pros and cons of technology essay pdf

Essay on Technology – A Boon or Bane for Students

500+ words essay on technology for students.

In this essay on technology, we are going to discuss what technology is, what are its uses, and also what technology can do? First of all, technology refers to the use of technical and scientific knowledge to create, monitor, and design machinery. Also, technology helps in making other goods that aid mankind.

Essay on Technology – A Boon or Bane?

Experts are debating on this topic for years. Also, the technology covered a long way to make human life easier but the negative aspect of it can’t be ignored. Over the years technological advancement has caused a severe rise in pollution . Also, pollution has become a major cause of many health issues. Besides, it has cut off people from society rather than connecting them. Above all, it has taken away many jobs from the workers class.

Familiarity between Technology and Science

As they are completely different fields but they are interdependent on each other. Also, it is due to science contribution we can create new innovation and build new technological tools. Apart from that, the research conducted in laboratories contributes a lot to the development of technologies. On the other hand, technology extends the agenda of science.

Vital Part of our Life

Regularly evolving technology has become an important part of our lives. Also, newer technologies are taking the market by storm and the people are getting used to them in no time. Above all, technological advancement has led to the growth and development of nations.

Negative Aspect of Technology

Although technology is a good thing, everything has two sides. Technology also has two sides one is good and the other is bad. Here are some negative aspects of technology that we are going to discuss.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

With new technology the industrialization increases which give birth to many pollutions like air, water, soil, and noise. Also, they cause many health-related issues in animals, birds, and human beings.

Exhaustion of Natural Resources

New technology requires new resources for which the balance is disturbed. Eventually, this will lead to over-exploitation of natural resources which ultimately disturbs the balance of nature.

Unemployment

A single machine can replace many workers. Also, machines can do work at a constant pace for several hours or days without stopping. Due to this, many workers lost their job which ultimately increases unemployment .

Types of Technology

Generally, we judge technology on the same scale but in reality, technology is divided into various types. This includes information technology, industrial technology , architectural technology, creative technology and many more. Let’s discuss these technologies in brief.

Industrial Technology

This technology organizes engineering and manufacturing technology for the manufacturing of machines. Also, this makes the production process easier and convenient.

Creative Technology

This process includes art, advertising, and product design which are made with the help of software. Also, it comprises of 3D printers , virtual reality, computer graphics, and other wearable technologies.

Information Technology

This technology involves the use of telecommunication and computer to send, receive and store information. Internet is the best example of Information technology.

FAQs on Essay on Technology

Q.1 What is Information technology?

A –  It is a form of technology that uses telecommunication and computer systems for study. Also, they send, retrieve, and store data.

Q.2 Is technology harmful to humans?

 A – No, technology is not harmful to human beings until it is used properly. But, misuses of technology can be harmful and deadly.

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Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Technology

Students are often asked to write an essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Technology in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Technology

Introduction.

Modern technology is a crucial part of our lives. It has its advantages and disadvantages which we will explore.

Firstly, technology makes our life easier. For example, we can communicate with others instantly. Secondly, it provides endless entertainment options. Lastly, it’s a great tool for education.

Disadvantages

However, there are downsides. Over-reliance on technology can lead to less physical activity. Additionally, it can cause social isolation. Lastly, it can be a distraction from studies.

In conclusion, while technology has its benefits, it’s important to use it wisely to avoid its pitfalls.

250 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Technology

Modern technology, an integral part of our daily lives, has transformed the world into a global village. While it offers numerous benefits, it also presents several disadvantages.

Advantages of Modern Technology

Modern technology enhances efficiency and productivity. Tools like computers, software, and artificial intelligence can automate repetitive tasks, freeing humans to focus on complex, creative pursuits. Moreover, technology enables instant communication and fosters global connectivity. Platforms such as social media, email, and video conferencing have bridged geographical distances, fostering a global culture of collaboration and shared knowledge.

Disadvantages of Modern Technology

However, the reliance on technology can lead to issues such as privacy invasion and data theft. With the increasing amount of personal information shared online, individuals become vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Furthermore, the extensive use of technology can lead to physical and mental health problems. The sedentary lifestyle promoted by screen-based activities can contribute to obesity, while constant connectivity can lead to stress and anxiety.

In conclusion, while modern technology has significantly improved our lives, it has also introduced new challenges. It’s crucial to strike a balance, leveraging the benefits of technology while being aware of its potential pitfalls. As we continue to innovate, we must also develop strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of technology.

500 Words Essay on Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Technology

Modern technology has become an integral part of our daily lives, influencing every aspect from communication to business, from education to healthcare. The advancements in technology have brought numerous benefits, but they also come with their own set of drawbacks. This essay aims to delve into the advantages and disadvantages of modern technology.

One of the most significant benefits of modern technology is the enhancement of communication. With the advent of smartphones, social media, and instant messaging apps, people can now connect with each other from any corner of the world in real-time, fostering global collaboration and cultural exchange.

Another advantage is the advancement in healthcare. Modern technology has led to the development of new medical equipment and procedures, allowing healthcare professionals to diagnose diseases earlier, save lives, and improve the quality of patient care.

In the field of education, technology has transformed the learning experience. Online education platforms, digital textbooks, and virtual classrooms have made learning more accessible, personalized, and flexible.

Despite its advantages, modern technology also has its downsides. One of the main disadvantages is the issue of privacy and security. With the increasing amount of data being shared online, there is a growing concern about data breaches, identity theft, and cybercrime.

Another disadvantage is the impact on mental health. The overuse of technology can lead to addiction, isolation, and increased levels of anxiety and depression. The constant digital connectivity can also disrupt sleep patterns and lead to physical health issues like obesity and eye strain.

Moreover, the rapid pace of technological change can lead to job displacement. Automation and artificial intelligence threaten to replace human labor in certain sectors, leading to job loss and increased social inequality.

In conclusion, while modern technology offers numerous benefits such as improved communication, advancements in healthcare, and transformation in education, it also poses significant challenges, including privacy and security concerns, mental health issues, and job displacement. Therefore, it is essential to strike a balance between leveraging the benefits of modern technology and mitigating its potential drawbacks. As we continue to innovate and advance, we must also ensure that we are addressing these challenges and shaping a future where technology serves as a tool for societal improvement rather than a source of disruption.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

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•   Friday, May 24, 2024

Future Educators

Helping America's Future Teachers

Pros and Cons of Technology in the Classroom

Student learning is an area with enormous potential to benefit from information technology. Information dissemination is, after all, a core strength of today’s technologies. And digital technology offers versatile platforms to streamline classroom teaching.

While technology unlocks innovation opportunities, blended teaching and learning are not without disadvantages. What are the downsides that come with the powers and benefits of technology?

Debate is still going on concerning potential harm from integrating technology into the classroom. Let’s look at both sides by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of students accessing computers and digital information.

Advantages of Technology in Education

By offering digital tools and learning platforms, technology offers great advantages in school education. Students have more information at their fingertips and build technology skills. Tech can do some tasks equally or better than teachers, including administration, data gathering and supporting self-direct learning. Here are the top five pros to technology in the classroom.

1. Access high-quality, current information

Modern technology is fantastic when it comes to making information available to everyone. In a classroom setting, getting the most up-to-date data helps ensure the best educational experience. Teachers are also able to use or direct students towards trusted sources to ensure accurate information.

Students are also able to assimilate information more efficiently with the interactive presentation that digital technology allows. Instead of reading through text sequentially, the teacher or student can navigate information on a topic using hyperlinks, tabs, accordions, etc. References can be checked immediately as well.

Classroom technology definitely beats paper textbooks for accessing relevant information quickly. The trick is to place structure around activities to maintain focus and ensure the class is covering the same material. The need to keep everyone on the same page so to speak is a limiting factor in the use of technology for gaining information.

2. Gather student performance metrics easily

A clear and powerful advantage of using technology in education is that it allows teachers to perform their job better. The automatic collection of data in digital testing and learning environments has the benefits of: allowing more student performance data to be collected, freeing teachers from repetitive grading exercises, and providing instant feedback to students.

Platforms that yield data analytics can pinpoint the areas where each student is having most difficulty. Performance information allows instructors to quickly adjust teaching strategies and the syllabus according to the data gathered and analyzed.

When a given learning goal can be achieved with technology or traditional methods with about equal effectiveness, the technology-based approach may be preferred just because of the data advantages. Once in this digital environment, the technology and instructional content may be improved over time, leaving traditional instruction techniques further and further behind.

3. Students learn technology skills

Using technology in the classroom naturally increases opportunities for students to learn technology skills. While it’s possible to take all but the simplest IT skills out of a lesson, keeping some technical challenges in there is healthy for student development. After all, we live in a digital world and have things like virtual offices and working online from home .

Children are fast learners when it comes to most things but especially with technology. Given the chance, they’ll quickly build computer operation skills and digital literacy. Examples of skills they’ll learn include keyboard awareness, logging in and password protection, navigating apps, setting preferences, online document sharing, and using standard software such as text editors and spreadsheet workbooks.

Teachers can offer exercises that give pupils the opportunity to test and expand their capabilities. For example, you can give students freedom in how they present project results. The smart ones, who could perhaps become IT professionals in the future, will find and deploy internet resources, such as graphics or charting software, to enhance the presentation.

4. Improved student participation and engagement

Students generally love technology and introducing it is a way to boost engagement. Mixing up traditional instruction styles with technology makes the class less predictable and the learning environment more dynamic.

Examples of how teachers can inject technology are to: direct students to online resources, present short videos, use interactive software, make digital presentations, and ask students to create digital content themselves.

Online platforms are often flexible in allowing you to exercise your creativity. You can, for instance, customize quizzes to make them more engaging and competitive. Any good resources you find online might be useful additions to the lesson. The possibilities are limitless.

You can also apply technology to get more information from reserved students. If you need to ask the opinion of everyone regarding a topic or even a simple question, why not use an online polling platform? This way, even quiet students who normally wouldn’t want to speak in the classroom will participate.

5. Automate repetitive tasks

Teaching can include tedious tasks such as keeping track of attendance, recording quiz scores and noting tasks completed. With the present technology available, such tasks can now be partially or fully automated. This can unlock time teachers are able to divert to substantive teaching endeavors.

Existing technology can be used to help teachers in several areas: planning lessons, assessing students, grading homework, giving feedback and administrative paperwork. Jill Barshay

Implementing technology is not a costless exercise however and the effectiveness depends on how well software is programmed and made easy to use. But, over time, we can expect the work of teachers to become more streamlined. Instructors will have fewer administrative tasks and more time to capitalize on human strengths, such as making connections, inspiring students and creating a sense of shared purpose.

Disadvantages to Technology in the Classroom

The recency of many innovations means we’re still grappling with how best to incorporate technology in schools. Educators may lack the time and knowledge to implement tech effectively. Using technology without sufficient care can produce poorer learning outcomes and cause students to miss out on social interaction. These are key cons of technology in the classroom and online education.

1. Faster but less memorable learning

While the lightning pace with which technology operates may seem like a clear benefit, experienced educators are actually wary of this aspect. Devices and learning apps are able to function faster than the corresponding learning speed of the human mind. Students may gloss over material, missing texture and depth along the way.

Proper and coherent cognitive thought takes time. Otherwise, engagement can be drastically reduced. It’s for this reason experts are suggesting we modify media use, such as how videos are presented , to slow down and allow for more rumination and contemplation.

The simple act of writing something by hand has slowing, stimulatory effects that brain research has shown to aid both learning and memorization. Although efficient, typing is repetitive as each keystroke is almost the same action. Writing by hand is more challenging, intricate and slower, allowing your brain to form more “hooks” to imprint thoughts.

2. Technology can be distracting

Devices such as laptops and tablets in the classroom are bound to become sources of distraction to students. This is especially true if the software doesn’t prevent access to apps unrelated to lessons, quizzes and other educational activities.

A need exists for appropriate restrictive measures on gadgets in education to ensure they further learning goals and aren’t used, for example, to play games or use social media for pure entertainment. You can be sure that some badly behaved students will always try to use technology for fun instead of the intended purpose.

A problem here is that high school students may be more tech savvy than their teachers. One technique students use to access out-of-bounds sites is to go to a proxy site that delivers content from other sites without the student technically visiting those sites. Another method to bypass a school firewall is to use a virtual private network (VPN ) to encrypt browsing data so the student’s internet activities can’t be monitored.

3. Less direct social interaction

The apparent way in which technology excises social interaction is another cause for concern. Students have less need to verbally communicate and interact with their teachers and one another when using technology. Online teaching and learning excludes face-to-face interaction altogether.

To address this, classroom teachers should ensure activities such as oral presentations, recitations and group work happen regularly. There needs to be a mindfulness that we’re trying to prepare well-rounded people for adulthood.

For students addicted to gaming or social media, school might actually be a place where they get some downtime from tech. It’s up to teachers to identify when students are spending too much time with their heads buried in devices. When technology isn’t being used, students should be encouraged or pressed to show some life and interact.

4. Integrating tech is often time consuming

While technology could make the job of a teacher very easy in the future, we are not there yet . Devising effective lessons using digital technology rather than traditional methods can be challenging and time consuming. That’s why it’s important for educators to share their insights on how to effectively teach kids when there is technology in the classroom.

Showing up to your class and teaching by talking and interacting with students doesn’t require special preparation. But when you make extensive use of technology during the lesson, you’re normally going to have to prepare for that. Teachers taking advantage of technology have the same amount of face-to-face instruction time but may need to do more planning, placing an extra strain on their workload.

Online learning when classes are held remotely have shown the limitations of tech. Just trying to corral students, to ensure they’re all logged in and paying attention, is a challenge in itself. The quality of lessons suffers as educators grapple with tech while trying to meet the practical learning needs of students.

6 Tips on How To Engage With Students

30 thoughts on “ pros and cons of technology in the classroom ”.

This was helpfull

My child has been influenced due to the bad technology. He was a nice 9 year old kid before he found out about the thug shaker from technology. He keeps saying “Im bout to blow.” Technology has effected our society. And the thug shaker is a prime example.

OKAY BOOMER!

This comment section be crazy yall.

i think ur over exaggerating

gangsta rap

The amount of privilege in this paragraph is nothing short of nauseating. “Teachers can offer exercises that give pupils the opportunity to test and expand their capabilities. For example, you can give students freedom in how they present project results. The smart ones, who could perhaps become IT professionals in the future, will find and deploy internet resources, such as graphics or charting software, to enhance the presentation.” Oh wow, just wow… “The smart ones”, you mean the ones that sit still, eyes on you, have stable households, technology access at home, maybe even only from this country… Do better future educators, do better….

Everyone in a classroom should be expected to pay attention, no matter their background. You don’t have to be privileged to do it. And every child should be given the opportunity to reach their potential – no ceilings.

chat gpt cookin

Some of us knew how to write before Chat GPT came along.

im a 12 year old sacred heart student and im reading your comments for a debate thank you so much 12\10\2023

Technology is very bad. Technology reminds me of the turbunence, strapping down your seatbelts, thug shaker, and people getting addicted to their phones, whenever i go in public people start doing turbulence, and always yelling out stuff and it influenced our society very big.

Stop being rude.

Travis Scott in da building

Technology can be a distraction for students, making it difficult for them to focus on learning. For example, students may be more interested in checking social media on their devices than paying attention to the lesson. Also when students rely too heavily on technology, they may become less capable of solving problems or completing tasks without it. This can hinder their ability to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

no you are wrong

i think that it is not that it is not that bad to have a phone

Maybe so. However, the use of technology and electronic devices can have negative effects on concentration and the ability to write well-structured sentences. Everyone, including educators, need to find a balance and limit the use of technology to enhance academic performance.

pluh using ai

Technology needs to be included to a certain degree but if we use it in every aspect of learning, you will see more and more children suffering with ADHD, ADD, and other learning issues. I see it now with children as young as 8 years old walking around with smartphones!

The good news is there is no evidence in this study or anything else I’ve read that cell phone use would create ADHD

There are pros and cons to everything, that’s why everything should be used in a controlled way. This is true nothing can replace the conventional method of teaching, but we can make it more interesting and better for students with a little use of tech. Like the use of animation, quiz polls, etc. So everything is cool until it is used in a particular way.

I would like to point out that you’re contradicting yourself on the Pro#4 with the interaction of a student via tech, and with the Con #3, that a student needs to interact with oral participation. The Pro #4 would discourage oral participation, which I believe is huge asset for all students. A student should be encouraged and helped with speaking out on different discussions. Teaches would call on me, even though they knew I didn’t like it, but it helped me get over my shyness. I hated speech in high school, but I did it and thank God for it. It has helped me tremendously.

That’s a good point Billiam. We shouldn’t lose the art of conversation and talking in person. Using technology to engage students is a balancing act.

I think it’s imperative that kids learn technology. Just don’t abandon everything. For example, we don’t use quills and inkpots (or fountain pens for that matter), but we should still teach kids to write with pens and pencils. That includes cursive, which is proven to help kids’ learning. There are grey areas though. One of them is calculators. We don’t teach kids how to use slide rules, but should we abandon calculators for certain situations? Then there are things that have completely been abandoned, but for no good reason. Why can’t kids tell time with non-digital clocks?

I can agree on most of your points. My question would be, when do we introduce students to technology? Call me old fashioned, but I believe that the task of learning simple math (1-3 digit computations), parts of speech, and sentence structure should be taught without the use of any type of technology. As students progress, I think technology is a great thing to interject into education. I do believe, however, this should be minimalized until about fifth grade. Students taking assessment test need to know how to write instead of just clicking on an answer. Calculators were never allowed in school until junior high when I attended. There are many students, in the school where I work, that will not write because they do not know how to form the letters on paper. Many times the students who do know how to write, have horrible handwriting because they do not write every day. Yes, technology is wonderful, but at what age should it be introduced in order for students to be able to succeed before technology is used?

This is how I see technology in the classroom: you have to use a hybrid model because there is no escaping how ingrained technology is in our lives and even more in the students’ lives. I would argue that in some cases the students are ahead of their teachers when it comes to being tech-savvy and understanding where things are headed. However, there are traditional skills that are overlooked far too much including reading from books, writing (printing and cursive), and doing research without a computer. Add these items to your article and I can’t think of any better description of the pros and cons of using technology in classrooms.

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Apple Preview review: Almost the perfect PDF companion on macOS

At a glance

Expert's Rating

・Pre-installed on all Macs for free

・Automatically launches when viewing supported files

・Minimalistic user interface that won’t overwhelm

・Wide range of handy tools for image and document manipulation

・Exclusive to the Mac with no dedicated iOS and iPadOS apps

・Doesn’t support text editing in PDF files

・Image crop button requires an unintuitive workaround to surface

Our Verdict

While Apple Preview isn’t designed to replace your image or PDF editor, it still offers some power-user features including image export. We wonder why Apple hasn’t brought it to the iPad yet.

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When you buy a Mac, you’re not only investing in its premium hardware and long lifespan, but also the slew of exclusive apps it bundles for free. The Apple Preview app is the default document and image viewer on macOS, and its full potential often goes unnoticed. While Apple Preview may appear as a basic file viewer, it actually packs a ton of useful features—beyond just viewing photos and PDFs.

First impressions

Much like some other Apple apps (such as the iWork suite), launching Preview opens the Finder. Through it, you can browse through your folders to locate the file you would like to view. It’s a pretty straightforward approach.

Alternatively, you could just open a compatible file directly from Finder and avoid launching the Preview app altogether. Considering that it’s the default image and PDF viewer on macOS, supported files should automatically populate in it whenever you double-click on them.

Regardless of how you choose to import your files, Apple Preview will greet you with a toolbar once your content loads.

Apple Preview features

While Apple Preview’s interface is generally consistent, there are some dynamic UI elements that will change depending on the file type you’ve loaded.

Whether you’re viewing an image or a PDF document, you will find a toolbar towards the screen’s top. Through it, you can view the file’s details, zoom in or out, share the file, fill an included form, or mark up the file.

Clicking the Markup button reveals yet another toolbar with a wide range of relevant features. These include tools for selection, doodling, inserting shapes or sticky notes, signing, and typing text.

Expectedly, the Markup tools are easily customizable, allowing you to control the color and size of a shape or text box. Similarly, you get to pick between multiple fonts when typing. There is an autofill helper too, read about that here: How to take advantage of Preview’s form-filling helper.

So, Apple Preview isn’t just a vanilla file viewer. It enables users to easily annotate images and documents, making it an excellent college companion. Perhaps the biggest drawback here is the lack of an advanced editor that can tweak the content’s fundamentals.

With the Preview app, you’re mostly limited to adding new elements on top of the existing ones. Consequently, you can’t edit the text of a PDF file (see our round-up of the best PDF editors ). The software doesn’t offer a full-fledged photo editor, either (we have the best photo editors here).

While Apple Preview isn’t designed to replace your image or PDF editor, it still offers some power-user features. So, for example, through the menubar’s Tools button, you can reveal some more advanced image controls, such as granular resizing, color adjustments, automatic background removal, and more. Meanwhile, the File menu includes a useful Export button that enables you to choose the output’s quality and file format. This allows you to convert the image to HEIC, JPEG, PDF, PNG, TIFF, and more.

Similarly, when viewing a PDF file in Apple Preview, you can easily re-order or delete its pages using the sidebar. Through this feature, those receiving large documents can easily get rid of irrelevant fluff and limit the file to the important bits they actually need. And if you choose to export the PDF using Preview, then you can optionally add a password, a quartz filter, or file restrictions.

Find out more here: How to save a page from a PDF as a separate file, How to easily redact text in a PDF on your Mac . We also cover How to edit a PDF on Mac.

Preview’s annoyances

While my experience using Apple Preview has been positive for the most part, there are certain annoyances that I hope the company would patch down the road.

For starters, the Preview app is exclusive to macOS. Despite Apple offering some of its functionalities through the Files app on iOS and iPadOS, most of the advanced features are missing. These include PDF passwords and restrictions, granular resizing and color adjustments for images, and more.

Considering the iPad Pro M4 packs a processor that hasn’t even debuted on the Mac yet, there’s nothing stopping Apple from bringing the Preview app to iPadOS. The iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro chip should also be able to handle these tasks just fine.

Beyond its limited availability, I find the basic PDF editor too restrictive at times. Sure, I can insert shapes and text on top of the document. However, I can’t actually integrate these into it and move the PDF’s content to accommodate the new additions. Similarly, there’s seemingly no way to selectively remove content from a PDF, and I’m bound to delete entire pages.

Lastly, when viewing an image in Preview, you likely won’t find the Crop button in the Markup toolbar by default. To force it to surface, you have to locate the image in Finder, right-click on it, and hit the Markup button under the Quick Actions menu. This will launch a Preview instance with a toolbar that actually features a Crop button. Regularly opening an image in Finder simply won’t do it. It’s a basic feature that no basic user will ever find on their own.

The bottom line

As its name suggests, Apple Preview is designed for viewing certain file types on macOS. As a viewer, it’s an excellent software that loads swiftly and offers a sleek user interface. While the editing functionality is limited, one could argue that the app isn’t an editor in the first place. So the basic editing features are only there to complement a file viewing app.

Since the Preview app is preinstalled on all of the latest Macs (with no easy way to delete it), I can’t find a reason why you may want to avoid it. It is right there, costs nothing, and works reliably—what’s not to like?

If you’re seeking a proper image or PDF editor, then Apple Preview isn’t the app to opt for. Beyond annotation, form-filling, signing, and the other similar features we’ve mentioned above, the app is designed to display images and documents. As a result, it doesn’t cater to those who need advanced editing software.

Find out how Apple Preview compares to Adobe Acrobat: Apple Preview vs Adobe Acrobat DC.