Now a day’s technology plays an important role in the life of human beings, and without the technology, human life becomes helpless, difficult and challenging. As everyone is familiar with the role of technology in the modern era of life, technology has made human life smarter, more manageable and comfortable.
Technology brings a revolution in various fields like agriculture, education, communication, medicine etc. All the information related to everything is present on the internet and is accessed by almost every man in the world with the use of technology. One can use other people’s thoughts, opinions with the help of internet.
Although technology has lots of advantages, it also has some demerits which are responsible for various environmental disturbances such as global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, extinction of various species etc.
Role of technology against nature
Technology is working against nature, as it creates numerous problems in the atmosphere. Pollute the environment, rise in temperature, depletion of natural resources, and effects on human health etc.
1. Environment Pollution
Technologies have polluted the environment in the number of ways, by increasing the toxic substances like carbon monoxide, CFCs, and other harmful substances in the air and making the soil infertile for production and destroy many aquatic lives. There are different ways in which technology has polluted the environment, and they are as:
a. Air pollution: — The cause of air pollution is the burning of fossil fuels in the industries, carbon dioxide and other deadly gases released by vehicles, automobiles, railways and other technological equipments etc. These harmful gases mix with air and make the air poisonous for all types of living creatures. Air pollution has lots of harmful effects on humans like skin cancer, allergy, lung cancer, asthma and other ailments. The nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide come out from industries and combine with rain and make the rain acidic. The acidic rain destroys the cultivation crops, forests and makes the large group of species extinct. The acidic rain degrades the buildings and monuments.
b. Water pollution: — A large amount of waste is created in industries, factories which are dropped in the water bodies, lakes and rivers pollute the freshwater. The use of insecticides and pesticides in the agriculture sink into the earth and goes into the water bodies make the freshwater toxic for both aquatic life and terrestrial life.
The toxic material and wastage in water bodies reduce the dissolved oxygen present in the water and also make water poisonous due to which there gets a reduction in the living species in water bodies. The freshwater also gets polluted by connecting the city drains with the water body and throwing the plastic material into the freshwater. There receives a scarcity of fresh water because of the use of technology.
c. Soil pollution: — Technology has made our land degradable by cutting down forests, trees and cleans the land for construction and other industrial purposes. The use of scientific chemicals like herbicides, insecticides and human-made fertilizer has not only made our soil infertile but kill the useful bacteria’s which are very helpful for the maintenance of soil composition. The large area of land has been degraded by using plastic bags, and other industrial wastages and this area of land become unsuitable for cultivation. Technology has destroyed the habitat of animals which are living in the forests.
d. Noise pollution: — The unwanted sounds that are produced by vehicles on roads and industries irritate humans. The pollution is invisible and is considered as nothing, but it has adverse effects on human health such as hearing loss, stress and high blood pressure. The children’s education is poorly affected who belongs to houses that are near to the busy roads or full-time running industries.
2. Depletion of natural resources
Natural resource depletion is also one of the negative impacts of technology on the environment. The faster consumption of resources than it can be replenished refers depletion of natural resources. Natural resources are of two types renewable and non-renewable. Mining of minerals, oil and industrial development have caused the depletion of natural resources. In recent research, the Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has predicted that there will be no availability of fresh water for about 1.8 billion people in the upcoming years.
The petroleum and natural gas are over consumed by the technology, and if the process remains to continue, these will be enough only for the next 40 to 50 years to fulfil the needs of the world demands. The huge number of species gets extinct as a reason for technology usage. The Ozone layer depletion is one of the series issues, caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere through the use of refrigerators and other harmful chemicals.
3. Effects on human health
It is evident that technology has made our lives comfortable, but there are lots of side effects of technology on human health. Technology has made humans lazy, obesity and an increase in weight of humans due which number of diseases have born like diabetes, lack of immunity, pain in knees and joints. The change in climate because of technology is responsible for skin cancer, allergy.
The over access and entirely dependence on social media, web surfing, and other technology have to lead to psychological effects on humans like depression, anxiety and isolation from the family. The overuse of smartphones daily is the cause of eyestrain, neck strain and mantel disorders. The children’s are addictive of junk foods which lead to them stomach disorders like stomach cancer and make them unhealthy.
Technology has changed social life altogether. A person gets isolated from the family and society. The family members in a house remain alone in their rooms as a result of surfing the internet for a very long time in their rooms. Technology creates a sense of inhumanity in the hearts of people, and this inhumanity can be seen when an accident met with some person on the road, no one helps him, and he got death.
When a person is browsing the internet or playing a game like PUBG in isolation daily, he becomes addictive of it, and gradually he feels loneliness and depression as an outcome of suicides and self-immolations. By the use of social media, a person can relate with more than one as a consequence of divorces and tension in the family. Interact with the other people, talking with them and sharing inner feelings and personal matters with them overcomes the depression and sadness of a person.
5. Increase in global warming
The continuous variation in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere describes global warming. The rise in the carbon dioxide level in the earth’s atmosphere is responsible for global warming. One of the main reasons for the global warming issue is the industrial development and burning of fossil fuels in the factories and other technological equipments.
The outcomes of global warming are the raising of the sea level, which promotes coastal flooding and change in the pattern of rainfall, snowfall and expansion of deserts. The early melting of snow and defrost or retreat of glaciers leads to scarcity of water. The water resources have been declining day by day, and the researchers said that in the upcoming decades the world wars would be fought for water.
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Role of technology for the betterment of nature
Although the technology is working against nature, the increase in the global concerns like global warming, degradation of topmost level of soil due to the overuse of plastic bags and substance made of polythene the new technological equipments have been developing to conquer the problems created in the environment that we are facing.
1. Decrease in pollution
Direct Air Capture (DAC) is the technology that directly captures the carbon dioxide from the environment, filter it and then release the air without carbon dioxide. DAC technology is recently developed and is in the early stages of progress. However, it can’t be implemented on a large scale. The electric buses and electric railways can help in reducing pollution in the environment. The use of electricity in our vehicles as a source of energy demonstrates that technology has positive impacts on the environment because they do not release carbon dioxide and other harmful gases in the environment.
Furthermore, the uses of electric vehicles have no adverse effects on the environment, which means that they are not destructive to humans, animals and plants. The use of a solar panel system is another technology which is cooperative in overcoming the pollution in the environment. It is an eco-friendly system, pollution less and has low expense to implement. It is widely used throughout the world.
2. Conservation of natural resources
Technology conserves the natural resources by increase the use of renewable resources like solar energy, wind energy and hydropower electricity etc. These renewable resources help us in reducing the use of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, petroleum and natural gas, which takes thousands of years to replenish.
Technology conserves the endangered wildlife species by remotely monitoring the wild animals in the forests and grasslands through the use of drones embedded with smart cameras and sensors which continuously collect the data and forwarded to the authorities. The concept of recycling the used substances assists in conservation and developing eco-friendly environment.
The screen technology reduces the use of papers and pens, which in turn reduces deforestation. At present times, we use the alternative way for communication and alternative way for printed materials that include e-books, audiobooks etc. The growing media’s such as television, smartphones, radio, news channels, and social media reduces the use of printed papers.
3. Reduce accidents on roads
The increase in population in the cities increases the number of vehicles in the city, and the rise in the number of vehicles in the cities is responsible for accidents on roads. The advancement in technology has dramatically reduced road accidents. The use of stickers on the roads creates an illusion for the driver, the sticker seems a child is on the road or dug is on the road and the driver automatically reduces the speed of the vehicle which is one of the techniques to bring down road accidents.
4. Technology made human life easier, smarter, faster and comfortable
Technology has changed the lifestyle of human beings completely. The smartphone makes it possible to interact or communicate with people all over the world virtually. Chatting with a friend who lives on the other side of the planet, sending and receiving emails or messages within no time becomes possible through the use of social media like WhatsApp, Facebook etc. The travel industry has been made easy, fast and convenient for the travellers by the use of technology like the GPS system, aeroplanes through which we can travel thousands of kilometres in a day.
The online booking of tickets before months makes the life of humans more comfortable, faster and convenient. Safer online payments becoming an easy way of sending money to the other people who are very apart from us and keeps a record of transitions to prevent frauds. The online shopping of items from homes reduces the time and travel complexity. The use of IoT technology in the modern world makes everything around us smart like smart homes, smart cities, smart traffic system etc.
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