How does technology affect the society?
Introduction
Technology advances each and everyday in the world nowadays. These advancements have led to both positive and negative effects to the members of the society. Each member of the society has been affected either positively of negatively by technology. These effects of technology have thus led to a change in lifestyle and overall behavior of people. At the rate at which technology is advancing nowadays, it is advisable that every member of the society familiarizes themselves with the trends that technology is taking. If not checked, in the long run, technology might be the one thing that brings life to a terminus. These effects, especially the negative ones, have adversely caused the lifestyle to change extremely. But most of the attributes of technology are positive effects. These have made life to be much simpler and easier.
How technology has changed with time and the effects of this change
As earlier stated, technology has advanced greatly in time. This would be evaluated from the stone-age to date (Bunch & Hellemans 1). Technology took it roots from the first discovery made by man in the discovering fire. These went further into discovering tiny machines such as hoes and other tools whose main aim was to make work easier. From that age came the industrialization era (Bunch & Hellemans 265). In this period great discoveries were made. These ranged from the discovery of vehicles to airplanes and large machines that made work completely doable. Trains too came into existence in this period. Electricity would be termed as one of the greatest discoveries ever made since to date man depends on it to run his or her machines (Bunch & Hellemans 270). In this era very many new discoveries were made from scratch.
After the industrialization age, came the information age (Bunch & Hellemans 625). This is the period of time in which the existing discoveries were developed and made better than the initial ones. The greatest technological achievement made in this period was the discovery of computers and the discovery of the internet (Bunch & Hellemans 629). The industrial age was more mechanical while the information age was more technical. The discoveries made in this era were computerized or aimed at being computerized with time (Bunch & Hellemans 231).
This change in technology over the years led to a change in the way of life of the people (Vries 72). The industrial age affected the people in that people abandoned agriculture for better jobs in industries (Vries 73). This led to a rise in the living standards of the people. Very few people were willing to cultivate land thus there was a shortage in the food supply. For this reason the price of food rose greatly (Vries 75). In this age also, a lot of rural urban migration was experienced leading to a rise in the living standards in urban areas. The price of housing went up at an alarming rate. However, working in the industries earned the people much money as compared to agriculture so they strived harder to meet the needs of their families and their own (Vries 80).
The discovery of the computer and its developments also had an impact on the people and their way of life. Computers made work easier in some way and this led to reduced working by the people (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 9). This fostered a positive attitude towards their work now that was easier and little manual work was done. The computers also made the world a “global village” in that it made it possible for the people who are very far apart in distance would easily communicate, for instance through e-mail (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 42). Computer also control other machines thus calls for less manual workers to operate machines. The development of computers and the globalization of computers have led to the loss of jobs and an increase in unemployment. In a way, computerization has made the work easier but had also made the life of some of the people harder. For those who have had the pleasure to get and retain their jobs even after computerization has reduced the employment opportunities, it ahs also affected them in some way. It has led to the loss of creativity, loss of craftsmanship and laziness due to the overdependence on the computers to perform any task. Computerization calls for literacy and have thus contributed a lot to the educating of the members of the society (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 125).
How technology has affected the children
The dearest members of the society are the children since they are the future of the society. Technological advancement has had both positive and negative influences on the children. Technological advancements in the transport sector have made the life of the children easier. This is because it has made it possible for the children to travel less distances on foot. Developments in technology in the medical field has also led to better medical are for the children and has somehow increased the chances if survival of infants and little children thus promising a better future for the society.
The access to the internet by the children has also contributed to positive and also negative development in the life of the children (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 48). The internet has all the answers for educational purposes. In this way the children would have access to helpful literature and materials that play a major role in the development of the child’s brain (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 49). This however also accounts for laziness in the children’s school work since instead of critical thinking the children can ‘Google’ the questions at any time (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 49). It has also led to the loss of creativity in the children’s lives.
Technology has also exposed the children to unwanted content or information (Shelly, Vermaat & Quasney 51). This includes violence, graphic scenes and pornographic content. TVs, DVDs and computers are the main source of this misinformation. These have led to negative development in the child’s life which is a threat to the future of the society.
How the technology has affected the lives of adults
In each and every field that the adults work, technology has greatly influenced the lives of the adults. Like the children, medical advancements have made the life of the adults easier and have ensured that they are also healthy (Charness & Schaie 215). This has greatly reduced the mortality rate. Computerization has also simplified the lives of the adult and has saved a lot of time giving them leisure time that could be used for other better reasons.
Developments in the transport and communication areas have contributed greatly simplification of the life. This has also led to globalization, giving the people the power to move wherever and socialize with whoever, whenever. Like earlier stated, technology has caused a rise in the cost of living and this calls for the adults to work extra hard to meet their individual needs and those of their children (Charness & Schaie 212). This, in some of the cases, has led to some of them overworking and resulting in complications as a result of fatigue. It has also led to higher levels of unemployment, making the lives of the adults a little complicated.
How technology has affected the youth
Technology has also had some effects on the youths. Social sites and the internet I general have had several side effects on the young generation (Subrahmanyam & Smahel 98). Then internet is a rich source of helpful information but is also a source of destructive information. Youths could get helpful insights from the internet, contributing to personal growth (Subrahmanyam & Smahel 95). Development of the technology also favors the youth in that they are familiar with the recent technology and hence scoop technical related jobs very quickly. It is for this reason that nowadays, the youth are found as the department heads of several organizations.
The youths spend a lot of time watching TVs movies and surfing the net. This time would have been put to better and more constructive use. The easy access to pornographic and very suggestive material has led to moral decay among the youths (Subrahmanyam & Smahel 99). It has also contributed to loss of culture among the youths and the rest of the members of the society in general.
How technology has affected education and other fields
Technological developments have led to the discoveries of several new concepts and the development of the existing ones. Technology, computerization to be precise, has contributed a lot to the solving of certain education related problems. For instance if a person has been unable to establish a certain phenomena and just put it in the net, people contribute by offering helpful insights and their views on the phenomena. This has also made it possible for scientist to make some ground breaking breakthroughs in the similar way. Technology has also made it possible to study online thus making the cost of learning very cheap. Technology has also made it possible for conference calling and this has reduced the expenses that would be incurred in travel and accommodation expenses. It has also helped to save on time. Nowadays, even surgery is being conducted online through the video conferencing. These technological advances have had massive benefits to the society. Ground breaking discoveries and inventions have also been made through technology. These include the making of the rocket and the possibility of man making it to walk on the moon.
However, technology has led to computerized stealing, referred to as hacking. Hacking has led to the loss of very important documents and information. It has also granted access to people who were not supposed to access it. It has also led to fraud and “disappearing” of finances mysteriously. Hacking has increased greatly and this affects the society adversely.
How technology has affected the environment
Development of petroleum run engines and machines has led to increased pollution to the environment. The toxins released to the atmosphere after the breakdown of the petroleum products to produce energy leads to accumulation of carbon in the environment (OCED 114). This carbon in turn leads to global warming. Some of the machines that have been made in a bid to develop the existing technology such as the refrigerator release some pollutants in the atmosphere. These pollutants, in the case of the fridge, are known as CFCs and the play a main role in the depletion of the Ozone (OCED 118). This then causes UV rays to penetrate and reach the earth leading to global warming and also skin cancer to the members of the society.
Computerization has reduced the use of paper to store information (OCED124). This not only saves on space but also saves the raw material used in the making of paper, which are trees. This reduces cutting down of trees hence improving the environment nature. Since man has realized the effects of these technologies to the environment he has tried his level best to eliminate these negative effects (OCED 203). He has developed better technology that would reduce the pollution of the environment.
Summary
The technology affects our lives both positively and negatively. As a society it is our role to manage the development of the technology and understand the effects likely to succumb from the technology. As pointed out by several foreseers “If unchecked, the development of technology may be that cause of our very own deaths.”
Work cited
Bunch, H. B. & Hellemans, A., The history of Science and technology: a browser’s guide to the great discoveries, inventions, and the people who made them, from the dawn of time to today, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development, Science, Technology and Industy outlook 2000, Austria: OCED Publishing, 2000.
Shelly, B. G., Vermaat M. E., & Quasney, J. J., Discovering Computers: Living In a Digital World, Los Angeles: Cenage Learning, 2009.
Subrahmanyam, K. & Smahel D., Virtual Youth: Connecting Development Tasks to Online Behavior, Netherlands: Springer, 2010.
Vries, D. M., Teaching about technology: an introduction to the philosophy of technology for non-philosophers Netherlands: Springer, 2005
Charness, N., & Schaie W. K., Impact of Technology on Successful Aging, Netherlands: Springer publishing company, 2003.
