Users of the Internet and social networking services should pay attention to their bright and dark sides amid a flurry of incidents that call for the reassessment of unquestioned enthusiasm for technology, speakers at a technology forum here said Thursday.
Nicholas Carr urged audiences to be aware of how the constant stream of information and inundation of data, often seen as a boon and new opportunities to many businesses and startups, are changing the way people think.
The author of "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" argued that the Web is making human brains constantly crave information and putting the ability for attentive, meditative and creative thinking at risk.
"Along with the information-rich environment we put ourselves into, we are also in interruption-rich environments," he said.
By exposing oneself to the Internet and social networking services without restraint, "you may be undermining some of the critical sources of innovation and creativity that may be important in the society in the long run."
His message comes as the worldwide mobile and smartphone boom have pushed South Korea to rethink its strategies in the technology business and to put more emphasis on creativity and computing software. South Korean president Lee Myung-bak said in his recent speech that he will come up with support to make it possible to have a South Korean version of Mark Zukerberg, founder of one of the world's most successful social networking services Facebook Inc.
Positive political changes driven by the force of technology, such as grassroots revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa and unintended ramification of the Internet, such as the suicide of a South Korean television broadcaster who had accidentally made a confession public on a social networking service, were topics that kept coming back during the forum.
"It is definitely a concern as we get bigger and more people express themselves and connect online, some of the negative things in society will be expressed through those (online) tools," said Juliana Rotich, executive director of Ushahidi, a social networking service. "Builders of platforms can't address (these issues) by themselves."
Concurrently, the leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized countries are set to call for tighter regulations on the Internet to better protect privacy, copyrights and children, the New York Times reported.
"We are at the stage now where we will move toward more and more regulations. Ultimately, this is what happens with all powerful technology," Carr said. "We have to figure out what's the best way to weave technology into the society."