Running head: IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY 1

Impacts of Technology

Sharon Staviski, Richard Drane, Buford Criswell, Ali Aghashahi

Morehead State University

IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY 2

Abstract

New technologies are emerging every day which provide efficient and convenient methods for

society to conduct business, enjoy social media, and accomplish common everyday tasks in our

homes and in our cars. These conveniences are cutting edge technology that makes our day to

day life much easier and saves money, time and energy, but the impact has been both positive

and negative and questions ethics.

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Impacts of Technology

New technologies are emerging every day which provide efficient and convenient

methods for society to conduct business, enjoy social media, and accomplish common everyday

tasks in our homes and in our cars. These conveniences are cutting edge technology that makes

our day to day life much easier and saves money, time and energy, but the impact has been both

positive and negative and questions ethics. In this paper, we will examine e-commerce,

Facebook, smart cars and smart house and show the positive and negative aspects of each.

E-commerce

As the Internet continues to be the center of our digital world, businesses are changing

the way they interact with society. Through electronic commerce, or e-commerce, goods and

services are bought and sold over the Internet. As we become a “cashless” society, we are

experiencing both positive and negative impacts.

E-commerce transactions involve e-business activities such as marketing, advertising,

security, customer service and payments. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, retail e-

commerce sales have steadily increased since 2006 to nearly $80 billion for the second quarter of

2015 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015) which is a clear indication of why businesses must focus on e-

commerce to stay competitive.

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau

One issue that companies are facing are the payment methods used for Internet purchases.

Credit cards have been around since 1950 when the Diners Club card was established.

Soon to follow was American Express which still remains today along with Visa and MasterCard

as some of the top names for the plastic with a magnetic strip. Credit cards, debit cards and

prepaid cards have given us the convenience and security of spending money without carrying as

much cash in our pockets and without leaving our homes. However, using cards for Internet

purchases has resulted in data breaches and fraud, so to avoid losing customers’ trust, there is a

constant battle for developing the best technology.

Smart cards such as the EMV are similar to credit cards but provide better security

through the use of an integrated chip. A smart card is either swiped through a card reader or

detected by a radio frequency reader. The drawback to the smart card is the expense of investing

in the card reader equipment (Falkner, 2014).

Another form of e-payments is the mobile payment. The technology for mobile

payments is very new, still evolving and quite possibly the direction that will have the greatest

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impact on creating a “cashless” society. With the increased use of smartphones, the big names in

mobile technology (Apple and Google) are trying different strategies to gain a competitive edge

for your business. Apple, who is known for keeping everything proprietary, is now allowing

PayPal as a method for purchases in the Apple online store (Murphy, 2014).

Mobile wallets store your digital data including passwords, memberships, credit card and

bank account information. Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, PayPal Wallet are a few companies

marketing the e-wallet. Although they are not widely used, more people are becoming aware of

their existence. What makes a mobile wallet safe? Another technology known as near field

communication (NFC) which has a maximum range of approximately 20cm using one

wavelength provides a more secure connection compared to WiFi and Bluetooth which extend

several wavelengths (Falkner, 2014). Since mobile wallets require NFC, mobile phone

manufacturers are providing the NFC technology.

In addition to considering the methods for e-commerce transactions, ethics also present

an issue. The convenience of banking and shopping from our phones or our homes does not

prevent us from being exposed to unethical and dangerous situations. Anyone can participate in

e-commerce and “appear” as a legitimate entity, but transactions on websites such as EBay and

Craig’s List have resulted in scams and even violence. The best way to counteract such activity

is for e-businesses to improve their screening process for allowing participants on their site and

for society to use common sense.

E-commerce has become a new world for businesses and consumers to conduct

transactions. It has generated a positive impact on our society and created a great opportunity for

a “cashless” society. Although there will always be a threat of data security and even personal

security, emerging technologies continue to offer better and more secure options.

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Facebook

Facebook launched back in 2004 in the dorm room of Harvard students Mark

Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz. Within 24 hours, over 1200

students at Harvard signed up. Then after one month, more than one half of the undergraduate at

Harvard population had a profile. The network was promptly extended to other universities in the

New England area, the Ivy League and eventually all colleges/universities in the United States

(Zeevi, 2013). In August of 2005 it became facebook.com after the address was purchased for

$200,000. US high schools could add accounts in September 2005, then it began to spread

worldwide, reaching UK universities in September 2005 (Phillips, 2007).

In the eleven years now of this social network we have encountered many pros. Some of

the pros include:

- It’s free and all that is needed is an internet connection and any device that can connect to the

internet, mobile phones included. Most people I know are always on Facebook via mobile

device.

-Facebook is a world connector for people, and lets your kids communicate with far away friends

and distant family. Your kids can easily be informed about what goes in the lives of people who

live across the country or world.

-Your kids decide what people to share with. They can choose who they would like to share their

status updates, photos or check-ins with. This allows us as parents/guardians to be in control of

the safety of our kids.

As opposed to over a decade ago when all we really had was “blogs” to share our

thoughts with the world we can now do so with pictures, statuses, wall posting or messages.

Your child can interact with kids with similar interests and ideas across around the world. They

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can join groups and support fan pages, and find out what other kids are interested in. Children

who may not be as social in person can now extend their social life globally and be comfortable

with it. Facebook allows kids to keep up with current friends and make new ones. When used

correctly, social media increases a child’s self-esteem and help them feel less isolated, as if they

belong to a group. It would have been the greatest thing for me growing up as a child, because I

always had social anxiety all the way through high school.

Though the pros are greatly beneficial, some cons exist. They include:

-Privacy. Privacy is a major concern for almost every Facebook user. The privacy settings are

extremely important and need to be set accordingly. Security has been improved over the years

on Facebook, but it still can be confusing. As a result, hackers can have access to personal

information.

-Facebook takes a lot of time out of the day for children and adults. There are many more things

in our daily lives that should be focused on, but yet this seems to be the main hobby that we

seem to spend our time doing. It drains lives.

-Children have a bad tendency to post offensive or inappropriate content. This leads to “cyber

bullying”. Several documented cases of cyber bullying have led to children committing suicide,

which is horrible.

Even though we pointed out how it makes us more social globally it very well can be

making us all less social in person. We need to regain our skills on how to be social again, which

college does have a tendency to do (PureSight, n.d.).

The key to being a Facebook user is finding the balance between your social networking

time and your personal daily life- homework, employment, family, friends, etc. If we can find a

way to mesh these things and securely use our social networking safely then the use of Facebook

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would be a beneficial thing for almost anyone to use. Parents just need to monitor their children

regularly and not let them commit 100% of their children’s time to social networking.

Smart Cars

Considering all of the new technologies, one of the most attractive and modern one is

smart cars. Nowadays, like other branches of technology, progress in manufacturing of

automobiles is very fast. The meaning of the word “smart car” is not just small and low gas

consumption car. Smart means exactly intelligence here. We are talking about cars that can move

without driver. They can make decisions in different situations, and they are highly law

attendance.

At the first, it seems these kinds of robots can drive totally better than people, which they

will drive definitely how they have to. But looking at some specific situation makes us to think

deeper about giving such an important authority to a machine.

In Jason Miller’s opinion, some problems should be considered before sending driverless

cars to the streets. The most important issue is not just the lawfulness of this cars but how smart

car react and make decision in ethical situation. There are several examples of situations that

there is no rule about them to make decision. One of them is Tunnel problem (Millar, 2014).

“You are driving in an autonomous car along a narrow road, headed towards a one-lane tunnel

when a child errantly runs on to the road and trips. The car cannot brake fast enough to avoid

hitting the child and so it must decide whether to swerve off the road, effectively harming you, or

remain driving straight, harming the child” (Stokes,2014).

Let us keep this problem in our mind and take a look at other problems. Suppose that a

smart car is driving in a street and crashes into one of two cars that are near it. There are just two

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choices: one is to hit a Volvo sport utility vehicle (SUV), and the other is hitting a Mini Cooper

(Lin, 2014).

Now we will take a look at third problem. Again our smart car has to make a decision to

hit one of two objects. Both of them are motorcycles, but one of the motorcyclists has worn a

helmet but the other does not (Lin, 2014).

In the first problem, if the driver was a human, it depends on him/her to how to react on

this case. Does he/she save himself/herself life or act like a hero and swerve of the road to keep

the child alive? But the car does exactly how it has been programed. Does it have to save an

adult’s life or a child? Is it programmed to save passenger’s life always? Really, what is the

ethical decision in such situation?

In the second problem, it seems easy to make a decision; hitting a strong car (SUV)

causes less injury than hitting a small car (Mini Cooper), then probably our smart car goes to

crash with SUV. But Volvo Company has right to does not agree with our car reaction. Being

always the target of accident in such situations causes their benefits. Actually it is not fair to be

more in danger because you are stronger. The third situation is like this one. If the car hit the

motorcyclist that has not worn a helmet, it can be kill him/her, but if the car hit the other, he/she

has been punished because of being more careful and lawful.

Even in some situations making an unlawful decision is more logical and may be ethical

than be lawful. For example, suppose you are driving in a road and then face a tree branch on

your way. If there is no incoming traffic, probably you decide to drift a little into the opposite

side of the road and pass the impediment, but because of the lawful program that has been

probably used in the smart car, the driverless car will stop complete and it may cause some other

problems for itself and other automobiles (Lin, 2013).

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Smart Houses

Have you ever left home and wondered if you turned the lights off or locked the door? In

today’s fast paced world it is very easy to forget these simple tasks that can leave your home

unsecure during the day or using kilowatts of electricity that are not being utilized by leaving the

lights on all day. The solution has been created, the concept of smart houses that are homes that

can be controlled by the touch of a button with a smart phone or internet capable device from

most any location.

The “Smart Home" is the term commonly used to define a residence that has appliances,

lighting, heating, air conditioning, TVs, computers, entertainment audio & video systems,

security, and camera systems that are capable of communicating with one another and can be

controlled remotely by a time schedule, from any room in the home, as well as remotely from

any location in the world by phone or Internet (Edmonds, 2008). The technology of smart homes

has evolved over the past 30 years and are becoming much more common fixtures in homes

today. Most homes are built and retro-fitted to the consumer’s budget and time frame for

affordability purposes when incorporating smart home capabilities.

These conveniences are cutting edge technology that makes our day to day life much

easier and saves money on energy. They can lead to hackers being able to infiltrate your home

with the click of a button and disable your security system or mainstream surveillance on the

web for everyone to see. For every push of a button for positive technology there is an equal

opposite button to create problems that can’t always be foreseen. Thieves and hackers work to

rob or control your home in a manner that you don’t want using the same technology that makes

your home so convenient for you. Developers of the smart home technology systems are aware

of the abilities of hackers to access homes that are equipped with smart technology. Black Hat

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and Defcon computer security conference in Las Vegas, the bluetooth-controlled Satis smart

toilet was just one of the many connected devices that security researchers hacked. They also

opened front door locks, hijacked power outlets, took over the hubs that coordinate all the home-

automation devices, and did some very creepy things with a toy bunny just to mention a few.

These devices are powered by your homes ability to use apps and the internet to program in

settings that can be altered by hackers with some very simple maneuvers (Kelly,2013).

Hacking a smart home is the new burglary crime with no forced entry, they’re able to

shut down alarm systems, deactivate surveillance cameras and know when to expect you home

all from the stroke of a key pad. Basic common sense should be kept when investing in smart

home technology. Criminals today are way more tech savvy than most police departments and be

in an out in a matter of minutes without disturbing the neighbors or your house hold pets. These

types of crime leave very little evidence and are very difficult to file insurance claims without

physical evidence from forced entry.

Smart home programs are convenient technology that with proper firewalls and

maintenance their benefits outweigh their faults. Energy savings can be expected, added mind of

security by knowing what is happening at your home when your away adds to your the peace of

mind, along with always having the climate set just right on those cold mornings. These

advances in technology come with a price of letting down our privacy wall to enjoy these

luxuries at the touch of a button, smartphone app or IPAD screen when bring your home on line.

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Conclusion

The latest technologies are coming fast and more frequent. While always achieving

efficiency and convenience, the technologies we have discussed have caused both positive and

negative impacts on society and in some cased have created ethical dilemmas. E-commerce has

created a great opportunity for a “cashless” society, but brings risks of data and personal

security. Facebook has given us a social media for entertainment, but for the younger society it

requires careful monitoring. Technology in automobiles and in our homes has created smart cars

and smart houses which can make decisions, but considering the endless scenarios of events,

safety becomes a big issue. The best way for solving the issues that each of these technologies

present is human application of careful planning and design of new technologies and the use of

common sense and responsibility.

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References

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(2015). Retrieved from U.S. Census Bureau:

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