We Thought the World Was Going to End on December 21St, 2012

Introduction

We thought the world was going to end on December 21st, 2012.

In 2012, we stood outside and hoped that a taxi would be passing by so that we could make it to our appointments on time.

In 2012, we manually tracked and calculated the number of calories we were burning on a daily basis as a means of watching our weight.

In 2012, we typed in a passcode in order to unlock our phones and check our emails.

But in 2013 the world was still alive.

In 2013, we would be able to transport from place to place no matter the time or location.

In 2013, a device on our wrists would automatically track our daily physical fitness.

In 2013, the touch of our fingerprints would unlock our phones instantly.

Over the course of one year, technology has clearly propelled us into an entirely new realm of possibilities. We could be punctual, active, and connected to the world—all without actually having to try. There is a particular feeling that is infused in humans who benefit emotionally and physically from the use of computational technology that simply makes them happier. The smartest firms are those that capitalize on delivering this feeling.

To take a closer look at how modern-day computational technologies are powering firms, it is important to analyze both the emotional and physical impacts that they bring upon humans. Emotional refers to humans’ perception of experience through their conscious state of mind. Physical refers to humans’ perception of tangible experience through their senses. Simply, the difference is mind vs. body. Both of these aspects of human experience contribute to the aforementioned ‘feeling’ that is well-being.

In this paper we will analyze modern-day examples in the areas of online learning, social media, healthcare, and everyday convenience in which computational technologies play an immense role. The purpose of our analysis is not to argue for or against the use of computational technologies, but rather, to tell a story about how humans are impacted emotionally and physically, whether it is positive or negative. Thus, examining the existence of technology in these four prominent areas of human life, we will deliver a story that involves four distinct ‘feelings’ that either enhance or minimize individual well-being.

A Positive Physical Impact: Healthcare

Unarguably, there is a direct correlation being human well-being and the state of one’s physical health. The healthier you are, the happier you are. Thus, an analysis of well-being would not be complete without looking at how the healthcare industry has used technology to improve overall patient health. There are a number of ways that health IT databases are being utilized across the industry, however for the purpose of our case, we will focus on decision support which provides assistance in patient diagnosis. The software performs predictive analysis using past data and patient information existing in the database, assisting physicians in optimizing individual patient care. The proper diagnosis and/or treatment for one patient could be entirely different for another patient with the same noticeable symptoms. Therefore, without the use of computational technologies in healthcare, an increased number of errors occur. Errors in this field, however, are not just errors. They have serious implications for the lives of human beings.

In her Wall Street Journal article, Laura Landro delivers a powerful message regarding a study relevant to this topic by stating, “Mistakes diagnosing patients are the most common, costly and dangerous errors made by doctors in the U.S. and result in permanent injury or death for as many as 160,000 patients annually, a new study found” (Fox).

To take a closer look at the technological capabilities that could have prevented these errors, we created an analysis of a study that measures the accuracy of ICD-10 diagnostic codes. ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases and the 10 represents the latest updated revision of these codes. Using statistical techniques, the study examines the positive predictive value (PPV) of these codes.

Explanation of Above Graphic: The positive predictive value of the diagnosis codes in this study are very high. So high, in fact, that the difference between them and perfection is basically unnoticeable. It is important to note that this study does not compare the accuracy of the predictions by technology to the corresponding predictions by physicians. However, it does allow for these types of inferences to be made. In anything that humans do there is always the constant factor of human error that will never allow them to be smarter than technology. The study we’ve analyzed is just one specific example of how the accuracy in these predictions can be used to change the lives of patients with serious health conditions. The capabilities and potential these technologies have to offer are being put to use in many places across the globe.

A Negative Physical Impact: Online Learning

Learning is one of the most important skills and values that we as society need in order to succeed in today’s world. With the constant advances in technology, it is essential that students learn and comprehend the necessary information. There are many ways that an individual can learn, especially in a world that is becoming more and more technologically dependent every year. However, there is a growing concern that these new and developing computational technologies are not as beneficial as they’re portrayed and that they might even be hurting students in areas of physical well-being such as people-to-people interactions, student responsibility, self-motivation, and self-discipline. Back in the early 2000’s kids were taught in a traditional and old-fashioned classroom style that is no longer how the kids of today are being brought up. Typically, they would go to school and sit through classes where the teacher would lecture for the entire class. The teacher might even spice things up a little and write on the chalkboard or use an overhead projector and draw on the laminate paper with markers. There was also a very important and, usually good, relationship with the teachers and staff where students felt comfortable to ask questions and also knew that the student would get a detailed and sincere answer to the question at hand. If the student still didn’t understand the material the teachers would generally make a point to stay after class or meet after school hours to make sure that the student would succeed in the class. This is by far one of the most important aspects of the traditional style classrooms that people often overlook. If you look at the classroom set up of a school this year compared to one in the early 2000’s there would be very little similarities. There are almost no chalkboards or overhead projectors and almost all the tools that teachers use to teach are electronic based such as smartboard projectors, clickers for students to take polls, laptops always available, and even tablets. This is just at the high school level which is molding students to be dependent on these devices.

Now, let’s take a step forward and really get into some of the computational technologies that rule many college universities. Some of these technologies include Class Capture, Canvas, YouTube and Lynda. Class Capture is a technology that records a video of a class that an individual might be attending or cannot attend for some reason. The individual can then access the video of the class at any time from any device that can access the internet. Canvas is an online Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers to post assignments for students to complete and then submit back through Canvas, upload grades and keep track of records that used to be traditionally kept in hard-copy record books. YouTube and Lynda are both technologies that allow students to learn through videos that random people and professors post to help teach just about anything you would like to learn. The intent of these technologies is to make a student’s life easier, less stressful, and more convenient though this is not always the case. All of these technologies have potential to negatively affect a students’ physical well-being because they restrict human to human contact that is necessary for the proper development of a student looking to do anything after college, especially getting a job. Online lectures are only growing in popularity and will continue to do so, but they do not offer much opportunity to connect with the teacher and to other students. By limiting people to people interactions, in this case, the lack of relationship between teacher and student, the student might not be making the proper connections that they would need in order to get a job out of college. Connections with teachers provide many opportunities for recommendations and internships because the teachers themselves have many connections. Also, if there is a lack of interaction between the students themselves, not only are they not making connections they may need later in their careers, but they are also not learning social skills that they will need when they need to talk to people and employers after college. Social skills, communication skills, and connections are three primary factors that are needed to obtain a job. Motivation becomes very tricky also, as not all people are as motivated as they should and could be. Will Erstad, a Content Marketing Specialist at Collegis Education, states, “The increased flexibility of online learning comes with a bit of a trade-off—you’ll need to be highly self-motivated” and also that, “Students in traditional, on-campus settings have more opportunities to be reminded of upcoming assignments, which can help if you tend to procrastinate on large, time-consuming assignments” (Erstad). Online lectures, Canvas or Class Capture, is that there is a lack of student responsibility meaning that people don’t learn to work within a schedule because online assignments can have very flexible due dates, and they also don’t have a teacher to call them out if the student is slacking off. It is much easier to procrastinate and push off assignments if there is not a teacher physically present to enforce deadlines. Learning effectively is essential for the success of future generations. Online learning through computational technologies has positive and negative aspects to them, but we must focus on improving and perfecting them to shape students so that they can come out of school with the right skills to achieve success.

To the right is an infographic that we’ve created to sum it up.

The graphic references just a few of the problems that students taking online classes can face, as the statistics show. It is undoubtedly convenient but that is not always the best for people trying to handle too many things at a time. As of now, the methods of online learning are not as well rounded as they could be. The technology is new and has much room for improvement, especially so that the benefits can be produced by any type of person, regardless of learning styles and personality types. The focus of future learning needs to be on improving these methods so that the end product is purely beneficial for all types of students. Online learning is only growing in popularity and will continue to improve with time.

A Negative Emotional Impact: Social Media

In this day and age, technology has significantly taken over people’s everyday lives, making them heavily rely on technology on a daily basis. More specifically, the invention of the cell phone has helped people communicate quicker and easier, but the development of smartphones has changed how people communicate, learn, and socialize, also causing people to become negatively and emotionally affected by them. Almost everyone has a device to communicate with others, but most people own smartphones instead of regular cell phones. In fact, the majority of people in the world, about 77% (Mobile Fact Sheet), possess smartphones. Anyone who has a smartphone has some type of “App Store” on the phone where one can browse through almost 3 million downloadable applications that do just about anything you need it to. Out of all the apps, social media platforms, like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter, are some of the most downloaded and used apps on the market.

Social media in general has become so widely popular that the majority of people have active accounts on one or more social media platforms. Social media has the power to connect people and allow them to interact but can do both these things in a way that can negatively & emotionally affect them.

The prevalence of smartphones has caused the invention to become essentially “toxic” to most users, especially teenagers. Teens nowadays are addicted to their smartphones, always carrying their smartphones in close proximity, whether it is in their bag or, more commonly, in their hand. This causes teenagers to become emotionally attached to their phones and this negatively affects them since most of their communication with others is through their phones and social media. Although teenagers are not the only age group affected negatively by social media, it is simply affecting them more because smart technology is what teenagers today have grown up with and it is really the only type of technology that was readily available to them when they reached the age that they were able to understand technology. Smartphones and their ability to offer social media platforms that are just a click away has become attention-absorbing and continues to negatively affect people all around the world. We have simply become technology dependent and that will just increase over the years with the ever-increasing amount of technological advancements.

Social media platforms have become the prime way to share pictures, post thoughts, and learn about others. The downside to this is that since people can post so easily, others can comment just as easily. Although people would like to think that most comments on posts are nice, a lot of them are actually hate comments. For example, what if you posted a selfie that you felt very confident in and liked and then someone on the web comments something rude? Wouldn’t you feel upset and sad about this? These scenarios happen daily causing people to think less of themselves and feel unwanted by others, or in other words, are negatively and emotionally impacting them. It is very common to see someone else thriving on social media while in reality their life is not as amazing as it is presented through social media platforms. People tend to compare themselves to other, making them feel even worse than they might have already felt about themselves. This also causes negative emotions like sadness and loneliness to be experienced which could translate into depression, sleep deprivation, and gradual detachment from family and friends.

People use popular social media platforms to bully others because they feel as if it is easier and not as harmful to make fun of another individual through a screen and not face to face. In extreme causes, social media bullying, or cyberbullying, has resulted in those who have been bullied to commit suicide because the bullies have affected them so negatively and emotionally to a point that they could not take the stress and pressure anymore. Although computational technology, on the surface, seems to make things more convenient for people on a regular basis, it also contributes a great deal to the negative emotions people experience on a daily resulting from having social media accounts.

A Positive Emotional Impact: Everyday Conveniences

Lastly, this part of our case will take a look at the everyday conveniences that technologies impart in human emotional well-being. In 2018, there are infinite examples of how the use of portable devices supply convenience. Apps, apps, apps and more apps. Not appetizers. The yummier apps. APplicATions. The pinnacle of technology in 2018 that’s tangible to ~almost~ everyone. Applications supply the ultimate convenience of human life. And without them, life would just be...hard.

Here’s how UBER drives this home…

Conclusion

It is seen across the four discussed areas of impact, that technology does A LOT for well-being. Some negative, some positive. What is most important on the topic of computational technologies is the subliminal ‘feeling’ that they deliver unto human well-being. Good or bad, it is a feeling nonetheless. This ability to manipulate feeling via technology is an immensely powerful tool in the lens of business. After all, it is just a tool...what is done with that tool is what makes things interesting.

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