Weighing the Information Age

The Information Age can be messy. So, if you want to learn how to tidy up, we can turn to Marie Kondo for advice; keep the things that spark joy. In this age, there is a mass library of information in the form of music, books, blogs, and videos online. Along with these come the trouble of organizing and consuming content. However, one can only take in so much information. The advent of the Information Age, as much as it brought advantages, has brought disadvantages as well such as planned obsolescence and nanoparticles pollution. 

Planned obsolescence is when a company releases a product with the intent of releasing a better product in the future (Hadhazy, 2016). An example of this is Apple and their iPhone series; each year, the company releases a new and supposedly better phone. The concept of planned obsolescence can relate to throw away culture. This means that people can easily dispose and hoard as they easily consume (MacArthur, 2018). With this, people can turn out to be materialistic. In another aspect, there is the chance that waste disposal methods are not sustainable. 

People can refute this by saying that recycling can balance throw away culture. However, a majority of people do not recycle efficiently nor do the majority segregate trash. In Davao City, the landfill currently being used has exceeded its capacity since 2016 (Cortez, 2019). Aside from that, electronics are also not easily disposed. Often times, old phones, cameras, and computers, end up collecting dust on shelves. The option of recycling exists but it is not practiced at a large scale to make positive impacts (Baliozian, 2019). 

With the mass production of consumer goods, the production of plastic for packaging also increases. With irresponsible waste disposal and production, a number of things are polluted: soil, water, and air to name a few. In consequence, the quality of food can also be affected. For example, there are findings that fishes have micro plastics in them (Boucher, 2020). With this, there is the chance that humans would be consuming micro plastics as well. There are also many instances where in whales, turtles, and other animals are affected by pollution (Armstrong, 2017). The presence of plastics and nano-plastics makes negative impacts on human health and environmental well-being (Chavez, 2018). 

Although there are a number of start-ups to clean coasts, the ocean, and plant trees, it takes time to reverse the damages of pollution (Osterath, 2018). In the present, people are living the consequences of their actions. Even ideals or standards of success has changed. There are people who think that success could be measured in cars or having the latest gadgets (Monbiot, 2013). However, this would still entail to throwaway culture. The efforts of reversing the impacts of pollution is present but it does not take away the fact that its progress is slow and the quality of living is affected badly. 

In conclusion, having an easier life thanks to the aid of technology does not necessarily mean life is better. It could simply mean that work is done faster. It could mean that people lose value as technology increases value. The information Age can be messy because society can evolve to be demanding. Nonetheless, not every gadget can bring families closer and the Internet does not hold all the worlds’ information. 

A lot of information may be present in a snap, but there are also instances that information can be unsolicited and bring more dread or panic than meaning. In the earlier days, people could appreciate works like handwritten letters, home-baked cakes, and going on road trips as a family. These things can entail to a simpler and quiet life. In a lifestyle like this, no amount of the latest technology could replace the amount of joy the little things can bring.  In terms of culture and the environment, the benefits of nanotechnology and the information age has masked negative changes on societal values and natural environments.

04/21/2020 

Science, Technology, and Society