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Beneficial Harmful Effects

Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Technology

🌐 Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Technology

5.1: Beneficial and Harmful Effects

Popcorn Hack #1
What do YOU think is a beneficial effect?
👉 Click Here for Answer!
What do YOU think is a harmful effect?
👉 Click Here for Answer!

Today, our group will go over examples of Beneficial, Harmful, and Debatable aspects of technology.

✅ Beneficial Effects of Technology

Automated Telephone Trees: These help companies redirect calls and save money, reducing hold times for customers.
Science and Technology: Tools like MRI scanning and DNA sequencing help diagnose diseases and develop new medicines. They played a major role in creating vaccines such as for COVID-19.
Access to Education: Digital encyclopedias, online databases, and eBooks provide broad and easy access to learning materials.
Popcorn Hack #2
What do you think is the most beneficial of these? Why?
Brainstorm additional beneficial effects of technology!

⚠️ Harmful Effects of Technology

Unsafe Use / Cyberbullying: Young users are vulnerable to scams, inappropriate content, and cyberbullying. Social pressures can cause depression and anxiety.
Social Media: Proven to affect teen mental health. Challenges and harmful trends have led to tragic consequences like the "blackout challenge."
Technological Dilemmas (e.g., Self-Driving Cars): Raises ethical concerns—should we let machines make life-or-death decisions?

🤔 Neutral Effects: Beneficial and Harmful

Artificial Intelligence:
  • Benefits: Helps with assignments, analyzes data, boosts productivity, and supports healthcare.
  • Harms: Environmental impact, potential misuse (deepfakes), and concerns over critical thinking in schools.
UAVs / Drones:
  • Benefits: Useful in search & rescue, agriculture, and wildfire monitoring.
  • Harms: Privacy concerns, crash risks, and ethical concerns in military use.
Gene Editing:
  • Benefits: Potential to cure genetic diseases, improve crops, and boost food security.
  • Harms: Can cause irreversible genetic harm, raise ethical issues, and may affect future generations.
Popcorn Hack #3
Pick a dilemma from above. Do you think it’s more beneficial or harmful?