It is argued that technology plays an ever-increasing role in schools and universities. Increased access to information and student freedom are the main advantages, whereas dependency on technology and decreasing levels of face-to-face contact are the main disadvantages.

Access to more

information

and student autonomy are the principal advantages of increasing the

use

of electronic devices in education. With the internet,

students

can access all the

information

available about any topic, regardless of what books and other resources are available in the school.

Furthermore

,

students

can focus on whatever topic or subject they want and study it in depth. A prime example of

this

is the number of online university courses available to

students

, covering a myriad of subjects that, up until recently, were unavailable to most learners.

This

has resulted in more people studying third-level degrees than ever before at a pace and schedule that suits them. The main disadvantages associated with the increasing

use

of

technology

in education are the dependency on

this

technology

and the decrease in face-to-face interaction between

students

. With many

students

now using the internet as their primary source of

information

, they often struggle to

use

other academic resources to find what they’re looking for.

As well as

this

,

students

spend more time looking at computer screens by themselves than interacting with each other, which is thought to lead to lower levels of emotional intelligence.

For instance

, the recent explosion in smartphone

use

has been at the expense of genuine human interaction.

This

results in soft skills,

such

as verbal communication and empathy, being affected. In conclusion, the benefits

technology

brings to education,

such

as unrestricted access to

information

and student autonomy, must be weighed against the drawbacks,

such

as dependency on

this

technology

and the negative effects on human interaction.