Side effects of digital technology

Digital technology tempts with empowering connectivity while it threatens our privacy and leisure time. As digital technology gets more and more personal, so do its personal effects. The obvious personal effect is communication by snapshot, which might or might not banish e-mail fatigue. This trend will certainly bring snapshot marketing to consumers in its wake, particularly with digital speech and location processing. Given their special knowledge and skills, the author warns that computing professionals must be even more alert to the possible side effects of the digital systems they design and manufacture than they are to these systems' direct effects. These computing professionals must persuade their employers to avoid or counteract these side effects, and they must inform the public of anticipated side effects outside their employers' control.