My daily technology experience is a positive one (for the most part) !

My personal experience with technology and its evolution has mostly been a good one. For one, I would not be able to do many of the things that I now do if it wasn’t for innovative technology and remote technology advances such as distance learning. I have 2 children; one who is only about 5 months old. So going to school would not have been possible without technology. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew it would be hard, but still achievable with enough commitment. This was only because of the use of my computers, fast internet, and distance learning that allow me to do all of my school work in the convenience of my own home. For example, if the baby wakes up, I simply take a break from school and go back when it is convenient for me (and the baby) ! When I want to pay all of my bills, I do that from the convenience of my computer. The same is true with shopping and touching base with old friends and family. I will admit that I find myself a little bit warped into the net sometimes and forget how much time I spent surfing. That can be remedied with simply paying more attention to time spent on it and setting enough time aside for each aspect of my life, essentially keeping a healthy balance. My husband and I own a couple of businesses, one of which is a car dealership. Technology has enabled us to put many of the cars for sale online through sites like Craig’s list and EBay, which gives us more avenues for advertising the cars we have. I love to keep up with the news and cannot sit down and wait for CNN to go through each of their stories, so I just log on to www.CNN.com and search for what I need and usually spend only a few minutes. Overall, technology plays an integral part of my life. It makes many things possible that otherwise wouldn’t be and helps me with many of my daily activities. The key is to have a healthy balance between things. Certain things, like spending time with my kids, I may find myself relying on technology too much. I flick on the television, give them a video game, or log them on the computer so I can get my own stuff done. These are the parts of technology where I must be weary. There is no technological replacement for some things, and that is one of them!

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Negative impacts of cell phones on our daily life

A new study from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee shows that many cell phone users experience many negative effects from their daily cell phone use. The study pinpointed the lives of over 1300 adults over the course of 2 years. This study showed that people who consistently used a cell phone or pager throughout the study experienced increased levels of “spillover” between work and home. This led to decreased satisfaction with family life overall. The report suggested that women were more likely to experience the spillover than men at work and men more than women at home. In other words, women seemed to get more calls at work about problems with the kids and so on, while men would get more call at home about work, both disrupting the other (Reimer).
A study by Dr. Argawal, PH.D, shows that we are exposed to microwave radiation through our cell phone use. In detail, this causes electromagnetic waves to alter and cause problems while we sleep, trouble when trying to concentrate, fatigue, and increases symptoms of headaches, among other things. Even more severe, they have been shown to damage key brain cells and trigger early indications of Alzheimer’s disease. The cell phones have also been shown to negatively affect the areas of the brain that deal with memory, learning, and movement. A study performed by Swedish researchers suggests this information. This study was performed on rats that experienced radiation equivalent to that of a cell phone for 2 hours. In the study, researchers reexamined their brains after approximately 50 days only to find that their was an abundance of dead brain cells.
There is also the potential negative risk associated with cell phones and driving while talking on them. Dr. Rothman states that the risk of getting into an accident while driving and talking on a cell phone or shortly after a cell phone was about 4 times greater than driving without one or with hands free devices like Bluetooth. This information was from the Epidemiology evidence on health Risks of cellular phones. This makes sense in that if we are driving and talking, we are simply less likely to concentrate on the road than we normally would be. These negatives are in addition to studies showing increased stress levels and negative effects on the environment.
Overall, cell phones have positives and negatives, but it seems indicative through research that the positives are more for convenience while the negatives can be life and/or death. A healthy balance may be what society needs to strive for. Anyway, I got to go, my cell phone is ringing !!!

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http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/01/5909.ars

http://www.controlyourimpact.com/2008/03/disadvantages-of-cell-phones/

INTERNET NEGATIVES

As a society, the internet is an addiction that most of the people in developed nations either have or will have once they get regular access. By this, I mean that without it, we may actually go crazy and lose our mind. We have gotten away from accomplishing most of our daily routines through physical travel, phone calls, and so on, that it may very well be the root of our demise if we should have to ever give the internet up in the future, for whatever reason. The internet has many positives that I talked about in my first post, and it continually makes improvements for us to take advantage of. But what are some of the negatives of the internet other than its general addictiveness on people? First of all, people develop a second image exclusively for the internet because of its freedom allowed to its users mixed with the ability to be anonymous in the virtual world. We are simply more likely to say or do something we normally would not to someone’s face in the real world when we are behind a computer screen. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it certainly can be. This especially applies when dealing with politics, race, religion, and gender. Because a person can literally do everything online; go to school, work, pay bills, invest, etc, the healthy benefits that comes from social interactions are becoming a thing of the past. People also tend to become lazy when they sit behind a computer screen long enough while still getting everything accomplished. Can I honestly sit here and say that accomplishing daily routines is not quicker using the internet than the old fashioned methods, no! It’s not even close. But what I can say is that after saving 30 minutes of time to pay a bill, I, myself, very rarely simply log off and get out of the house. I typically will check the news, my email, parenting tips, my bank account, school stuff…and 2 hours later, I am still surfing. Another interesting aspect of the internet is how many people commit crimes on it that normally may not in real life. Stealing music or videos on line is fairly common from sites like bit torrent or limewire. As Boudreau writes, "nearly 10 million users worldwide simultaneously clicked into peer-to-peer technology last month - 12 percent more than in May2005." Part of the problem here is that there is not really an internet police to watch everything that goes on. Some laws help to govern and regulate, but the information is so vast and scattered, it is impossible to truly regulate it. This then leads to other issues of crime that can be committed easier online such as fraud, terrorist funding, and child pornography. Maybe with more lobbying and regulation, some of these issues can be resolved. These are just some of the important negatives to be aware of as the world becomes more virtual, more technological, and more internet oriented.
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Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/45919/negative_effects_of_internet_usage.html?cat=9

Boudreau, John. "Unlawful file sharing fight rages." ContraCostaTimes.com. 2006. 2 Jul 2006.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/14928106.htm

Mobile technology positives

Mobile technology positives

One of the things that makes our daily routines easier is technology. Technology can refer to an array of different things. One of those things is mobile technology. One example of mobile technology is the cell phone. The cell phone has become a staple in communication mobility around the world. With so many towers and cellular communications, we are able to reach the most remote areas of the world. Other examples of mobile technology include PDA’s and laptops. The one thing that slows down an internet connection could be the strength of the wireless signal you get. Some smartphones can even act as a modem to connect via USB directly into your laptop for stronger signal. Things that may be classified as daily or nightly routines, like watching television, can be done through mobile technology as well. With many phones, laptops, PDA’s, and some mp3 players, you can watch television programming like news, sports, movies, and so on. Another mobile technology that makes life much easier is GPS units. Global positioning systems, or GPS, have replaced old fashioned folding maps and map booklets of yesterday because of their convenience, reliability, and updated maps. Many features typically accompany a GPS device. If you want to find a restaurant or gas station, you can find them through a search from the closest to your current location outward with a compass so you know which direction they are in. Many of these units even have the address and phone number of the location so you can call to make sure they are still open or ask other questions. The GPS will allow you to set up routes with different personal settings and give you turn by turn directions. Many have standard maps and 3d maps for your preference. The best thing is that the cost has come down quite a bit. You can get a nice one for well under $100 in most markets.

http://mobiletechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/mobile_technology_overview

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The internet positives

The internet has become the engine that makes the technology vehicle evolve and grow in our society and many societies across the world. It is convenient and efficient in many ways. Searching for information is one of those ways and starts with one of the many popular search engines, such as Google or Yahoo. By simply typing in key words you can retrieve thousands upon thousands of results and navigate your way through what is useful and/or reliable for you and what is not. In addition, these search engines are set up in a way that they make the key words you put in correlate to the key words in the resources and links they find, making it more efficient by relevance of what you are looking for. The internet is an effective way to communicate as well all over the world through outlets like instant messaging, e-mail, blog websites, twitter, social networking sites like myspace or facebook, and so on. Much of this makes collaboration from many different parts of the world possible. People from many different ethnicities, social classes, geographic regions, religious backgrounds, and other diversities can talk about common and different issues among them. This form of global socialization has become a staple of international communication recently and continues to grow and effect our daily lives. Another important positive of the internet is the gateways to education that it has opened for people that may not have otherwise been able to take advantage of. With the increasing popularity and growth of online education and distance learning, anyone with and internet connection and a computer is able to get an education. This enables people who work odd hours, have kids, are disabled, or have unreliable transportation to go to school and get a legitimate degree from an accredited college or university if they so choose(Oak). With the popularity and competition of the internet, speeds have continued to increase as well from the internet providers across the country. For example, a typical internet connection is 6 or 8 megabytes per second. Comcast is now offering up to 50 megabytes per second and may increase that in the future (Comcast.com). Verizon is offering the same thing as well in its markets (Verizon.com). With so much competition among different providers of such a popular product, prices should maintain competitive allowing most people to continue to take advantage of the internet and its many positives on our society. For example, Verizon is now offering a bundle of internet, phone, and television for only 89.99 per month (Verizon.com)
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http://www.buzzle.com/articles/positive-effects-of-internet.html
http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=821
http://www22.verizon.com/residential/fiosinternet/Plans/Plans.htm

Introduction

Hello, my name is Nicole Zumot and this is my technology blog. Today is Sunday, Feb 21st. I will be periodically posting on technology and how it affects us as people in our day to day activities. Thanks for visiting