ETHICS: THE IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE YOUTH AND THEIR MORAL VALUES

1.1 Introduction

Youths are identified as a group of persons who portray particular characteristics such as: strong desire for upward mobility, tend to be idealistic because of the values inculcated in them from their early age, eager to live their role model and often frustrated and anxious since this idealism is not the realism of everyday life. Youth are excessively ambitious and very energetic beings who desire change in the shortest time. The youths are idealistic because they are taught from childhood to value ideals which are instilled in them in form of moral values (Ime and Unwanabong, 2014).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Today the effects of modernization are being blamed for the moral crisis the youth are currently facing. A core argument has been modernization effect produces pervasive social and cultural consequences, and affects how values are being taught to and perceived by the youth. From many sources it does appear modernization is a threat to maintaining those values necessary for the survival of the people (Ime & Unwanabong, 2014). A related and popular view has been the youth no longer know how they ought to conduct themselves as individuals and members of society; neither do they seem to know what values should inform their behavior (Gitonga, Mbugua & Ogenda, 2013; Ime & Unwanabong, 2014; Mugambi, 2002). Ideally, it is universally established there is no group of people which can survive without a set of values that hold them together and guarantees their continued existence (Etuk, 2002).

The value of a thing whether it be a belief or an object is defined normally as its worth. Just as what is seen to be of high value is treasured, the beliefs that people hold about right or wrong, and are worth being held, are equally treasured (Idang, 2015). Their effort to pursue the right causes was also informed by their religious beliefs in a moral God and the fear of punishment for disobedience (Kenyatta 2015; Cognolo, 2006; Ime & Unwanabong, 2014). So the yardstick for someone’s worth was his or her morals, manners, and respect for customs, conventions and laws of the land, and obedience to authority.

Although it is a given that our generation known as the millenials have gained so much through technological advancements; albeit there have been more innovations within the past five years than there are within the past two thousand years, there are serious humanitarian issues being grappled with as a result of human dependency on these inventions. It is easier now to communicate with people who are miles away all at the same time without needing to take time and think about forming useful physical human relations with others. Young people on a bus no longer communicate with each other as the older generation used to. Against this background, we are setting out to delve into the ethical effects of technology on the youth, their moral values and their education.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impacts of Technology on the Youth and their Moral Values.

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1.3 Statement of Problem

The problems generated by technology on the moral values and education of the youth of today abound. A typical millennial is more interested in the opinions of his peers than never before. Social media platforms have initiated a habit of pretense in the circle of life of the youth. It exposes them to the flashness of life so that those who are unable to gain these luxuries at the moment do anything to get them or fake having them thereby making them to live on a pretentious foundation. These social media platforms celebrate people with questionable sources of wealth than those with high moral values. What counts are followers and how many people follow one. Consequently, these uninformed and misinformed young people do everything to stand out including lowering their moral values, dressing extremely indecently. The technological developments that aimed at bringing the world closer and together to connect better has thereby alienated he world especially the youth and the shallow competition we mentioned earlier consequently increase the rate of sexuality among them as sex sells more than anything from the musical videos to their prized TV reality shows where the morally depraved are celebrated. With sex being peddled through technology, pregnancies and STDs are on the rise. Of course, they run to technology to provide them with answers and the online pages on google whose major interest is to draw traffic to their websites suffuse them with the wrong information and education.

This research aims at discussing at length, these ethical questions raised by technological impact on the youth’s moral values and education.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Impacts of Technology on the Youth and their Moral Values. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the technological advancements effect the youth’s moral values
2. To find out the humanitarian issues of Technology on the Youth and their Moral Values
3. To find out how technology affects the youth ethically and design a workable guidelines in determining the boundaries between innovation and morality
4. To directly and indirectly proffer informed solutions as to the problem of how much technology affect language and vice versa.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Do technological advancements effect on the youth’s moral values negatively?
• To what extent are these humanitarian issues?
• At what point does innovation encroach mortality?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

• H0: Technological advancements effect on the youth’s moral values negatively
• H1: Technological advancements effect on the youth’s moral values positively

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1.7 Significance of Study

This work is relevance to those that specialize in parenting guidance and counselling. It will inform them in drafting guidelines for on how to slowly and safely integrate their children and their youth into a technologically ruled world so that they do not lose the morals bequeathed them during their formative years.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Impacts of Technology on the Youth and their Moral Values in Nigeria.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Ethics: This is the philosophy of morality and behavioral conduct, especially when it is related to a particular profession. In the last sense, it is the body of rules and regulations that dictate the conduct of practitioners of a particular profession.

Technology: This is a term that in one sweep describes the organized body of knowledge that are used for practical purposes especially in the sense of the ones developed by a particular culture for use.