The Influence of Technology

The Influence of Technology

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University of Phoenix

The Influence of Technology

What can technology do for an individual or how can technology facilitate life for someone. As seen in today's real world, technology has come a long way. Technology has advanced in such a way that even people who are current with technology feel at times that they are outdated. From telephones that are portable to being able to send an actual machine rover to another planet such as Mars, we have seen an explosion of technology. Mainly all these benefits are technological advances which benefit our way of living. I can recall growing up and having to call my parents to ask for permission to go to a friend's house. I had to first find a public telephone and make sure I had enough coins to place the call. Now days to communicate we no longer have to pull over from the road and look for a public phone because the innovative cellular phone facilitates our life. Another example of how technology has advanced to our benefit is when going to the movies. Before it used to be that one had to go to the movies and once you arrive, you would examine what movies were showing and then watch a movie. A movie that was there (hoping the one you wanted to see was there and at a good time). Today we no longer have to drive to the local theater to see if they are showing the movie that we want to see. This is because of technology, because all we have o do is to log on to the internet and look up that information. In fact we are not even limited to the local theater but through the internet we can see what any theater in the world is playing. How nice is that? to be able to do this and only because of technology. So we can see how technology facilitates life for many. Not to mention the medical advances thorough technology and so forth. On the other hand technology can also produce a negative for our life. This is what this essay will focus on, the negative attributes of technology. This essay will emphasize on how today technology is used to cheat in an academic environment.

Phenomenon's that we see take place in the academic setting now a day is academic dishonesty. Sure someone can go online and research a certain topic, sure they can learn a lot simply from logging in and reading. But we also see that with as much ease they can go online and request an essay which is already done. They can go to a website full of information and simply cut and paste.

Chris doesn't consider himself a cheater. Yet for the past four years, the 21-year-old senior at one of California's most prestigious universities (which he doesn't want identified) has used an arsenal of tricks to pass his classes. He's plagiarized, taken illegal prescription drugs to improve his focus, obtained exam questions in advance and text-messaged his friends via cell phone to find quick answers to tough questions. Still, he doesn't see any of that as out of the ordinary. "Sure, I've used test banks, study drugs, text buddies, cyber-essays and picture messaging," he says. "But so does everyone." (Vencat 2006)

The problem about this trend is that it is becoming more and more acceptable within the academic setting by students. As stated by this essay, students are taking to their minds that it is normal to cheat. Since the internet opens up endless possibilities, it is best to take advantage of the opportunities. In fact some see this as a way of doing thing, why study? Why research? Why do any of this when you can simply obtain a quality paper which will get your high grade from the internet. Or why worry about having the correct answer if you can simply text message the question to a friend who will then look for the answer and send that answer back to you. It is sad to say but this is becoming more and more popular in these times. As an article states,

"Student academic misconduct, such as cheating and plagiarism, has increased in recent decades" (McCabe, Trevifio, &Butterfield, 2001)

In conclusion there must be more that is done to prevent academic dishonesty. I strongly believe that in order to prevent academic dishonesty we will need to begin from the bottom. What I mean by that is that we have to teach people not to do it instead of coming up with ways to stop