We all want technology in our lives to live up to its promise of delighting us more than frightening us, of helping us far more than harming us. We also recognize that each new technology must earn our trust. Too often, the cycle is as follows: technology is introduced, swiftly grows in popularity, pervades our lives, and only then does society begin to notice and solve any difficulties it may cause.
Ethical challenges and media technologies new in past
This isn’t just a recent occurrence. Consider the earliest days of the mass-produced car. Accidents and fatalities were far more common than they are today as drivers embraced an exciting new means of transportation.
Consider what would have happened if the automobile’s development had gone differently, with seatbelts invented, safer highways established, and so on.
A team’s attention will naturally be drawn to the possibilities throughout the strategic planning stage. That’s where the fun and excitement are. However, understanding what can go wrong must also be taken into account. It’s critical to take a step back and think about possible dangers, undesirable outcomes, and unforeseen repercussions.
As corporations race toward a 5G future with massive data rates and pervasive connection, this could involve pausing to evaluate and solve new privacy concerns – possibly much beyond those we’re already dealing with. Alternatively, they should evaluate how this increase in data speeds may exacerbate social unfairness and deepen the digital divide.
A team will naturally focus its emphasis on what is doable during the strategic planning stage. It’s there that excitement and energy are found. However, it is also necessary to consider what could go wrong. It’s critical to take a step back and think about potential dangers, undesirable outcomes, and unforeseen repercussions.
As corporations rush toward a 5G future with massive increases in data throughput and ubiquitous connection, this could involve pausing to evaluate and solve new privacy concerns, possibly much beyond those we’re already dealing with.
Alternatively, students should think about how this increase in data rates could create unfairness in our society and deepen the digital divide.
This is the stage of the planning process where hazards are discussed and analyzed.
The Social Dilemma
What are the repercussions of our reliance on social media? We tweet, like, and share. To address this issue, GPH recently conducted a webinar titled “The Social Dilemma: Technology Ethics and Its Impact on Public Health.
“The thought-provoking conversation, which was inspired by the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma,” took place at a time when the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has rendered much of our daily life virtual.
As technology advances, more digital platforms develop. According to Gillespie (2010), these platforms perceive themselves to be “platforms” since they have pre-determined aims and objectives to achieve with the support of their audiences and users.
These platforms use their users’ most basic information to curate material that suits their requirements, allowing them to generate more money. However, the possible uses of user data can benefit such businesses in ways that aren’t always obvious to users.
Literacy has recently become more crucial in terms of one’s ability to understand and regulate one’s personal data. People’s interactions have changed as a result of the evolution of digital technologies. The internet, which was first intended to store data, is now utilized for a variety of purposes.
Ethical and Social Issues in Information Technology
As you may recall, the nineteenth-century industrial revolution spawned a slew of unanticipated ethical and social difficulties, such as workplace safety, salaries, discrimination, and child labor, all of which resulted in significant changes in worker rights, labor practices, and the law.
Similarly, the twentieth-century technological revolution which began with the widespread use of the Internet and personal computers has spawned a new set of ethical and social concerns that people a century ago couldn’t have imagined: how should personal information and online privacy be protected, for example.
Who owns our habits and “likes” information? People used to think about and control their personal information in quite different ways before the Internet came along. Many of us nowadays are involved in complicated online relationships.
Navigating New Ethical Dilemmas Technology
Behavioral health and recovery support practitioners are increasingly turning to technology and social media for personal and professional reasons. As a result, ethical and practice difficulties such as self-disclosure in postings, inadvertent boundary crossings, violations, privacy, and security concerns are only a few of the new dilemmas that have arisen.
A lack of unambiguous direction from existing professional and ethical guidelines has just lately been added to the situation. This workshop will discuss frequent ethical problems faced by behavioral health and recovery support providers while using social networking sites and web-based search engines.
Case scenarios will be utilized to highlight these dilemmas and stimulate discussion among participants about 1) practitioners’ and peers’ usage of social networking sites; and 2) posting comments or photographs online that may violate the law.
From Ethical to Equitable social media Technologies
Despite the fact that young people of color, those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds, and young women are among the most frequent users of social media, their voices are virtually completely absent from current discussions about ethical design.
This paper investigates underrepresented teenagers’ perspectives on their own social media use, based on a detailed examination of youth-produced technology auto ethnographies, in order to inform more ethical and equitable digital platform design.
Our research advocates for the emphasizing of heterogeneity, not universality, in digital technology design, by highlighting the ways in which socioeconomic position, race, and gender impact the social media experiences of kids from underrepresented groups.
2018’s Top 5 Social Media Ethics Issues
Given the changes in social media in 2018, it’s a miracle we’re still using Facebook and Instagram. Not only are people all around the world as active as ever in sharing dinner photos and political memes, but more and more therapists are turning to social media to supplement and enrich their practices.
Overall, this is most likely a positive development. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by more people in their private practice?
Professional groups and licensing boards, on the other hand, have realized that when utilizing social media in our job, we as a discipline must recognize and adhere to particular professional norms. I worked with the Oregon Department of Transportation earlier this year.
Ethical social media
For millennia, humans have fought about ethics. Each generation brings with it a new set of ethical quandaries, which they must then resolve.
When you consider the extent of social media’s effect, it’s not unexpected that it’s created a slew of new ethical concerns for this generation. Individuals’ health hazards and societal political violence have both been connected to social media.
Despite an increasing understanding of its potential for harm, social media has gotten a pass on unethical behavior. “Technology exceptionalism,” according to Minerva Tattoo, who served as New York City’s first chief technology officer. Unlike the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, today’s digital tycoons were once regarded as oddballs.
Conclusion
The constant evolution of the internet and related social media technologies and platforms has created a slew of new opportunities for communication, sociability, expression, and collaboration.
They’ve also given academics new tools to investigate, observe, and measure human opinions, activities, and interactions.
However, those doing research using the internet and social media, as well as those responsible for enabling and monitoring ethical research, such as ethical review boards, face a growing number of ethical challenges. The future is being built by people in the technology industry.
With such authority comes the obligation to create a future that is more free, just, and affluent than the one we have now. This is a responsibility that many tech workers are aware of.
Employees at Google, Facebook, and Amazon, for example, have been publicly protesting their businesses’ ethical actions since 2018.
When it comes to who we work for and what we develop, it’s critical that we grasp the stakes. Five technological forks on the road are listed below.
They all have a lot of potential. A better future is being ushered in by some. However, they all have the potential to accelerate the progression of dystopia