E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life

This essay focuses on how e- technologies have changed modern social life and how suppliers of such technologies have sought to overcome risks and threats of these technologies.

RUNNING HEAD: E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life
E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life

E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life 1
A number of technological advancements have resulted in the past decade which has brought
masses together and has changed the process of communication. The communication, behavior,
philosophies and conduct of people have also changed due to increased use of internet. In the
past days, communication was one dimensional but with the advent of internet and mobile
internet penetration, the face of communication has changed in a positive way beyond
recognition. This essay focuses on how e- technologies have changed modern social life and how
suppliers of such technologies have sought to overcome risks and threats of these technologies.
The use of e- technologies has changed the modern social life in an unmeasurable way. The
advent of internet has made communication with masses easier than before. This e- technology is
utilized by people for communicating for the purpose of trade as it allows them to connect with
the world in a better way. Nowadays, there is no dependency of businesses on the geographical
locations for reaping profits. These e- technologies have changed the target audience of the
businesses from local to global and have led to hassle- free shopping and selling experiences for
customers and businesses. Customer behavior is easily being driven by the companies by making
prediction of their expenditures and then exploiting them by way of continuously suggesting
what they seek. These e- technologies uses the search behavior of the customers as a cue in order
to convince them for buying something even they know that they do not need it. In this way the
customer behavior is influenced by internet (Aditya, Bhattacharjee, Druschel, Erdelyi & Lentz,
2015).
There are a number of advantages offered by these e- technologies to people which have
provided it with greater popularity. The users can gain easy access to the relevant information
with the help of e- technologies at anytime and anywhere. When plenty of information is
available on the go, the brain also works at its full potential and creativity is encouraged. For
example, kickstarter.com is a great platform where creative people can easily get funding for
their projects from the community. In this way, capital can be generated for their ideas which, in
turn, also lead to creation of new jobs and innovation in technology. E- technologies have also
facilitated creative work through the increasing use of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft.
Advanced communication technologies have been offered such as e- mail, e- fax, video
conferencing, social networking, instant messaging applications, etc. These technologies have
assisted in the simplification of the process in which humans and businesses used to
communicate (Brown & Duguid, 2017).
This has resulted in improved lifestyle and housing of the people. Majority of the items of the
houses have now become automated such as the Bluetooth on the mobile and use of key cards or
fingerprints for doors, etc. The evolution of integrated security system has also increased the
level of security at home. The entertainment industry has also changed altogether with the
emergence of e- technologies. The invention of video games, visual systems, and advance music
systems has improved the level of home entertainment. The production of the business has also
subsequently increased with the help of e- technologies. When the activities are performed by
humans, it takes more time and the quality is also not up to the mark. However, the use of e-

E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life 2
technologies by the business in their production line has resulted in increased output and more
consistency in quality (Marwick & Boyd, 2014).
The most important change in the social life is brought by the increasing use of social
networking. Now people can easily get in touch with their old friends along with establishing
network with some new friends. Businesses are also using this platform for interacting with their
customers, obtaining their feedbacks and comments on their products and for resolving their
queries and grievances. With the use of social networks, people can easily share their
information with the friends and interact with them in all sorts of ways such as through chatting,
video calling, etc. (Ruths & Pfeffer, 2014)
There are a number of risks associated with the use of e- technologies. The first thing that comes
to mind while thinking about e- technologies is privacy. The activity performed by an individual
on the internet is their behavior and recording of their behavior for the purpose of making
predictions regarding their future activities is known as exploitation. Individuals are aware that
their data is being recorded on the internet for the purpose of presenting products and services to
them in accordance with their preference, however, there are a number of times when some
important data of the users is shared with companies on the internet without having any window
of security (Kerber, 2016). The digital identity of the user is compromised and it is expected to
remain the same for a long time in the future. This is due to the fact that once the information is
placed on the internet, it is very hard to erase it. Tech giants such as Google which is the most
used search engine in the world collect a large amount of information regarding its users. Such
data varies from the basic information regarding an individual such as name and birthday to the
entire history of their clicks, searches, devices and locations used for the purpose of logging in.
however, this is done for offering a personalized user experience but in doing so, the personal
information of the user is compromised (Bray, 2016).
Millions of people have suffered from identity theft which has often resulted in legal problems
and financial losses to them. Name and birthdate are demanded by every website that requires
the registration of the user. Such data is often misutilised by the hackers for breaching the
privacy of the users and causing damage. Sometimes breaches are also suffered by the secured
banking applications (Rader, 2014). The threats of e- technologies also include tracking of the
user data. Each website which is visited by the user makes the use of cookies. In this way, they
become obliged to notify the users regarding it and therefore require them to click on “Agree”,
“Accept” or “OK” button in order to continue. Specific data regarding the website and the client
is stored by the cookies. With the help of this information, tailored page is delivered by the
server for the mentioned user (Fire, Goldschmidt & Elovici, 2014).
Privacy issues have also resulted due to the increased use of smartphones. Smartphones have
facilitated the use of different apps and almost every app requires permissions for accessing the
entire phone of the user including texts, contacts, notifications, emails, storage, etc. (Proudfoot,
Wilson, Valacich & Byrd, 2018). Recently, Facebook announced that now they are capable of

E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life 3
tracing even the non- users through the “Like” button which have now become the part of every
website. The people who still does not use this social networking platform are displayed some
ads relevant to their browsing history. With the help of the cookies stored in the plugins and like
buttons, relevant ads are displayed to the non- users also (Bartsch & Dienlin, 2016).
The providers or suppliers of e- technology have been promising the security and encryption for
making the use of their services. These security features are updated by them on timely basis so
that the security of the users is not compromised. However, these security parameters are
considered to be relevant only for a particular time period. A major part of the resources of these
providers or suppliers of e- technology is spent for the purpose of ensuring security to their users.
As far as internet is concerned, control for each and every aspect is something which is non-
achievable and the suppliers are required to strive for it on continuous basis (Stallings, 2017).
Companies are establishing their own privacy policies through which they protect the privacy of
the customers. Social networks have now become a widely used platform by the people.
Facebook has taken a wide step for protecting the user’s data. It provides options to the users
through they can decide the privacy of their photos, videos and profile pictures. It has recently
brought a new option for their users with the help of which they can guard their profile photos
(Child & Starcher, 2016).
In today’s global digital economy, providers of e- technologies are also becoming accountable
and transparent. Companies like Cisco are increasingly showing their commitment towards
helping their partners and customers by respecting and protecting their personal data. They have
established certain privacy programs, long- standing security and data protection programs along
with being committed towards showing compliance with the regulations, corporate code of
conduct and customer needs (Tucker, 2014).
Suppliers of e- technologies are also investing in comprehensive data protection program. With
the help of data protection programs, the data throughout the lifecycle of companies are taken
into consideration. The procedure initiates with privacy and security by design and covers
privacy enhancing technologies and privacy engineering methodology, management of use,
collection, processing and storage. Being a global citizen includes structured flexibility and
awareness across the cultural divides (Chua, Herbland, Wong & Chang, 2017).
Google’s activity tracker has also provided ‘turn off’ option through which the user can choose
whether they want to allow the tracker to have a track of their activities or not. Browsers also
assist the users in blocking the ads displayed on the browser (Datta, Tschantz & Datta, 2015).
Privacy policies are displayed on the sites by the e- technology suppliers before they require the
user to accept any agreement. All the smartphone applications also ask for permissions to use the
contacts, photos, messages, etc. before installation so that if the user does not want them to
access such information, they can decide not to use it. Online companies have also taken number
of steps so that they can protect the privacy of the users. They offer suggestions whether the

E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life 4
password is strong or not and reminds to make the use of special characters for making the
password stronger. Security questions are also required to be set by various suppliers of e-
technologies so that greater security to the accounts can be provided. There are also options for
double verification and provision of password recovery e- mail which can be used to send new
password in cases when the user loses their old one. In this way, the suppliers of such
technologies are attempting to overcome the risks and threats associated with these technologies
(Floridi, 2014).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the advent of e- technologies have completely transformed
the modern social life. Internet has made communication with masses much easier than before.
The advantages of e- technologies include easy access to relevant information, instant
communication, etc. However, there are certain risks and threats related with the use of e-
technologies such as risk to security of the user data, identity theft and tracking. The providers or
suppliers of e- technology have been promising the security and encryption for making the use of
their services. Companies are also establishing their own privacy policies and are offering a
number of options through which the users can choose their privacy options themselves.
Suppliers of e- technologies are also investing in comprehensive data protection program and are
establishing certain privacy programs, long- standing security along with being committed
towards showing compliance with the regulations, corporate code of conduct and customer
needs.

E-Technologies and Its Impact on Modern Social Life 5
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