Technology: Constructive Or Destructive?

Technology is a good servant but sometimes act as a bad master. The truth is that technology and the internet have immensely impacted on our lives positively and will continue to be accessible and help us perform our tasks easily and faster, even trends show that it will continue to be cheaper as well.

Sadly, some people use the internet and technology for destructive purposes, to cause harm to either the users or other innocent victims advertently or otherwise. This article seeks to presents the harm modern technology is causing to Africans and Ghanaians in particular, whom technology and its use is new and seem to be alien to our culture.

On the good side, the use of technology in agriculture, for instance, has improved viability of seeds, and has enhance yields tremendously. Farmers are now able to expand total output due to the use of modern tools such as tractors, plows, harvesters, bulldozers, and pesticides. In commerce, E-banking and E-commerce have made banking and commerce easily accessible between people without distance serving as obstacle. In the field of education, technology has made it easy for students and people in academia to type, print, and photocopy handouts, assignments and projects.

Without underestimating the prowess of computer softwares such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, calculators, MATLAB, SPSS and books in the form of pdfs, and epubs which enhances learning and facilitates effective studies at all levels of higher education. The list is endless as computers, tablets, phones and pads play important roles in many areas of human endeavor such as engineering, architecture and planning, health and domestic affairs where people now use washing machines, fufu pounding machines, refrigerators, televisions and many others as a form of entertainment to some groups and, as business to others. Indeed, the role technology play in our lives as modern people is stupendous! No wonder Ghanaians now find it difficult to live in this dumsor periods. Clearly, the situation was different in the 18th century Ghana, where people farmed with rudimentary tools such as cutlasses, hoes and axes; and employed different choices of entertainment.

Internet, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is "an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the World" . The internet today works through the world wide web and is able to connect all people around the world to each other. The advent of the internet has facilitated globalization, as people evidently, adopt culture and lifestyle of people in different part of the World.

The internet is the chief driven force of globalization today. For in stance, Ghanaians now listen to commentaries and watch live matches played in USA,Europe, Asia, South and North America, and Australia in Ghana. Ghanaian students, moreover, are now able to watch video tutorials of lecturers from Universities abroad such as the Oxford and Harvard University through youtube or download them for future reference with the aid of internet. As an essential research tool, search engines such as Google, yahoo and bing are able to search through databases and present vital information with just a click of the mouse. People are now able to make free international voice and video calls, chat and share information through emails and many other forms all with the aid of internet. In Ghana, facebook, whatsapp and twitter is used by almost all smart phone subscribers.With students as my main targets,How is technology and the internet affecting the academic performance of Ghanaian students at all levels?

I have observed the activities that take place in the various internet cafes where people use the internet to perform cybercrimes with intention of stealing people's identity, stalking victims or disrupting people's operation with malicious programs. Fraudsters use victims identity to steal and precious information from . In addition, vYoung people mostly found in cafes usually spend money playing online computer games and other times too viewing pornography. The list is endless in this regard as well.

What about the young girls who are schooling but are not using the internet? As for them, they enjoy the telenovela featured on the various television stations in Ghana. Most pupil, in this modern dumsor Ghana, devote the little available time for studies to the telenovelas such as Rosalinda, Mary Cruz, The unloved and many others and make them their priority at the expense of their studies. Even in school, pupil discuss these telenovelas and not anything studied in school. These have been contributing to the falling standards of education in Ghana.

Finally, the abuse of whatsapp and facebook. The google's most popular android software, whatsapp is used by almost 99% of smart phone users on different platforms. Facebook is also now accessible on most smartphones. Whiles people use these applications for meaningful purposes in communication, others abuse these platform by spending days and weeks on these platforms without doing any other thing at all. People tend to be addicted to facebook and whatsapp but the problem is that time spent on social network is a debit to the student who could use that time for studies. Surprisingly, the short hands used in chatting whatsapp and facebook are transferred to examinations where teachers see scripts which includes jargons and funny shortcuts such as govt for government, econs for economics, nyt nyt for good night, Gm for good morning and Ge for good evening. Once these are seen in English language papers, students obviously lose precious marks and these affect their individual performances.g

In conclusion, although technology is a constructive and good master in helping to achieve our daily objectives as individuals, it has not been without challenges where fraudsters and hackers, among others, also use these technology purposely for destructive purposes and at high cost to innocent victims but the sad part is where people unwillingly abuse technology and the internet and lose huge sums of money on playing computer games and buying data bundles for chatting and calling on social networks. The cost is not only financial but also affects the academic performance of numerous students as they waste precious time meant for studies . Another thing worth mentioning, is how the telenovelas shown on television make students neglect their books both to watch andn discuss them.

All these have contributed to the recent declining academic performance of Ghanaian students both in internal and external examinations. The solution to the problem depends on the Ghana Education Service (GES) ability to ensure that S.H.S students are prevented from using mobile phones in schools and concentrate all their attention, effort and time on their studies. Furthermore,as identified already, the telenovela is watched by students not in the boarding houses, and for this reason, parents should prevent their children from watching them and advice their wards to focus on their studies. The GES,finally, should embark on nationwide education on the subtle effects of the social media and the telenovela to sensitize the victims on their inherent dangers. By so doing, academic performance can be increased in Ghana.

BY AMANKWAH BRIGHT.