FEB Assessment Event 6: Academic Essay

Common Technological Advances:

Advantages and Disadvantages

Students Name: Ngo Hong Chau

Student ID#: 0013

Teacher:

Due Date: 29 March 2017

Word Count: 348

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Technology has completely changed the way we live. Choose what you think are the two most

important technological advances made in the recent years. Discuss both the advantages and

disadvantages of these technologies in the world today.

From the past to recent years, it is undeniable that there have been enormous changes in the way

we live as there has been amazingly rapid development in the field of technology. As an example, robots

and smartphones are two of the most important advances that appear in our daily life. This essay will

discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of these two technological breakthroughs in the world

today.

To begin with, smartphones are one of the most intelligent advances significantly affecting g the

humans life. Firstly, communication has become easier and more convenient. Thanks to these smart

devices, people can contact each other anywhere and anytime as long as there is an availability of the

Internet. Accordingly, the relationship between people has become increasingly closer. According to Pew

Research Center, 74% American users stated that smartphones had a positive impact on their marriage

(Lenhart 2017). However, when too much time is spent on mobile phones, users may become distracted

and physically lazy. As an example, instead of running to friends, people are more into the visual

conversation in social media by the message and sometimes their work becomes distracted lead to

inefficiency. More seriously, people can suffer from damaging effects. A study from Northwestern

University reported that the more time people spent on the phone, the more likely they were to be

depressed (Leonard 2017).

Another impressive technological progress that human beings made is the robot. Nowadays, using

robots in the workplace is proved to be greatly effective. For instance, in Japan, although robots only

make up one of every ten thousand workers, they considerably contribute to the improvement of both

productivity and accuracy (Japan 2017). By contrast, there will be growing unemployment rates each year

as robots will be used in many fields such as health care and construction. By Martin Ford, a software

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entrepreneur predicted that there would be 75% unemployment by the end of this century due to robotic

applications (Nisen 2017).

In short, although smartphones and robots bring enormous advantages to human beings lives,

there are clearly many drawbacks that people cannot deny.

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Reference links:

Lenhart, Amanda, and Maeve Duggan. "Couples, The Internet, And Social Media". Pew Research Center:
Internet, Science & Tech. N.p., 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Leonard, Jayne. "16 Damaging Side Effects Of Your Smartphone Addiction". Natural Living Ideas. N.p.,
2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

5.0, Japan. "Japan Looks Beyond Industry 4.0 Towards Society 5.0". Computerworld. N.p., 2017. Web.
22 Mar. 2017.

Nisen, Max. "Robot Economy Could Cause Up To 75 Percent Unemployment". Business Insider. N.p.,
2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

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