The+Rise+of+the+Techno+Sapiens

Name: Kaylin Duffield Student No: n8049319 Tutor: Colleen Niland

= **Cultural Artefact** =

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This illustration is an adaptation of Darwin’s Theory of Human Evolution timeline. It comically demonstrates that, as a result of technology, man has reverted to a genus similar to his original hominid state. It depicts the modern human species as dependent on technology, in a similar way that their previous human ancestors were dependent on their skills and improved tools, as survival mechanisms. The health of man is at risk and it is evident in the way that his back is hunched over at the computer. It suggests a hypothetical future of technological growth and human regression for the subsequent generations as they are the ones portrayed by the last man on the timeline. ======

= **Public Health Issue** =

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Born between 1977 and 1997, Generation Y is the first generation to grow up surrounded by computers, mobile phones, video games, TVs and the internet (Leung, 2004). Technology has played a significant role in modern society as it has influenced entertainment, research, communication and even shopping. ======

The internet is a new information and communication technology that has afforded the world with many benefits, such as providing education to geographically inaccessible areas, raising awareness and allowing long distant communication.However, the internet has had many negative corollaries. Some people are unable to control their excessive internet and computer use, resulting in jeopardized relationships (Young, 2009) and children are exposed to online predators and cyber bullying (McGrath, & Casey, 2002). The youth risk health problems and obesity from a lack of physical activity due to their constant involvement in competing, sedentary activities (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009) and violent video games have been linked to increases in aggression (Anderson, 2004). This aggressive behaviour has been linked to bullying (Dilmac, 2009), and therefore the impacts of technology produce a negative snowball effect.

**Teen Bullying Prevention - A Cyber Bullying Suicide Story** media type="youtube" key="iDBiqUWRtMo" height="315" width="560" align="center"

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This video is the story of a young boy who was a victim of cyber bullying and, as a result, committed suicide at the age of 13. His father has shared his story with children at over one hundred schools to help them to become aware of the implications of cyber bullying and the importance of seeking help. ======

= **Literature Review** =

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Young Australians spend over four hours a day using screen based entertainment, such as the internet, TV, video games and watching DVDs (Queensland Government, 2007). This is twice the recommended amount, as proscribed by the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Youth (Australian Government, 2007). The internet has become an important tool for accessing information, communicatin g and education. The proportion of Queensland homes that have access to the internet has increased from 15% to 73% in the last decade (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009), with one in nine young Australians able to access the internet from their bedrooms (Commission for children and young people and child guardian, 2010). Research shows that 16-17 year old generation Y Australians spend the most time using technology than any other young group, with an average of 23.5 hours of internet use a week and 97% of them using social networking sites; these numbers increasing with age (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2009). ======

**Cyberbullying**
With the rapid advancements in technology and increasing use of social networking, cyberspace has become a new medium for youth to become victims of peer aggression, as computers and mobiles provide a mask for bullies to threaten, expose and humiliate their victims (Dempsey, Sulkowski, Nichols, & Storch, 2009). According to a study conducted by the Queensland Government (2007), one in five children has experienced cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is a repeated, aggressive behaviour intended to cause harm by means of harassment, denigration, impersonation, trickery and exclusion of peers (Dempsey et al., 2009), and is carried out through the use of technology, such as on the internet through blogs, emails and social networks, and via mobile phones (Cross et al., 2009). Cyber bullying has been linked with low self-esteem, poor academic attendance and performance, psychological distress, suicidal ideation and self-harm (Commission for children and young people and child guardian, 2010). In response to these findings, the government has implemented a range of initiatives aimed at tackling cyber bullying, including the establishment of the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence which is aimed at increasing awareness and prevention of cyber bullying (Queensland Government, 2010). However, due to these actions being performed behind screens and in private locations, prevention by schools is difficult and students are reluctant to report the incidents to teachers (Smith et al., 2008), providing records with a low, inaccurate number of child victims in need of support. This limitation is a concern as many social and psychological issues can result for these students if the problem is not dealt with, and more children could be affected if the perpetrator is not stopped (Farrington & Ttofi, 2010).

**Online Predators**
The privacy of the internet allows sexual abusers, or paedophiles, to easily obtain information, contact their victim, develop a fantasy, overcome self-consciousness and avoid anxiety (McGrath, & Casey, 2002). They seduce children in chat rooms and lure them into sexual activities through techniques of manipulation and deception. A study that was conducted with adults posing as internet predators indicated that these men and women feel a need for power and control. They seem to enjoy dominating conversations and each possessed sexual attitudes. However, this study was limited as it used only female adolescents and male adults and thus was ungeneralisable (Marcum, 2007). Online predators gain control of their victims, gain their trust and arrange to meet them in the physical world where they then exploit and take advantage of these victims (McGrath, & Casey, 2002).

**Computer Addictions**
Entertainment technology has also become an escalating concern as massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, are one of the fastest growing forms of internet addiction, especially among children and teenagers (Young, 2009). Players create detailed, customised characters and immerse themselves in these three-dimensional virtual societies (Young, 2009). Teenagers are seduced by the pleasure of being able to control the simulated world in online games. An addiction problem occurs when players rely on these online personalities and a blurred distinction between reality and fantasy occurs (Young, 2009). They become preoccupied with gaming, lie about their gaming use, lose interest in other activities just to game, withdrawal from family and friends, and use gaming as an escape from reality (Leung, 2004). Adolescents are most at risk for developing addictions to these games as they are attempting to discover their identity and use online gaming as an escape (Kelly, 2004). Recovery from gaming addictions if much more difficult for teenagers as the computer is a necessary component of their home and school lives (Yen, Yen, Chen, Chen, & Ko, 2007). Young and Rodgers (1998) found that 58% of students with internet addictions had poor grades or failed school and had elevated depression levels. This suggested that low self esteem, fear of rejection and need for approval contributes to increased use of the internet as an emotional coping strategy.

**Video Game Violence**
An analysis by Anderson (2004) revealed that exposure to violent video games is linked to increases in aggression and decreases in caring behaviour. When a large number of teenagers and young adults are exposed to many hours of media violence, including violent video games, significant societal consequences can result as the social-cognitive models of human aggression link exposure to aggressive and violent behaviour. The author suggests that future experiments examine longitudinal studies to understand and predict the effects of repeated exposure to violent video games. In a study by Uhlmann and Swanson (2004), participants playing the violent video game “Doom” associated themselves with aggressive traits on an Implicit Association Test. The results suggested automatic learning of aggressive behaviours and self-view from playing violent video games. Participants were influenced automatically and unintentionally which is done through the repeated pairing of the self with acts of violence and the learning of aggressive values.

**Obesity**
Computer games, internet use and television have been linked to rising levels of childhood obesity. Children who spend significant amounts of time being inactive increase their likelihood of poor fitness, raised cholesterol and being overweight in adulthood (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). The Australian Government recommends that young people should not spend more than 2 hours a day using electronic media for entertainment (Australian Government, 2007), as almost 50% of children spend 10 times as many hours watching TV than they do playing sport (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009). A study conducted by Vandewater, Shim and Caplovitz (2004), indicated that children with higher weight status spent more time engaging in sedentary activities than those with lower weight status.

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Therefore, due to the risk of encountering an online predator, peer aggression attacks via cyberspace, heart problems and obesity from lack of physical activity, isolation from reality and addictions; technology is associated with many negative consequences for Generation Y and future generations. ======

= **Cultural and Social Analysis** =

“The imaginary was the alibi of the real, in a world dominated by the reality principle. Today, it is the real that has become the alibi of the model, in a world controlled by the principle of simulation. And, paradoxically, it is the real that has become our true utopia—but a utopia that is no longer in the realm of the possible, that can only be dreamt of as one would dream of a lost object.” (Baudrillard, 1994)

Modern society has been drastically altered due to technology and the internet has revolutionised economic, communal and political life. The increasing use of cyberspace has transformed social and cultural norms with a web of new communities of people from all backgrounds (Elkin-Koren, & Salzberger, 2004). Jean Baudrillard (1929‐ 2007), a French sociologist and philosopher, described reality as a result of consumer culture and changing information and communication technologies. This emerging culture was called ‘hyperreality,’ where “the world of face ‐ to ‐ face was becoming the world of the ‘interface’” (Baudrillard, 1998). This hyperreal world is the blending of reality and a simulated representation of reality, where technology has replaced capital. The simulations are components of postmodern society which determine consumption, politics, culture and life (Keay, n.d.). According to Baudrillard, cyberspace would be considered hyperreal as hyperreality influences the way society engages in computer communication. Baudrillard (1988) describes technology as a simulation of the human mind. He explains that the power of mass media forces society to surrender in an “ecstasy of communication,” as people consume the hyperreal images portrayed on the television and computer screens where they lose touch with the physical reality that surrounds them. He argues that this is a postmodern culture dominated by the media and internet that has left only simulations of reality. The “Third Order of the Simulacra” highlights that society’s obsession with technology draws them to a cyber world where they can engage in fantasies in the virtual hyperreality (Mann, n.d.) The population are no longer citizens exercising their rights, but are consumers subjected to the hyperreality of dominating objects and are influenced by media and technological experience of the postmodern world (Kellner, 2005). This domination of communication technologies controls social life. Technological determinism means that digital media has altered knowledge, communication and social interaction, such as through the mobile phone and digital networking (Potts, 2008) Hyperreality is controlled by human agency and choice that shapes society (Baudrillard, 1988). Generation Y have been exposed to the digital world and thus have a different experience to that of previous generations. Although agency actively shapes their use of technology, agency can be an outcome of technological determinants. Collective agency and structure have enforced social roles and provided a technological setting that assists the ease of social interactions and daily activities. Choices are made in the context of the relative social world and a response is initiated from digital changes (Jones & Healing, 2010). Media technologies, the loss of the materiality of objects, the increase in information production and the rise of consumerism have replaced historical reality as this simulation is disconnected from when reality existed (Oberly, 2003). Baudriallard believed that postmodern society has become so reliant on simulations that is has lost contact with the real world and has moved beyond alienation (Mendoza, 2010). Cyberspace has created a metaphorical world in which society conducts their lives and the internet becomes a form of virtual reality. In this way, hyperreality threatens to cut society off from the realities of existence (Baudrillard, 1988). Many people have become addicted to this virtual reality and hyperreality allows people to be more distant from each other, and thus more violent. Due to the blurred boundaries between reality and simulation, it is difficult to separate them from the hyperreality. A reality should be established so that the negative implications of technology will no longer threaten to harm modern society. Public health experts should focus on the youth as generation Y have been influenced by technology and future generations could either be affected from a disconnected reality or benefit from change.

= **Analysis and Reflection** = I now understand that the pressures of society and technological determinism influences consumerism and that a reason for internet addiction is the virtual experience. As a student, I am constantly tempted by the simulation of online communication to spend hours on social networks. I have also felt the effects of increased time at my computer as I suffer from concentration headaches and fatigue from being inactive. Many friends that enjoy online video games and I will warn them of the silent health implications, such as addiction, that they could be subjected to. Technology has evolved along with mankind and has influenced every aspect of our lives. Communication and productivity have been essential since the time of our ancestors. Nowadays, we rely on technology to progress and have become dependent on these advancements. However, it is destructive to human health and development, as the evolution of mankind thrived before technology. Our constant use of technology has caused many health issues such as obesity and addictions and Generation Y is currently at risk. It is evident that the impacts of technology are detrimental and that if something is not done to stop addiction, cyber bullying, game violence and inactivity, this epidemic will spiral out of control and future generations will risk serious health problems. If this is what has become of our society, we have to wonder what the future will hold for the next generations.

**The IT Crowd - This, Jen, is the internet** media type="youtube" key="sDA1HUmuuJo" height="315" width="560" align="center"

This is a clip from a TV comedy series called “The IT Crowd.” It highlights the divide between the generation of people who have IT knowledge and those who do not.

= **Engagement and Reflection Comments** =

I love your artefact. “It’s not a girl thing, it’s not a boy thing, it’s a skills thing” made me smile! It’s so true! I like that the women acknowledged that men may be bigger, stronger and faster but it doesn’t make them better athletes because that’s not all it is about. I feel that many women have a stronger drive and ambition for their sports than some men do and that this is evident in their campaigning and constant strives to be heard and noticed. I’m glad that commercials like these support everyone. Women should not need to be portrayed as sexual icons to be noticed. Men should find their hard work and achievements attractive. I conducted my research on the impacts of technology on society and I agree that the media constructs our social reality and that we are extremely influenced by the media. If we were shown more of what these women are capable of doing then I’m sure that we’d have hundreds more people wanting to watch women’s sport. I respect these women and think that they are great role models. I’m sure that young girls would be inspired by these women and if activity levels among children increased, obesity would not the epidemic that it is today and children would not need to endure the psychological implications of their weight status. I’m glad to read that Australian women sport has received funding as I would like to see the outcome and the public response. Overall good work!
 * I t’s a skills thing! **

Posted on “ Women Deserve a Sporting Chance in the Media,” by Sophie Miller. Link: http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/Women+Deserve+a+Sporting+Chance+in+the+Media

**Putting patients first** This is a very good effort. It is evident that you have put a lot of critical thought into your analysis and it is relevant to modern society. I agree that is extremely disturbing that mentally ill people are treated in such inhumane ways. As I am currently studying psychology, I understand that this is a problem and I wish to help people and society to understand that these are still human beings and are in need of extra love, care and support. They should not be locked away and shunned by society. It is terrible that policy makers feel that they can control them and take away their dignity. We should all be educated on how to manage peers with ill mental health in the best way possible. I understand that the society affects the way we view “others” and that our own personal agency is subdued. I agree that the stigma involved with mental illness needs to be erased so that the community can work together to create a caring, comfortable environment.

Posted on “What impact has deinstitutionalisation had on the well-being of mental health patients?” by Holly Butcher. Link: http://healthculturesociety.wikispaces.com/What+impact+has+deinstitutionalisation+had+on+the+well-being+of+mental+health+patients%3F

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