Research Paper
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Research Paper
In the modern world, technology has overruled our lives in every aspect, be it our lifestyle or communication with other fellow beings, it is now an integral part of our life. Apart from communication technology is used for multiple purposes including promoting business and advertisements, but like other scientific breakthroughs, technology also has some positive and negative aspects. It is a known fact that before the evolution of technology people were more focused on their goals, they were more indulged in doing healthy activities rather than distracting themselves by using technology and the services that it provides. The impact of technology on human life is huge when it comes to communication. Although it has enhanced the communication in so many ways for instance when a person uses technology as a medium distance is not a barrier and also it is easy to use and convenient but having said that there are some drawbacks of technology because it is interfering greatly on the way humans are communicating with each other ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"DTojwv7G","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Maffey, Homans, Banks, & Arts, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Maffey, Homans, Banks, & Arts, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1613,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/4ULXNZXI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/4ULXNZXI"],"itemData":{"id":1613,"type":"article-journal","title":"Digital technology and human development: A charter for nature conservation","container-title":"Ambio","page":"527-537","volume":"44","issue":"Suppl 4","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"The application of digital technology in conservation holds much potential for advancing the understanding of, and facilitating interaction with, the natural world. In other sectors, digital technology has long been used to engage communities and share information. Human development—which holds parallels with the nature conservation sector—has seen a proliferation of innovation in technological development. Throughout this Perspective, we consider what nature conservation can learn from the introduction of digital technology in human development. From this, we derive a charter to be used before and throughout project development, in order to help reduce replication and failure of digital innovation in nature conservation projects. We argue that the proposed charter will promote collaboration with the development of digital tools and ensure that nature conservation projects progress appropriately with the development of new digital technologies.","DOI":"10.1007/s13280-015-0703-3","ISSN":"0044-7447","note":"PMID: 26508341\nPMCID: PMC4623862","shortTitle":"Digital technology and human development","journalAbbreviation":"Ambio","author":[{"family":"Maffey","given":"Georgina"},{"family":"Homans","given":"Hilary"},{"family":"Banks","given":"Ken"},{"family":"Arts","given":"Koen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",11]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Maffey, Homans, Banks, & Arts, 2015).
When technology was first invented it was created for human convenience, with the advancement of technology people of every age used it but it is proved from several studies that technology was mainly used by the aged people in order to reduce social isolation. “Social isolation is a multidimensional concept that lacks a clear and consistent definition in the literature”. Some scholars see it directly equivalent to loneliness and use it interchangeably” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"78I7GKWx","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Chen & Schulz, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Chen & Schulz, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1616,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/I98ZN4DE"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/I98ZN4DE"],"itemData":{"id":1616,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Effect of Information Communication Technology Interventions on Reducing Social Isolation in the Elderly: A Systematic Review","container-title":"Journal of Medical Internet Research","volume":"18","issue":"1","source":"PubMed Central","abstract":"Background\nThe aging of the population is an inexorable change that challenges governments and societies in every developed country. Based on clinical and empirical data, social isolation is found to be prevalent among elderly people, and it has negative consequences on the elderly’s psychological and physical health. Targeting social isolation has become a focus area for policy and practice. Evidence indicates that contemporary information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to prevent or reduce the social isolation of elderly people via various mechanisms.\n\nObjective\nThis systematic review explored the effects of ICT interventions on reducing social isolation of the elderly.\n\nMethods\nRelevant electronic databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCO, SSCI, Communication Studies: a SAGE Full-Text Collection, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library, and IEEE Xplore) were systematically searched using a unified strategy to identify quantitative and qualitative studies on the effectiveness of ICT-mediated social isolation interventions for elderly people published in English between 2002 and 2015. Narrative synthesis was performed to interpret the results of the identified studies, and their quality was also appraised.\n\nResults\nTwenty-five publications were included in the review. Four of them were evaluated as rigorous research. Most studies measured the effectiveness of ICT by measuring specific dimensions rather than social isolation in general. ICT use was consistently found to affect social support, social connectedness, and social isolation in general positively. The results for loneliness were inconclusive. Even though most were positive, some studies found a nonsignificant or negative impact. More importantly, the positive effect of ICT use on social connectedness and social support seemed to be short-term and did not last for more than six months after the intervention. The results for self-esteem and control over one’s life were consistent but generally nonsignificant. ICT was found to alleviate the elderly’s social isolation through four mechanisms: connecting to the outside world, gaining social support, engaging in activities of interests, and boosting self-confidence.\n\nConclusions\nMore well-designed studies that contain a minimum risk of research bias are needed to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of ICT interventions for elderly people in reducing their perceived social isolation as a multidimensional concept. The results of this review suggest that ICT could be an effective tool to tackle social isolation among the elderly. However, it is not suitable for every senior alike. Future research should identify who among elderly people can most benefit from ICT use in reducing social isolation. Research on other types of ICT (eg, mobile phone–based instant messaging apps) should be conducted to promote understanding and practice of ICT-based social-isolation interventions for elderly people.","URL":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4751336/","DOI":"10.2196/jmir.4596","ISSN":"1439-4456","note":"PMID: 26822073\nPMCID: PMC4751336","shortTitle":"The Effect of Information Communication Technology Interventions on Reducing Social Isolation in the Elderly","journalAbbreviation":"J Med Internet Res","author":[{"family":"Chen","given":"Yi-Ru Regina"},{"family":"Schulz","given":"Peter J"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",1,28]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,18]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Chen & Schulz, 2016, p. 2). Therefore, in order to reduce the social isolation in aged people, technology can be used as a great tool to enhance their communication. Through the available facilities of technology, they can communicate with their loved ones who are away and cannot meet them daily due to which a feeling of depression prevails in such population so technology provides them the platform to communicate with them (Chen & Schulz, 2016).
The main reason for technology invention was to provide better communication facilities to the people but unfortunately, it is adversely affecting the people and their communication with fellow humans. Studies have suggested that mobile technology is one of the leading reason that face-to-face communication is reduced and also intimacy is decreasing day by day. It was suggested that “mobile technology is responsible for reducing the social interaction and also face-to-face communication this is happening due to the online stimulants which require less outside stimulants such as interaction and body-to-body sociability” ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ESLPYA6n","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lengacher, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Lengacher, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1619,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/7KKC7P3I"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/7KKC7P3I"],"itemData":{"id":1619,"type":"article-journal","title":"Mobile Technology: Its Effect on Face-to-Face Communication and Interpersonal Interaction","container-title":"Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences","volume":"14","issue":"1","source":"www.kon.org","URL":"https://www.kon.org/urc/v14/lengacher.html","shortTitle":"Mobile Technology","author":[{"family":"Lengacher","given":"Lucas"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",10,23]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,18]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lengacher, 2015. p. 1). Although technology and mainly mobile technology are helping in decreasing social isolation but at the same time internet is responsible to induce a sense of loneliness and depression as well and earlier the trend was increasing in the adult population but now youth and specifically the teenagers are suffering from these effects of technology ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ESLPYA6n","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lengacher, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Lengacher, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1619,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/7KKC7P3I"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/4C6u8dIT/items/7KKC7P3I"],"itemData":{"id":1619,"type":"article-journal","title":"Mobile Technology: Its Effect on Face-to-Face Communication and Interpersonal Interaction","container-title":"Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences","volume":"14","issue":"1","source":"www.kon.org","URL":"https://www.kon.org/urc/v14/lengacher.html","shortTitle":"Mobile Technology","author":[{"family":"Lengacher","given":"Lucas"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",10,23]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,18]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lengacher, 2015. p. 1). The increasing suicide rate and symptoms of depression are one of the major causes of technology, which are some of the causes of unnecessary communication.
Although everything has its own good and bad effect and technology also has its own share of good and bad but on the basis of the above discussion, it is safe to say that technology has enhanced but at the same time it has interfered with the human communication. People are now more concerned about their Facebook friends rather than real friends and family due to which many people are now experiencing social isolation and the situation is getting worse day by day. Therefore, it is important to limit the use of technology and use it only that time when it is required and spend time with the loved ones when they are near, only this way it will be possible to reduce the interference of technology with human communication.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Chen, Y.-R. R., & Schulz, P. J. (2016). The Effect of Information Communication Technology Interventions on Reducing Social Isolation in the Elderly: A Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4596
Lengacher, L. (2015). Mobile Technology: Its Effect on Face-to-Face Communication and Interpersonal Interaction. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 14(1). Retrieved from https://www.kon.org/urc/v14/lengacher.html
Maffey, G., Homans, H., Banks, K., & Arts, K. (2015). Digital technology and human development: A charter for nature conservation. Ambio, 44(Suppl 4), 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0703-3
