The question found in chapter fourteen, the Internet Age, from society and technological change
1. As noted in this chapter, most smartphone owners use only a few apps for their phones. Are you one of them? Have you downloaded some apps only to later delete them? Why?
2. Some of the most devoted designers and players of games have argued that game playing can impart many useful virtues such as cooperation with others, optimism, and feelings of leading a purposeful life. Do you agree? Do the benefits of gaming outweigh the drawbacks?
3.The rapid expansion of the World Wide Web has put vast amounts of information and entertainment within easy access. The Web also contains many sites that dispense pornography, gambling opportunities, and the ravings of hate groups. Although these sites can be blocked through the installation of filters, these are not completely effective and may limit access to important information such as AIDS awareness. Should efforts be made to limit the spread of “ objectionable” material? How might this be done? What could be lost as a result?
4. Have you or any of your friends ever shared a file that was protected by a copyright? Did you have any qualms about doing so? Are the big media firms justified in treating file sharing as a criminal activity to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?
5. How much do you worry about the potential and real loss of your privacy due to increasingly sophisticated technologies for eavesdropping, tracking, recording, and general snooping? Is the loss of some privacy a fair price for the increased communications capabilities made possible by today’s electronic technologies?
6. Do you have a social network account? How many friends and associates do you have in your network? What is their relationship to friends with whom you interact offline?