only use their smartphones to access various social media platforms that are not helpful for their learning (Baker et al. 276). The monitoring system should be designed to flag the students using their smartphones to access irrelevant information on social media during class time. Such students should be punished by being forced to switch their phones off or being banned from bringing them to class for several days. This negative reinforcement of behavior would be quite instrumental in nurturing the use of smartphones to access relevant information among the students. Since parents and teachers are aware of the negative and positive effects of using smartphones, it is important to train their children to use the devices to access the appropriate information at the right time (Thoman and O’Bannon 13). They should focus on leveraging the pedagogical advantages of smartphones, rather than allowing them to lower the performance of the students, which will subsequently result in lower competitive power in the employment market.

The use of smartphones in class is one of the major issues that teachers in the modern world have to deal with. It is a source of distraction for the students, and it is likely to lower their performance significantly. One of the alternative strategies to eliminate the issue is to completely ban bringing smartphones to school, but this would only lead to an injustice to the students because it would deny them the opportunity to connect to the world through various online information channels. It would be best to monitor the use of smartphones or to ban them in class, but not in school. Some critics also believe that students should have the freedom to use their cell phones because it only takes a few minutes from their class time, but studies have shown that it erodes their concentration. A better approach would be training the students to use the smartphones to share information about the topics in class. The most viable approach toward solving the issue is to eliminate the chances of accessing irrelevant information through smartphone while in class. Technology can be used to provide a platform where certain social media platforms are blocked within the classrooms to discourage the use of smartphones during lessons.

Baker, William, et al. “On the Use of Cell Phones and Other Electronic Devices in the Classroom: Evidence from a Survey of Faculty and Students.” Journal of Education for Business, vol. 87, no. 5, 2012, pp. 275-289.

Bik, Holly, and Miriam Goldstein. “An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists.” PLoS Biol, vol. 11, no. 4, 2013, pp. 1.

Kowalski, Kathiann. When Smartphones go to School . 25 Nov. 2008, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/when-smartphones-go-school. Accessed 7 December 2016.

Thomas, Kevin, et al. “Cell Phones in the Classroom: Teachers’ Perspectives of Inclusion, Benefits, and Barriers.” Computers in the Schools, vol. 30, no. 4, 2013, pp. 295-308.

Thomas, Kevin, and Blanche O’Bannon. “Cell Phones in the Classroom: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions.” Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, vol. 301, no. 1, 2013, pp. 11-20.

Warnich, Pieter, and Clare Gordon. “The Integration of Cell Phone Technology and Poll Everywhere as Teaching and Learning Tools into the School History Classroom.” Yesterday and Today, vol. 13, no. 1, 2015, pp. 40-66.

Cyberbullying and Suicide
The Effects of Cyberbullying on Health
Cyberbullying and Bullying: Similarities
Visual Communications and Technological Inventions
Sciences and Technology Role in History
Information Technology, Its Role, Pros and Cons
Enterprise Profitability and Information Technologies
IT Companies and Their Business Opportunities
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, September 3). The Uses and Abuses of Technologies and Medias. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-uses-and-abuses-of-technologies-and-medias/

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IvyPanda . 2020. "The Uses and Abuses of Technologies and Medias." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-uses-and-abuses-of-technologies-and-medias/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Uses and Abuses of Technologies and Medias." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-uses-and-abuses-of-technologies-and-medias/.

Bibliography

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The Council's Blog

Technology misuse, abuse, & addiction among teenagers.

[The following was written by Patrick Hagler, a counselor for the Choices program at The Council on Recovery.]

It is hard to escape screens. Most likely, you are looking at one right now! Although the long-term effects of screen time are still being studied, the effects of excessive internet and smartphone use are well-documented. “Pathological” internet use has been linked to depression in teens, and it may even shrink gray matter (see article links below).

Pathological Internet Use May Cause Teen Depression

Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain

Technology is everywhere, and it is not going away. Teenagers stare down at their iPhones, or keep their eyes glued to a tablet or laptop, instead of observing the world around them. It is not unusual to see two adolescents seated together on a bus, texting furiously on their mobiles rather than talking to one another. The fact that teens are so dependent on technology seems to make sense in our world, but it may also lead to negative consequences.

Can balanced technology use be a positive thing?

Yes, of course! Technology is a tool that, when used appropriately, can have many benefits. Remember the days of toiling for hours in the university library scrolling through rolls and rolls of microfiche to find that one article you needed for your research paper? I do! Technology can be a great resource for communication, productivity, social connectivity, education, cognitive enhancement, creativity and expression, digital literacy… to name a few. These are all very useful when used in a balanced way. Problems can arise, however, when teens misuse or abuse these tools to replace real-world activities and face-to-face interactions, with virtual experiences.

What is technology addiction?

Technology addiction can be defined as frequent and obsessive technology-related behavior increasingly practiced despite negative consequences to the user of the technology. An over-dependence on tech can significantly impact students’ lives. While we need technology to survive in a modern social world, a severe overreliance on technology—or an addiction to certain facets of its use—can also be socially devastating. Tech dependence can lead to teen consequences that span from mild annoyance when away from technology to feelings of isolation, extreme anxiety, and depression (click video link below).

Video: 5 Crazy Ways Social Media is Changing Your Brain Right Now (3:15)

What makes technology addictive?

Technology fulfills our natural human need for stimulation, interaction, and changes in environment with great efficiency. When teenagers experience stress, be it romantic rejection or a poor grade on an exam, technology can become a quick and easy way to fill basic needs, and as such, can become addictive.

Technology impacts the pleasure systems of the brain in ways similar to substances. It provides the brain with some of the same dopamine rewards that alcohol, drugs, and other high-risk behaviors might. It can be a boredom buster, a social lubricant, and an escape from reality.

Video and computer games, smart phones and tablets, social media and the Internet provide a variety of access points that can promote dependence on technology and negative consequences. How ? Through self-administering doses of dopamine with the click of a mouse!

In a recent article, former Facebook president Sean Parker admitted, “it’s exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.” Parker has said that social media creates “a social-validation feedback loop ” by giving people “a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.” He continued, “I don’t know if I really understood the consequences of what I was saying, because of the unintended consequences of a network when it grows to a billion or 2 billion people and it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other,” Parker said. “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.” (see article link below)

Former Facebook President Admits It’s ‘Exploiting a Vulnerability in Human Psychology’

In another article former Facebook Vice-President of User Growth, Chamath Palihapitiya said, “The short-term, dopamine -driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem—this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem.” (see article link below)

Former Facebook Exec: You Don’t Realize It But You’re Being Programmed

Smartphone addiction is correlated with neurochemical imbalances in the brain, according to a new study. In this study, neuroradiologists used magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which is a specialized type of MRI that measures the brain’s chemical composition, to gain unique insights into the brains of people who are believed to have developed addictive patterns in their use of digital technology. (see article link below)

Study: The Neurochemistry of Smartphone Addiction

Interestingly, another study from July 2017 by researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel found that heavy smartphone users display changes in social cognition, impaired attention, and reduced right prefrontal cortex excitability. Researchers found that smartphone-addicted teenagers had significantly higher scores in depression , anxiety, insomnia severity, and impulsivity. (see article link below)

Answering the missed call: Initial exploration of cognitive and Electrophysiological Changes Associated with Smartphone Use and Abuse

What is FOMO?

The Web can be addictive as a multifunctional tool that brings us exceptionally close to an enormous amount of information at unprecedented speeds. User-friendly by design, we now have access to the Internet on our computers, through apps on our tablets, phones and watches. “FOMO,” or “Fear of Missing Out,” is a commonly described phenomenon for teens and young adults, in which youth increasingly feel the need to stay connected to the Internet, so they are not the last to know of a news story or social happening. Related to FOMO, some Facebook users, for instance, report that they use the Internet-based social media platform as a chosen method to alleviate their anxiety or depression. 1 Given so much accessibility to its use, the Internet is just as hard to stay away from at any given point in a day as it is easy and rewarding to use . Have you ever noticed a compulsion to repeatedly check your mobile email even if there is nothing urgent pending (yes, it happens to us too!)

What about playing video games?

One hallmark of human psychology is that we want to feel competent, autonomous, and related to other people. Challenging video games allow players to feel that they are good at something. Games offer a great variety of choice to players, promoting a sense of autonomy for teens who might feel otherwise out of control.

The same goals that drive people to pursue success in the real world are often present in video games. As one amasses virtual wealth or prestige by spending time on games and advancing through levels, virtual wealth can translate into some version of actual recognition—through monetary purchasing power within an online game or a positive reputation within an online community.

Gamers find themselves linked to others who share their hobby through YouTube channels or blogs dedicated to discussion of their game of choice with other enthusiasts. Like the Internet itself, games make themselves increasingly accessible to teens via apps on smart phones, never leaving kids’ palms or pockets.

While there is room for social connection in the gaming universe, this space also provides a potential escape from reality into a digital world where players get to assume new identities more appealing or more novel than those they hold in the real life. So what’s the problem ? A problem arises when the virtual world becomes more exciting than the real world… a slippery-slope indeed.

In the beta draft of its forthcoming 11th International Classification of Diseases , the World Health Organization includes “gaming disorder” in its list of mental health conditions. The WHO defines the disorder as a “persistent or recurrent” behavior pattern of “sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.” (see article link below)

Video Gaming Disorder is Now a Mental Health Condition

Can technology abuse increase my son’s susceptibility to substance use?

Yes. Researchers have found evidence that people who overuse technology may develop similar brain chemistry and neural patterning to those who are addicted to substances. 2 A concern is that those who are addicted to technology are actually more likely to also use substances than their peers with healthier relationships to tech, providing the insight that technology addiction may be a risk factor for alcohol and other drug addiction.

One preliminary study found that a group of teens who “hyper-texted” were 40% more likely to have used cigarettes and twice as likely to have used alcohol than students who were less frequent users of technology. This same research noted that those who spent more hours per school day than peers on social networking sites were at higher risk for depression and suicide. 3

It stands to reason then, that if we can prevent technology addiction, we may also be able to prevent other risky behavior and dangerous consequences to teens. Studies have shown that brain scans of young people with internet addiction disorder (IAD) are similar to those of people with substance addictions to alcohol, cocaine, and cannabis. 4

Damage to brain systems connecting emotional processing, attention, and decision-making are affected in both substance addicts and technology addicts. This discovery shows that being hooked on a tech behavior can, in some ways, be as physically damaging as an addiction to alcohol and other drug use.

What can I do to help prevent technology addiction?

Balance . Preventing teen addiction to technology means finding a balance within students’ lives, so that teenagers do not misuse their technology as an escape from real world challenges, emotions, socialization, or identity. Online activities should be balanced with real-world experiences and interactions.

Provide healthy off-line highs . How teenagers use technology really matters. Are teens playing video games among other recreational activities? Are they as excited about spending time with friends as they are about “leveling up”? Or, are they turning on the Xbox so they don’t have to face a life that they are not enjoying?

Model healthy stress management skills . Believe it or not, our kids watch us. They model their own behaviors by watching how we behave. Balance activity and productivity with healthy stress management. Life requires energy. Often teens feel like they have too little energy to spend on too many demands. If they are not guided by adults to discover healthy ways to replenish their stores of energy, they may default by overusing easy fixes for entertainment or stress relief that promote technology addiction.

Nurture pro-social identity development in the real world . Adults must be proactive, creative, and excited as they help kids to discover who they really are! Once teenagers find something they are good at and want to do, they will naturally gravitate toward it. It is easier to create an Internet façade, but far more rewarding for teens to cultivate true purposes and genuine identities within their families, schools, and communities.

No devices in the bedroom . No cell phones, no iPads, nothing with Internet access. The devices are to be used only in a public space in the home, such as the kitchen, rec room, or family room. This rule is essential if only to give teens a chance to get some uninterrupted sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation can create symptoms that mimic ADD or ADHD. Lock up that phone and computer at night! (see article link below)

How Insomnia Looks a Lot Like ADHD

Some students have reported to me that they do not sleep well because their phones vibrate (real or imagined) frequently during the night, which wakes them up. (see video link below)

Video: What is Phantom Vibration Syndrome (1:32)?

Manage gaming time . Gaming is a privilege, not an entitlement. Consider implementing a gaming structure which provides NO gaming during the school week. Your son can earn gaming privileges on the weekend, based on meeting or exceeding expectations during the week. Weekend gaming privileges can be earned in hourly increments. Perhaps start with one hour of gaming time, with additional gaming time earned.

If you would like to read more about these and other issues that contribute to a growing trend of under-motivated boys in today’s society, I recommend two books by Dr. Leonard Sax:

Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men

The Collapse of Parenting : How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups

If you or someone you know who compulsively uses technology and needs help, call The Council on Recovery at 713-914-0556 today to schedule an assessment. Or contact us here . Telehealth options are available throughout COVID-19.

Conrad, Brent. “Why Is Facebook Addictive? Twenty-One Reasons For Facebook Addiction – TechAddiction.” Video Game Addiction Treatment & Computer Addiction Help – TechAddiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. http://www.techaddiction.ca/why-is-facebook-addictive.html .
Goldstein, Rita Z., and Nora D. Volkow. (2011). “Dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex in addiction: neuroimaging findings and clinical implications: Abstract: Nature Reviews Neuroscience.” Nature Publishing Group: science journals, jobs, and information. Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v12/n11/abs/nrn3119.html .
NHS. “Extreme levels of texting ‘unhealthy’.” NHS Choices. 10 November 2010. N.p. Web. 2 8 Feb. 2017. http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/11November/Pages/Texting-and-teen-behaviour.aspx .
Lin, Fuchun, Zhou, Yan, Du, Yasong, Qin, Lindi, Zhao, Zhimin, Xu, Jianrong and Hao Lei. (2012). “Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study.” Plos One. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030253 .

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Sensing and Shaping Emerging Conflicts: Report of a Workshop by the National Academy of Engineering and United States Institute of Peace Roundtable on Technology, Science, and Peacebuilding (2013)

Chapter: 4 the misuse of technologies.

The Misuse of Technologies

T wo presentations at the workshop addressed the use of technologies to repress political change, perpetuate conflict, or otherwise undermine peacebuilding agendas. Countries, organizations, and individual response to the application of technology to peacebuilding, they can be expected to both counter those applications and use technologies for their own ends. Peacebuilders need to recognize these countervailing forces and plan and act accordingly if they are to make progress in reducing conflict and violence.

EXERTING CONTROL OVER INFORMATION

Ivan Sigal, executive director of Global Voices, which conveys to global audiences the voices of bloggers, writers, digital media activists, and translators who work in the developing world, began his examination of the misuses of technology by analyzing one of the two broad themes of the workshop: the means used to shape conflicts.

Conflict involves contestation, and those involved—including peacebuilders—have both intention and agency. Thus the activists represented by Global Voices have agency and seek to shape or influence their communities, as do their opponents in governments. Many of these activists use a collaborative and distributed form of knowledge to push ideas forward. To do this,

they need not only access to authority and power but also relationships in information networks that allow them to influence those networks.

In the Arab spring, maps of Twitter influence revealed important “nodes” in information networks. The individuals in question were not gatekeepers to authority and did not have exclusive access to resources, but they were good listeners and understood what kinds of skills could be of use to the communities they were addressing. For example, the activist who helped to overthrow the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia had been active in a distributed network for six or seven years testing different information strategies, including the use of big data tactics and distributed data to demonstrate why the regime was corrupt. A follow-on of WikiLeaks was Tunileaks, which led to a series of stories revealing the extent of Ben Ali’s corruption from the perspective of the US government. These stories validated the claims of the opposition and further drove the conflict.

Governments, whether oppressive or not, can react to technology-enabled peacebuilding through their own use of technology. They may try to control leaks or access to information (as described in the next section). Moreover, oppressive regimes appear to be learning from each other and collaborating in their use of technologies, Sigal noted—techniques used in Syria to conduct surveillance or filtering are almost identical to those used by Iran, and many countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States have very similar filtering systems that appear to be the result of collaboration.

Sigal also observed that countries have collaborated on Internet governance that would treat the Internet as media and therefore subject to state jurisdiction. The model of a “territorialized Internet, one where telecommunication borders and national borders are congruent, is one that is broadly appealing” among countries that seek to control Internet use. The United States and other countries “don’t have a vision for what we want the Internet to be—they do.”

Sigal also described efforts by governments to use economic rather than political means to block Internet use. The government of Kazakhstan, for example, has been able to essentially create a national firewall without declaring one by incentivizing the largest telecommunications company in the country to provide free access to any kind of data, whether file sharing, music, or videos, while people who go outside the network pay for the data they access. “Suddenly going to Google…becomes a decision. Do I want to go to Google, or do I want to go to the one that I can get for free with KazakhTelecom?” While it may be easy to criticize China for erecting

a firewall around the country, it is more difficult to argue that the price KazakhTelecom charges for people to search Google is a travesty of choice.

At a deeper level, Sigal warned about the temptation to view Big Brother as a metaphor for the evolution of cyberspace. Such a view assumes that regimes are monolithic, but they usually are not; rather, they shift or split their alliances to achieve multiple and contrasting objectives. A better paradigm is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World . “Given enough freedom, we surveill ourselves. It’s not that there’s a watcher who will control everything that we do. [It’s] us, especially in free societies.”

Policymakers can take several steps to help communities of activists and prodemocracy organizations oppose the actions of oppressive governments. For example, some projects funded by the State Department have helped provide anonymity for activists. Since many of the technologies that repressive regimes use to track, spy on, and otherwise monitor activists come from Western companies, export controls can clamp down on the distribution of these technologies. However, this approach is more difficult with nondemocratic countries that are nominally allies, and such controls do not affect unfriendly countries where some of these technologies are made.

Some technology companies are working actively, though quietly, with activists toward positive ends. Some have hotlines and mediation processes so that if a government attempts to take down a posting, a company can assert that it is in fact a piece of rights documentation. “I want to commend those companies,” said Sigal. “That kind of process that allows for some kind of clarification about what the political value of that material is has a lot of impact.” Companies that build surveillance and privacy tools also have the option of conducting human rights audits among their clients, a strategy backed by many freedom-of-expression advocates.

A critical aspect of interpreting the information generated by technologies, said Sigal, is the creation of a frame for analysis. A set of events can occur that will not necessarily predict an outcome but make it more likely. For that reason, Global Voices analyzes, translates, and aggregates local citizen media for global audiences, focusing mostly on the developing world, and systematically tracks threats or events in fragile states. “We can see these events occur, almost like a rhythm, within a set of 50 to 60 countries around the world. That’s reactive, but it gives us a policy framework for imagining where these events might occur.”

He also noted that peacebuilding is not the only framework for looking at sensing and emerging conflicts. People involved in conflicts do not necessarily see them in a negative light. Through a lens of justice, democracy

building, or other activist frames, the same sort of data can be applied to a different agenda. He urged questioning “the normative assumption that conflict is always necessarily a bad thing. Because there is, I think, more of a continuum often between conflict which is creative, conflict which drives change, and conflict which is violent and negative.”

THE NEW SOCIAL REALITIES OF CYBERSPACE

Cyberspace has created a new social reality, said Rafal Rohozinski, principal with the SecDev Group, and laws have not been well adapted to govern this new reality. The use of new technologies to either protect or deny rights has not been defined legally or normatively. The result can be strong disruptions and distortions in political systems depending on how those systems operate.

Rohozinski observed that Western governments to some extent exhibit what he called “the complacency of empire” with respect to information technologies. The Internet was invented, developed, and propagated around the world by the West. This technology, which has grown far beyond its original intended purpose, has created a platform for extending diplomacy through NGOs. The scale, scope, and reach of NGOs have expanded in ways that would not have been possible without the Internet, as have the business models of companies such as Google that were founded on the characteristics of the Internet. As a result, people in Western countries tend to take their freedom of navigation through cyberspace entirely for granted.

But the Internet is changing. The vast majority of Internet users are no longer in North America, which represents only about 13 percent of the global Internet population and is declining. Two-thirds of all global Internet users are under the age of 35, and 40 percent are under the age of 25. Three out of five new Internet users live in states that are considered either failed or at risk of fragility. “The center for innovation, the drive to create things in this space, the impetus to try to describe it in policy terms, is no longer in Washington, no longer in Ottawa, the UK, or anywhere else. It’s shifting slowly but distinctly to the South and to the East,” said Rohozinski.

This shift will have an impact on the governance of cyberspace, Rohozinski predicted. As people have come online, so have state interests and politics. This makes sense, said Rohozinski, since “a space that is colonized by a majority of your citizens is going to have all sorts of behaviors which, if those behaviors are translated into real life, would have real consequence.” Thus, cyberspace has become a place to be regulated and policed.

Because of the way the Internet is run, governments do not have the ability to create the equivalent of a physical border around their corner of cyberspace and keep their citizens inside it while keeping others away. But they have an interest in doing so. One possibility is that in the future the Internet will no longer be neutral but will be subject to national laws. This could legitimate filtration, censorship, surveillance, and other forms of control pertaining to media, defamation, and other acts. People may no longer have the freedom of passage through cyberspace to which they are accustomed. Instead, the Internet could become much more fragmented and more like national telecommunication spaces.

One enabler of this change is that the intelligence in the Internet has shifted from the periphery to the center. Today, telecommunications providers have much more control over the Internet than in the past because they carry much more data, through television, mobile telephony, radio, and other forms of content. As a result, these companies are now able to measure, monitor, parcel, and direct traffic in ways that they could not before. As these central controllers pass cell phone service from one tower to the next, they can identify and track the user of that service. This may not matter as much in the United States as it does in other countries, but under authoritarian regimes, governments now have a way to know a lot about any individual “by essentially having them carry a digital dog tag everywhere.”

Intelligent networks that enable this kind of monitoring are spreading fast outside North America. Advanced networks have greater penetration in some parts of Africa and Latin America than elsewhere, “which means those intelligent networks are being built exactly in the places where their capabilities can be turned inwards for surveillance purposes.” Surveillance also has become a much greater undertaking since the days of wiretaps. Furthermore, because the media environment is more complex, the kind of data that individuals generate through systems to which they are connected is much richer. As a result, new players have entered into that space, both in the United States and elsewhere, and these companies can break encryption in almost real time, in part because law enforcement in the United States and elsewhere requires domestic surveillance to support the needs of law enforcement.

Governments have gotten much smarter about how to exercise their monopoly on the use of violence, force, and regulation not only within their physical borders but in cyberspace. National firewalls can prevent unwanted content going into or out of a country. Countries suffer negative consequences from erecting such barriers, so probably only about 12 to 15 do,

said Rohozinski, but more could do the same if they chose to create a border around their cyberperimeter.

Countries may also make information resources unavailable when it serves their purpose, through denial-of-service attacks, targeted filtering, or intentional disruption of protocols to make sure that opposition websites do not load. They may implement regulations and legislation to criminalize some online acts; in Belarus, for example, defamation of the president can be a cybercrime. Under this provision, the government can charge an independent media source with defamation and either filter a website or take it down. And governments can apply media law to all media content, forcing media to register locally or be subject to arbitrary filtration by the government. Finally, various activities can be criminalized, so that communication with known criminals, for instance, can become a criminal offense.

A final approach is to use technological means to identify and target dissent and to confound readers about posted information. For example, the Iranian revolutionary guard cyber command has a Facebook-like page where it posts pictures of protesters online and asks people to crowdsource who they are, which has the additional effect of intimidating people who might be considering activism. In Syria, for example, the regime uses a technique called “eggshelling” on Twitter. Eggshelling is a way for a regime to control discourse on the Internet by putting out messages with ambiguous registrations that appear to support the government’s official positions. “Nobody really quite knows what it is. Is it a rumor? Is it really government stuff? If it’s not, is it quasi-believable? The sheer volume of it ends up pushing to one side a lot of stuff that comes from the opposition, which is less connected.” In other cases, criminal gangs have been hired to harvest damaging information or spread malware. Big data also can be misused; digitized census records or weapons registrations can be sold to third-party commercial entities that then sell them to risk security companies. “Although the initial collection of that data…may have been for a very worthy cause, the way that it’s actually put to use by others ends up being antithetical to the kind of security that it was supposed to create for the community.”

Some kinds of activism require a public presence, which often requires divulging identity, Rohozinski observed. Some people may be willing to risk jail because it legitimizes their actions and their movement. In other cases, activists may not use the Internet, may work through multiple virtual private networks, or may work through external relationships. But even then, security may be impossible. “I have a community of friends who are part of the core Russian opposition movement,” said Rohozinski, “and they have

decided as part of their core tactics that they will do everything absolutely in the open. They have public meetings, and if you are not willing to be completely transparent about who you are and what your intentions are you can’t show up, because they figured they can’t beat the Russian security.”

There is some good news, said Rohozinski. “The more authoritarian a regime is, the more they’re caught in their own trap.” Governments want the benefits of modernization without the liabilities, yet the two are not easy to separate. “They want it both ways and realize that they can’t have it. They want to be connected and benefit from being members of a global community where science is cheap, where supply chains are accessible, etc., but at the same time they don’t want the politics of it.” As a result, governments do not want to jettison or ignore systems that activists can use to get around government restrictions. “Their headlong rush into the modern world also ties their hands because of the dependencies that it creates for them internally as well as externally.” What may be necessary in such an environment is to counter disinformation, as in the days of the Cold War. “Cyberspace is going from being the exceptional domain to one that reflects the complexity of real life. So I’m an optimist,” Rohozinski said.

Rohozinski also recommended looking at the work done by the World Health Organization on violence mapping and prevention as a public health issue. This work has combined precursor indicators of violence, drawn from such measures as demographics, economic conditions, reports of homicide, and the prevalence of a grey economy to gauge the likelihood of conflict at different levels. For example, the introduction of policing in ungoverned spaces in Brazil has relied heavily on this public health approach of understanding the precursors of violence, including messages sent on social media. This is a slightly different approach to the application of technology, because it is more about raising awareness. This awareness has not necessarily translated itself into action by the peacebuilding community, “but it should be incorporated.”

Rohozinski observed that security services are starting to be seen as a necessity, not an option. The professionalization of the provision of security tools will happen through market forces, which will gradually displace efforts offered through government agencies or other sources. USIP and the NAE could contribute to this evolution, he said, by acting as a focus of innovation for peacebuilding activities in both the public and private sectors.

Individuals and organizations that recognize the new reality will be the ones that survive, he said, so training is essential to ensure that they remain up to date about the tools they use. The US State Department offers many

good programs that can help prepare civil society organizations for the environments in which they operate, he said. He also pointed to organizations— domestic and international, public and private—that offer technical advice. “I don’t know if anybody has done an inventory of them, but there’s quite a few and they’re actually pretty good.”

Rohozinski concluded that cyberspace is now a domain where conflicts will occur and need to be mediated. It is a space of maneuver, not one where people have freedom of navigation. It will need to be treated like physical terrain, and individuals and organizations will need the capacity to operate in it as they do in physical space.

Several participants discussed various negative applications of technologies. Dennis King reiterated the use of new technologies to spread misinformation, disinformation, rumors, and incitement. Once incorrect information goes viral, correcting mistaken ideas can be very difficult. The fact that regimes use the new technologies to target individuals and organizations is more apparent with the use of social media than in the past. “Individuals connected to NGOs who’ve been involved in promotion of governance and technology have been imprisoned, killed, and attacked, and their NGOs have been banned,” he said. “The humanitarian space is already dwindling and shrinking. This is another way that the bad guys, the dark side, can further use [technology] to shrink the humanitarian space and access, and target civilians and human rights activists.”

Sanjana Hattotuwa asked what would happen if 3D printers could be used to make exact digital duplicates of AK47 rifles? In this and other ways, technology could be used to exacerbate rather than prevent conflict.

Chris Spence cited the social component of misuse, beyond the technical issues. People are fooled into giving up their passwords, or they let their computers be taken over by malware. “No matter what we do, the humans who aren’t thinking about this every day are the ones who are the soft targets.” Although his staff rely heavily on training, even they remain a target.

Sigal said that security is a process and not an end state. It requires continual investments as well as attention to the tools used to protect security, which can be turned against their creators to erode security. Hackers in some countries have been able to reverse engineer security tools and thereby put people at risk. “We need a Google for security,” he said, “a company that sees a business model in providing” security services.

He also added that the dark side/light side division, or skeptic versus utopian, is a misleading way of framing the issues. People accused of being utopians are often the most skeptical, because they have the practical experience of trying different things and realizing what works and what does not work.

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Technology has revolutionized many aspects of modern life, from how businesses operate, to how people get information, to how countries wage war. Certain technologies in particular, including not only cell phones and the Internet but also satellites, drones, and sensors of various kinds, are transforming the work of mitigating conflict and building peaceful societies. Rapid increases in the capabilities and availability of digital technologies have put powerful communications devices in the hands of most of the world's population.

These technologies enable one-to-one and one-to-many flows of information, connecting people in conflict settings to individuals and groups outside those settings and, conversely, linking humanitarian organizations to people threatened by violence. Communications within groups have also intensified and diversified as the group members use new technologies to exchange text, images, video, and audio. Monitoring and analysis of the flow and content of this information can yield insights into how violence can be prevented or mitigated. In this way technologies and the resulting information can be used to detect and analyze, or sense, impending conflict or developments in ongoing conflict.

On October 11, 2012, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a workshop in Washington, DC, to identify "major opportunities and impediments to providing better real-time information to actors directly involved in situations that could lead to deadly violence." The workshop brought together experts in technology, experts in peacebuilding, and people who have worked at the intersections of those two fields on the applications of technology in conflict settings, to consider uses of technology to sense emerging and ongoing conflicts and provide information and analyses that can be used to prevent violent and deadly conflict. Sensing and Shaping Emerging Conflicts: Report of a Joint Workshop of the National Academy of Engineering and the United States Institute of Peace: Roundtable on Technology, Science, and Peacebuilding summarizes the workshop.

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Science and technology have contributed to huge changes in human society, bringing many benefits, but also helping to cause global scale problems. Using a series of examples from the past century or so, this presentation examines the balance of costs and benefits, and argues that the role of science and technology in society needs to change, if we are not to be overhwhelmed by the problems we now face.

Presentation by Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, at the What is science for? teachers' conference, Widnes, Cheshire, UK

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Uses and Abuses of Internet Paragraph

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This article contains what are the uses and abuses of internet. Let’s see the Paragraph on Uses and Abuses of Internet.

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■ What are the uses of internet

■ what are the abuses of internet , paragraph on the uses and abuses of internet .

Uses of Internet The internet is the wonderful invention of modern science and technology. Modern life without internet is unthinkable. The word ‘Internet’ is the short form of the words International Network. The internet has been spreading its net over a vast and every part of the civilisation. It is clear that the whole world is linked with a network.

Satellites are much involved in making the connections easier. Information technology is highly developed today and information of any kind and nature can be transmitted through internet. Trade, business and financial transactions have become easier and efficient on account of internet. As a matter of fact, the influences that the internet brings today on people’s life-style, behaviour and communication are marvellous.

Banking transactions have become much easier. One can book or cancel tickets simply sitting at the comfort of home by using internet. Internet has been steadily showing its deep impact in the field of education and healthcare. Internet has become so popular particularly among the younger generation that it is very hard to live a day without internet.

Yet all is not gold in the gift of internet. It spoils and affects badly on the younger generation. It also affects on human relationships. The students are so much addicted to it that they even waste their valuable time by playing online games . The worst effect is on human health. Finally, the unrestraint cyber crimes which are the great threat to human civilisation now-a-days have been destroying the peace and decency of life.

Essay Writing on Social Media - Uses & Abuses in English | English Essays

Social media - uses and abuses.

Introduction Social media is any digital tool that allows users to quickly create and share content with the public. It has started a completely new era in the history of communication technology. Social media encompasses a wide range of websites and applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others. These web-based platforms allow people to interact with each other across distances. It is a great combination of technology, telecommunication and social interaction.

Advantages or Uses of Social Media Social media has led to positive changes in the way people communicate and share information. It is a great device for education. Live lectures and study materials are now available on various social media platforms. It is used worldwide to share information and updates.

Social media is a great platform to showcase extraordinary talent and abilities. Social media marketing is currently most widely used by companies to improve and expand their business. Social media has facilitated close interaction between public and administration. It has made the sharing of knowledge, belief, ideas and opinions very quick across the globe.

Disadvantages or Abuses of Social Media Social media has its negative impacts as well. The highly addictive nature of social media has produced social, health and psychological issues for youth. It is harmful because it invades our privacy. The cyber crimes are new face of social media and internet culture. Fake news and rumours create communal tension and disturb the peace and order of sociey.

Conclusion In short, social media has both advantages and disadvantages. It has connected the people like never before. Issues of privacy and cyber crimes must be tackled with technology and better laws. There is a need to spread awareness about the possible misuse of social media. If used in the right way, social media has the ability to bring positive changes in every walk of life.

uses and abuses of technology short essay

Essay on Mobile Phone

Essay on Mobile Phone: The mobile phone is one of the greatest invention in the twentieth century. A mobile phone can make phone calls, enable the user to send text messages, play games, take pictures, record videos, provide access to the internet, and much more. The mobile phone can be very useful in many different situations. For the past few years the world has witnessed a tremendous growth in mobile phone usage.

Also Check: Mobile Phone Paragraph For Students

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Today, mobile phone users in the world are around 5 Billion. Despite having several advantages, there are certainly some disadvantages to owning and using a mobile phone. In this article, we have covered a few essays on mobile phone that talk about both advantages and disadvantages. Find long and short formats of essay on mobile phone here.

Long and Short Essay on Mobile Phone in English

Below we have given a set of 5 essay on mobile phone and has covered various related topics to fulfill your requirements.

After going through the following mobile phone essay you will learn various significant topics on mobile phones like – its uses and abuses, is it helpful or rather annoying, what are its advantages and disadvantages, and how mobile phones are important for our daily life, etc.

A cell phone simplifies our lives. It serves for work or business, online classes, entertainment, and communication with friends and family. Nowadays, smartphones come with various handy features and fast internet, making it easy to access information promptly.

Essay on Mobile Phone in 200 Words

A mobile phone is a communication device, often also called as “cell phone”. It is a device mainly used for voice communication. However, technological developments in the field of communication have made the mobile phones smart enough to be able to make video calls, surf the internet, play games, take high resolution pictures and even control other relevant gadgets. Because of this mobile phones today are also called “Smart Phones”.

Also Check: Essay on Mobile Addiction

World’s first ever mobile phone was demonstrated way back in 1973, by the Motorola’s then President and COO, John Francis Mitchell and an American Engineer, Martin Cooper. That mobile phone weighed around 2 kilograms.

Since then mobile phones have evolved in technology and shapes. They have become smaller, slimmer and more useful. Today mobile phones are available in various shapes and sizes, having different technical specifications and are used for a number of purposes like – voice communication, video chatting, text messaging, multimedia messaging, internet browsing, e mail, video games and photography. They also have short range wireless communication like Bluetooth and infrared. Phones having wide range of advance functions and large computing abilities are called smart phones. They have an edge over other conventional mobile phones, which are used only for voice communication.

Essay on Mobile Phone in 300 Words – Uses and Abuses

There is no denying the fact that mobile phones are useful gadgets. They help us in our everyday life in a number of ways, making it easy and convenient. But, mobile phones are a blessing till they are used only for useful purposes. Using them beyond a certain limit even when there is no need at all, is not an use, but and abuse.

Uses of Mobile Phone

Mobile Phones can be used for a number of purposes like – voice communication, sending e mails, sending text messages, browsing internet, taking pictures. Smart phone today have better computing abilities and have many advance functions like – real time video chatting, interactive voice response, document manager, social media, high resolution camera, music player, location finder etc.

Communicating with our loved ones, friends or colleagues has become a matter of seconds due to the mobile phones. You just have to dial the other person’s number from your phone and wait till he/she responds to it. Mobile phones today have become so useful that, they have actually replaced the use of laptops and other bigger gadgets. Today, people send e mails, browsing the internet, manage social media accounts, power point presentations, perform calculations, and much more by using their smart phones.

Also Check: Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Phones

Abuses of Mobile Phone

Excessive and unnecessary use of a mobile phone leads to its abuse. Even, talking for long durations on mobile phones over trivial and insignificant issues is also a type of abuse. Doctors have repeatedly warned that continuous and excessive use of mobile phones is harmful to health. Another abuse of mobile phones includes listening to loud music. Mobile phones are handy and are easy to carry in pockets. Some youngsters today have taken this entertaining capability of mobile phones to a new level of abusing it. They drive or walk on busy roads, listening to loud music, with ear plugs; unable to listen an approaching vehicle and respond on time, resulting in accidents.

It is established beyond doubt that mobile phones are useful and necessary gadgets for our everyday life. Without mobile phones, life would be harder, both personally as well as professionally. But, despite the uses that mobile phones serve in our everyday life, we must also be aware of its abuses. Mobile phones could have health and safety consequences when not used appropriately.

Essay on Mobile Phone Boon or Bane – 400 Words

Mobile phones are a boon as they are used for a number of useful purposes. Nevertheless, there is also no denying the fact that a gadget as useful as a mobile phone could sometime be annoying and irritating.

Boon or Bane

Of course mobile phones are a boon given to the number of useful purposes they are used for like – internet, voice or video chat, documentation etc. Despite from the usual there are other uses like – social media and remain updated about the developments. Today every mobile phone user has a social media account, which he manages from his mobile phone. It helps him/her to remain connected to family and friends as well as other dignitaries like politicians, actors, cricketers etc.

But despite all the advantages, mobile phones could sometimes be annoying too. The use of mobile phones for various purposes and the accessibility of internet have compromised the privacy of the user. Also, every form that we fill today has a mandatory column asking to provide the phone number. Today the number of a common mobile phone user is available with many marketing agencies whose main aim is to sell their product. This loop hole in privacy has led to unwanted and unexpected marketing calls. People get annoying calls from insurance agents, marketing executives, etc, trying to sell their products to the mobile phone user, who is not at all interested.

Next in line is social media. Social media is a place where people share their views, pictures etc with those who are connected. However, this has also compromised the privacy to a certain level as someone undesirable could also peek into your account and send annoying messages; trailing you regularly. Such unwanted social buffs could be really annoying and some people are known to be trailed so regularly using inappropriate and indecent comments that they had to totally shut down their social media account.

In the end it would be more appropriate to say that mobile phones are both a boon and a bane. They are a boon when used appropriately and within limits but could be bane when they are used with mala fide intentions. Even a useful gadget as a mobile phone could be well annoying when it is used with the bad intention of deceiving someone, trailing him/her inappropriately on social media and other accounts.

Essay on Mobile Phone in 500 Words – Advantages and Disadvantages

An electronic gadget as a mobile phone has both advantages and disadvantages. There are a number of advantages of mobile phones and also a good number of disadvantages. Though, most of the disadvantages arise from it’s over use or misuse. Below we will go through both the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones.

Advantages of Mobile Phone

A Mobile phone makes things simpler for us. We can use it for work, learning online, having fun, or chatting with loved ones. Newer phones have lots of helpful stuff, like speedy internet to find things fast and without trouble.

Communication: It is one of the prime significance of mobile phones. You can instantly connected to the person you want to convey an important message or to have a casual chat. Distance too doesn’t matter and even people situated on two extremes of world can be connected within seconds.
Internet Browsing: Rapid advancements in mobile phone technology have led to an ease of internet accessability on mobile phones. Today, one can check the news, send/receive emails, and manage social accounts, all on mobile phones.
Performing Business: Mobile phones have become so popular that many established business groups cannot even think about their marketing strategy without considering mobile phone users. Social media accounts are the easiest way to connect with millions of users (in these case consumers) in a very less time.
Learning Applications: There are a variety of applications available on mobile phone which helps the students to learn and evolve their skills. Moreover, there are a number of online free tutorials available for the children and other willing audience.

Disadvantages of Mobile Phones

Making People Non communicable: Widespread use of mobile phones has made people meet less and talk more. One doesn’t care to meet a friend who stays just yards away; they rather just chat over phone or comment on social media account.
Time wastage: Now day’s people have developed an addiction to the mobile phones. As mobile phones became smarter, people became dumber. People are habitual of surfing the internet, even when they don’t need to.
Causes Ailments: Long exposure to mobile phones, stresses our eyes, brain and other organs resulting in various kind of ailments. Staring long hours on the screen, results in damage of eye sight, stress and headache along with sleeplessness and dizziness.
Loss of Privacy: Use of mobile phones for various purposes has resulted in compromising the privacy of the user. Today anyone could easily access the information like where you live, who are your friends and family, what is your business, where is your house etc; by just easily browsing through your social media account.
Money Drain: As grew the usefulness of the mobile phones so grew their purchasing and maintenance cost. Today people are spending a good amount of money on buying smart phones, which could rather be spent on more useful things like education.

A mobile phone could both be an advantage or a disadvantage; depending on how it is used by the prospective user. While used only when needed, it is of course an advantage, but when used beyond a certain limit or for a totally different purpose for which it intended to, it is definitely a disadvantage.

Essay on Mobile Phones in 600 Words – Importance in Our Life

Mobile phones are a useful gadget for our every day chorus. Gone were the days when mobile phones were only used for communication purposes. Today, they are used for various purposes in our daily life and have become an inseparable asset.

Mobile Phone Importance in Daily Life

There are several advantages of mobile phones in our daily life. Some of the major advantages are listed below-

Keep connected: The most significant importance of mobile phones is that, they keep us connected to our friends, relatives and others. You can talk video chat with whoever you want, by just operating your mobile phone or smart phone. Imagine shuttling between office and home to know the where about of your family and friends. Today, you can stay up to date about the school timing of your kid’s school on your phone.
Every day commuting: Mobile phones have become useful for every day commuting. Today, one can assess the live traffic situation on mobile phone and take appropriate decisions to reach on time. Many apps provide navigation assistance to a stranded driver or someone who wants to get to a particular place.
Keeps Us Informed: Applying for jobs, sharing your Curriculum Vitae has become so easy with the use of mobile phones. With 24 hours access to the internet, there is no time boundation and you can apply for a new job, even in the middle of night. Apart from it, one also has a 24/7 access to the developments around the world.
Provides Entertainment: Another daily use importance of mobile phone is that it can be used as an entertainment device. Whenever we get bored of routine work or during the breaks, there are a number of things you could do on your smart phone to relax. One can listen to music, watch movies or just watch the video of one’s favorite song.
Security Device: For daily commuters, mobile phones could be a blessing in disguise. They are handy and easy to be carried around in pockets. Every city commuter today has a mobile phone in his/her pocket or bag. They could be really useful gadgets in case of emergency. Relatives, friends as well as emergency services could be easily and instantly contacted when needed.
Managing Tasks: Mobile Phones today have become smarter and are used every day for a number of official purposes. Today they are used for managing everyday tasks like – meeting schedules, sending and receiving documents, giving presentations, alarms etc. Mobile phones have become an essential gadget for every office goer.
Take Photographs: Taking photographs has become a craze due to the advancement in mobile phone technology. Today mobile phones come equipped with high resolution cameras. Any picture could be easily taken and instantly uploaded over social media and other accounts. It helps us our family and friends to stay connected with the developments in our daily life.
Mobile Banking and Payment: This is another significance of mobile phones in our everyday life. Today, sending or receiving money has become easier as never before. Money could be transferred almost instantly to friends, relatives or others by using mobile baking in the smart phone. Also one could easily access his/her account details and know past transactions. The transactions have become much convenient with the use of mobile phones, which would rather have required a visit to the bank.

There are innumerable ways in which a mobile phone could be useful in our everyday life. It keeps us updated of the developments around, stay us connected, entertain us, help us find job and opportunities etc. Besides, there are hundreds of utilities that could be used to make life easy and entertaining as well. But, despite all the importance that a mobile phone has, it is advisable to use it only on purpose and not misuse or over use it.

Below are the list of related essay available at IL

Essay on Mobile Phone FAQs

What is a mobile phone in your own words.

A mobile phone is a small device that lets us talk to people, send messages, and use apps. It's like a tiny computer we can carry in our pocket.

What is the role of mobile phone in our life?

The mobile phone plays a big role in our lives. It helps us stay connected with family and friends, work from anywhere, get information quickly, and even have fun with games and apps.

What are the uses of mobile phone in English speech?

In an English speech, a mobile phone can be used to record our voice, play helpful audios, or even read from notes. It's a handy tool for practicing and delivering speeches.

What is the benefit of mobile?

Mobile phones offer many benefits. They keep us connected, provide information, entertain us with music and videos, and help with tasks like shopping, banking, and learning.

Why mobile is important for students?

Mobile phones are important for students because they can help with learning. Students can access study apps, research online, connect with classmates, and even attend online classes using their phones.

How mobile phone changed our life?

Mobile phones have changed our lives by making communication instant, providing endless information at our fingertips, and offering tools for work, study, and entertainment. Life has become more convenient and connected because of them.

Do phones affect mental health?

Yes, phones can affect mental health. Spending too much time on them or constantly checking for messages can increase stress. It's essential to take breaks and use phones in a balanced way.

Essay on Social Media for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on social media.

Social media is a tool that is becoming quite popular these days because of its user-friendly features. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more are giving people a chance to connect with each other across distances. In other words, the whole world is at our fingertips all thanks to social media. The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social media. All this makes you wonder that something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be all good. Like how there are always two sides to a coin, the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different opinions on this debatable topic. So, in this essay on Social Media, we will see the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Advantages of Social Media

When we look at the positive aspect of social media, we find numerous advantages. The most important being a great device for education . All the information one requires is just a click away. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media.

Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media. You can attend a lecture happening in America while sitting in India.

Furthermore, as more and more people are distancing themselves from newspapers, they are depending on social media for news. You are always updated on the latest happenings of the world through it. A person becomes more socially aware of the issues of the world.

In addition, it strengthens bonds with your loved ones. Distance is not a barrier anymore because of social media. For instance, you can easily communicate with your friends and relatives overseas.

Most importantly, it also provides a great platform for young budding artists to showcase their talent for free. You can get great opportunities for employment through social media too.

Another advantage definitely benefits companies who wish to promote their brands. Social media has become a hub for advertising and offers you great opportunities for connecting with the customer.

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Disadvantages of Social Media

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is considered to be one of the most harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences.

Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times. Next up is the addition of social media which is quite common amongst the youth.

This addiction hampers with the academic performance of a student as they waste their time on social media instead of studying. Social media also creates communal rifts. Fake news is spread with the use of it, which poisons the mind of peace-loving citizens.

In short, surely social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

FAQs on Social Media

Q.1 Is social media beneficial? If yes, then how?

A.1 Social media is quite beneficial. Social Media offers information, news, educational material, a platform for talented youth and brands.

Q.2 What is a disadvantage of Social Media?

A.2 Social media invades your privacy. It makes you addicted and causes health problems. It also results in cyberbullying and scams as well as communal hatred.

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