Availability of connectivity 24x7 — Boon or Curse
Inventions in the field of technology have been drastically increased in the past 3 decades. May it be integrated circuits, computers, mobile phones, various computer software, smartphones, etc. Among these is the one invention that binds all things and makes human life more comfortable. On any normal day, you may be checking news on the phone, chatting with your friends, posting cool instagram posts, paying your bills online, sending money online. chances are these things feel unremarkable for us nowadays — but it wasn’t so few decades ago, that time they were utterly unthinkable.
On 1st january 1983, the internet was born and today 39 years after it has become an integral part of human life. If there is no internet for some time most people face huge losses; such is the power of the internet. In this blog we will discuss what the availability of the internet 24 hrs 7days a week can do for the betterment of humanity and also we will look into its bad effects also.
In India, on 15th August 1995, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited(VSNL) launched public Internet access in india. Since then internet users have increased significantly. Still till mid 2010s only elite class of india had access to good internet but after that mobiles phones became affordable and rates of internet providers such as reliance jio, airtel, vodafone, idea (now VI) became affordable to common people. Since then most of the businesses went online and the internet market took a huge lift.
And at current scenario, the coronavirus pandemic has made people to stay at home in the form of lockdowns, this affected social life but in between this education system has became online and students need network connectivity also all people are working from home conducting conferences, doing webinars, etc. so need of continuous connectivity is increased.
Internet Connectivity
The Internet is changing society. Internet connectivity allows people to access information in different ways like video, audio, texts and so on. They can search any topic on the internet and get information they want. Nowadays it is possible to order food, shop, transfer money, search for jobs,etc. in online mode.
But due to the ability to search any topic on the internet the thinking capacity may be reduced.
Internet users have two sides. One of those people who see positive information will benefit from it. While, the people who read or view negative information can become depressed. Also, constantly looking at the screen makes the eyes tense and the wrong way of sitting causes back pain.
Education
Nowadays in the education field everywhere connectivity is being used. Teaching and learning can be more interactive and stimulating with the use of technology. Students can enroll into online programs and can do online courses. Teachers and students can do assignments online so the paperwork will be reduced. Also schools, colleges can take the online exams but in that case the copy cases may increase. It is dangerous for children’s because their brains are still developing and it may be more sensitive to the effects of the internet. Students using technology every day might forget the idea of picking up a real book to read. They might even avoid going outside for recess or to participate in family activities.
Save time
In earlier days, if one had to send a message to someone it took 3 to 4 days to receive that message but nowadays it can be done within 10 seconds. By using technology people can make their work faster to save more time. Nowadays we can buy clothes using various apps and this saves us a lot of time. In the past, if someone didn’t know a new place, it would take a long time to find it, but now it’s not like that. We can search it on google maps. Just as the internet can save us time, it can also be wasted. Like, if you want to find some information on the internet, you search for a lot of information about it, but then you may forget all the information you need. This can be a waste of your time.
Social Media
Nowadays online communication supports existing friendships. The family members, friends, relatives, are connected to each other by social media like Facebook, Whats app, Instagram and so on. They can share their thoughts all over the world through social media. Social media has created a new approach for learning and jobs. But the addiction of social media is very dangerous. After addiction to drugs and alcohol, social media is a deadly addiction. Those who don’t know how to use social media or they aren’t aware about it, then it becomes quite a security threat. Also there is an increase in the number of cyber crimes. If you are spending more time on social media or the internet then it will be easy for hackers to find your personal information.
Exposing creativity or talent
Every human being has some or other artistic qualities. By the help of the internet or social media they can explore their work in the whole world. It exposes people to a diverse audience which will help them see things differently, and will assist with removing mental blocks and encourage them to laugh more often. All of which will directly help to improve and encourage their creativity. Writers can publish their blogs, books, or any material on the internet and they earn money from these. The Internet or social media is the easiest way to spread information online. But artists or writers might see more spam in their inbox than junk mail in real life because digital advertising can be sent on a massive scale.
Self Image
Social media has a very strong impact on the self-esteem of individuals. the majority of the people end up making upward and downward comparisons with others. Nowadays, people post stories, photos, videos on social media and many other people compare themselves to them. As a result the self-esteem of such people gets negatively affected. Social media is growing very drastically in almost every country in the world. So it is impossible to keep people, especially students who use Facebook on a daily basis, away from social media for a very long time.
Some facts
Facebook is the most preferred social media platform. With more than 2000 million Facebook users world over, if a country is constituted with them, it would be the world’s third largest, behind China and India.
According to the 2017 official report published by Facebook, on average there were 1.40 billion Daily active users of Facebook for December 2017, an increase of 14% year-over-year.
There is a big difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web or the web. The Internet is a massive global network of networks, a networking infrastructure. The Internet connects millions of computers around the globe, forming a network where computers can communicate with other computers so long as they are all connected to the Internet.
Data sent by users across the Internet often travels overseas to reach its destination, to be more precise ‘underseas’. Around 99 percent of transoceanic data moves through undersea cables. This accounts for phone calls, text messages, and Internet usage. Today, there are around 380 underwater cables in operation, spanning a length of over 745,645 miles.
Conclusion
Since the connectivity is good if it is used for work and for particular time because sitting at home without any physical exercise and putting our eyes into harmful screens has many harmful effects. so we can say availability of connectivity 24*7 is boon if used in the right direction otherwise it’ll be a curse for humanity. Getting advancement in any field is always good but then it’s we the people whose responsibility goes on increasing with this growth. Technology has made a massive growth and this growth is because of human curiosity only. Availability of connectivity 24x7 won’t either be a boon or a curse. It is up to us how we use this technology and to what extent.
Blog created by:
Aditya Pawar , Vishwajeet Pawar, Yashraj Pawar, Akanksha Pokale, Preet Bhundia.