Abstract:
Technology has become an essential element of social life and it contributes to direct impact on the different aspects of both social and individual life.
Key words:
Introduction:
Technology and 21st century are two words that go hand in hand. It has crept into the social, individual sphere. It has advanced the manners in which communications are performed, and also the manner in which various other tasks are undertaken. The sphere of technology is not just limited to one particular field, rather it finds it applications in the field of science, health care, sports, governmental operations, nay all facets of life.
Technology comes in various forms, the advanced digital devices that we see around us are technology, the vehicles of all sizes that we see around us are technology and so are the other digital gadgets and their services (Browne, 16). Nay we can hardly think of any sector in social or individual life that may be void of technology. The mere concept of existence would get blur if technology is removed from it in present day.
While technology has been around and has penetrated into every sector of life, there are certain negatives associated with it as well. Part of the paper would look into the negative manner in which the technology effects the people’s life styles.
Impact on Communication:
Modern means of communication are the first and most evident gifts of technology. They have totally revamped the outlook of people’s life style. These means come in various forms. The digital devices called as the cell phones and other communication applications are one of those, while the digital media in form of electronic, print and press is another.
The mere presence of mobile phone has changed the absolute means of contact. It has removed the dependency upon the wired medium of phones. While prior to any kind of electronic communication means, letters were used as a means of transmitting the message. This would take weeks and days. This was replaced with the wired telephone sets and they were later on replaced with the wireless means of communication appliance called mobile phones. What would take weeks and days takes mere few minutes and seconds and enables connection and communication establishment (Law, 208).
Social media is one of the gifts of technology. It has changed the manner in which people interact. It has given the dimension of virtual meeting and virtual interaction in contrast to the past’s meeting in physical world at a common place and common time. Different applications and social media network websites are available that provide connectivity. The long lost friends can be traced back through it and people sitting in two different corners of the world are brought in to contact.
The means of video conferencing is another gift of technology serving as efficient means of communication (Smalley, 48). People sitting in two different parts of the world and possibly across the ocean can get to see, talk and interact without any delay or hindrance.
The modern means of transportation are another gift of technology. Aero planes fly to all parts of the world and two different corners of the world can be reached within a span of few hours. Bullet train is another similar concept that has enabled travelling between cities in no time (Allen, 291). All this comes as a gift and impact on technology on the people’s life.
The benefits extracted from the aforementioned technological advancements are time saving, efficiency, costs saving, jobs creation and much more.
Industrial domain:
Although technology has seen massive development and progress since the 20th century but one example of similar sort is that of Assembly line manufacturing that was enabled through the use and incorporation of technology, resulted in large amount of time saving (Kazmer, 13). The same is true for various other means of business and industrial operations with the state of the art devices and hardware appliances making use of technology to facilitate the best and rapid services. Corporate enterprises now do not need to go in person and hold meetings, the availability of video calling functions via different application programs available allow saving the hectic traveling and other human resource costs that would be spent in the meeting and formal operations. Virtual meetings are a trending concept and are aided by the technological advancements.
Jobs creation:
This is one of the byproducts and gifts of technology, providing people with all kinds of employment opportunities since everything is being operated via technology and digital devices that are established on the backbone of digital devices. Since nearly every other department and organization is run by computerized sources, it in turn offers jobs and positions to different skilled workers (Koehler, 33).
Health care and technology:
Technology has contributed to the field of health care as well. It has enabled advanced scientific medical and biological research, which in turn has allowed finding remedies to numerous diseases that were considered incurable in past. Quick diagnosis, efficient transport of documents and medical reports, fast delivery of the medicines, availability of the information on different sources of technology such as the internet, all these are the positive impacts of technology (Miller, 20). Numerous applications on the digital devices are available which make it easy to find different kinds of remedies and getting in touch with the physicians in the nearby locality.
Internet being the direct fruit of technology has changed the overall outlook of learning, leisure and other spectrums of individual life. Virtual degree courses are attainable through home sitting and all kinds of research material can be explored just by sitting home. Most advanced search engines are present around that enable searching for nearly every related item of study from the field of academics and politics.
e- Shopping is another gift of technology enabling people to make orders and purchase their favorite items while staying at home. This allows time saving and other physical activity hassle that would be associated with past while searching for a particular item of interest. Major multinational enterprises have their online shops and e- corners that allow the clients choosing from wide array of options while just sitting home.
Impact on children:
Technology has allowed invention of 3D and 4D games and it has created a positive source of recreation for children. This keeps them from any negative thoughts or activities. This also harnesses their thinking and creativity abilities.
Impact on Banking Sector:
Banking sector is one of the fields that has undergone massive change and development as a result of technology. Online transactions and credit card systems payment has made it easy using the cash at any place. People are no more subject to carrying large amount of cash while traveling ,rather a single card in form of debit card or credit card enables purchasing all that and without the hassle of looking after the cash amount (GOMEZ, 185). Automation of the processes at bank has led to reduced manpower needs. Hence this is a direct benefit of technology on the banking sector which facilitates both the individuals and the banking departments as well.
Educational level and awareness:
Technological advancements have in turn impacted the literacy rates all over the world. Since handling the technological devices needs knowledge of the language, it promotes seeking education. The usage of technology for purpose of high level research and experimentation is another benefit of technology. With all the resources contained in a repository of online available search engines, the researchers do not need to go to libraries and different parts of the world in search of the literature review and other works. All the content is available online, and hence a major hassle is eliminated by not just eliminating the need for traveling but also the time and costs that would be incurred in its pursuit.
Trend of increased learning and reading:
Electronic Books is one of the gifts of the technology which comes in almost every advanced digital device. This has promoted the trend of more reading and increased familiarity (Cavanaugh, 13).
Impact on the disabled:
Technology has enabled introducing new devices and support material for the handicapped ones. The hearing impaired people, the blind or those who cannot walk have found new means of support and artificial survival and encouragement (Jaeger and Bowman, 141).
Impact on the social awareness:
People are far more aware about their surroundings, their social issues, political happenings in their ambiance all because of technology. The social media is one of the major agents in this regard that has enabled staying in touch with the updates and happenings in the social circle (Hallam, 106).
The electronic media is a direct gift of technology. Private media enterprises have been established, with all kinds of channels and networks availability providing information and updates about sports, education, politics, health care, science and technology and the related advancements. All these come as a direct gift of technology.
Sporting field:
The field of sports is no exception to the social development and progress that is taking place in our surroundings. Technology has enabled more participation of the spectators and has entailed global viewership of sporting events and activities from across the world. This in turn has given impetus to the advertisement sector and jobs creation. New reporting has become an integral part of the sports advancements that have taken place and in turn have facilitated many segments of social occupants.
The downside of technology:
While technology has benefited in more than multiple ways, there are certain negatives associated to it. The first and foremost in this category is that of social isolation. There is element of extra reliance on technology and digital devices. Almost everyone is busy in these gadgets and little time and consideration is given to the social values, real interactions. The availability of virtual means of meeting and interaction has reduced the conventional form of meeting and interaction and hence little warmth and values at the end of the day (Booth et. al, 49). One of the potential downside comes in form of the usage of technology for negative resources such as developing of weapons. This has resulted in a more insecure society of mankind.
Dependency on technology is another negative impact of technology. If the means of technology are taken away from our daily life, all our activities would come to halt. For example all the means of communication established around the mobile phones and other digital devices would result in loss of contact if technology comes to some disruptive halt.
Too much reliance on the automatic processes has resulted in rust over manual functions. This in turn requires full time availability of technology otherwise the same tasks and output cannot be extracted.
Ethical issues come to forth in form of the excessive usage of technology in the field of health care and medical science. Cloning is one of the debated issue that results in controversy over its usage and crossing of the thin line between inventions and the positive and negative usage of technology from an ethical perspective. Excessive usage of technological sources by children leads to early age eye sight weakness and other problems such as obesity and laziness. Similarly excessive usage of mobile phones is dangerous as certain rays emitted can be dangerous for health.
There are number of health care concerns associated with the excessive penetration of technology into our social life. The sports parks and other recreational places are emptying fast as a result of people’s concentration into the four walls that has everything that would be needed without technology making them come out to markets and other public places.
Social impact:
Technology has resulted in the growth of cultural base with increase in the level of knowledge. This in turn has given the societies more organized outlook with every one fully aware of their roles and responsibilities.
Technology enables overcoming crimes and other forms of social deviances. The use of technology in the field of forensic science and advanced means of tracing and closed circuit cameras has enabled reaching the culprit in no time and this has resulted in discouraging the criminals.
Impact on culture:
Cultural integration has seen a set back in form of technological expansions (Anheier, Isar and Paul, 34). Little time and attention is given to traditional patterns, folks and mores and most of the time is consumed in the pursuits of the technological web spread all around in one form or other. The same reflects in the manner in which relationships are taken. Families are less integrated in their relationship and urban pattern is on display which leads to little time together.
Conclusion:
Without any doubt, technology is an integral part and it cannot be replaced, the spread of technology will grow further and the means of operations and engagements in our daily routine activities will see an equal transformation and development as the technology progresses. The use of technology is subjective however if it is handled in a proper way, its negatives can be further reduced and it can be used as a constructive tool against the potential destructive usage of technology as a weapon. Technology can be used as a means and measure for eradicating poverty, hunger, inequality (McCormick, 141), warfare and can allow promoting peace, stability, social balance and many other factors of mankind’s development.
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