IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY

  iMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON  SOCIETY 

Introduction

           Technology and human life cannot be separated; society has a cyclical co-dependence on technology. We use technology depends on technology in our daily life and our needs and demands for technology keep on rising.  

  

  Human use technology to travel, communicate,  learn, do business and to live in comfort. However, technology has also caused us concerns. 

  However, technology has also caused us concerns. Its poor application has resulted in the pollution of the environment and it has also caused a serious threat to our lives and society. This calls for the proper use of technology. The biggest challenge facing people is to determine the type of future we need to have and then create relevant technologies which will simplify the way we do things.  

It is impossible to explore how each new advanced technology has impacted our lives and how it will impact the future. Technology impacts the environment, people and the society as a whole. The way we use technology determines if its impacts are positive to the society or negative.

             Positive Impacts

• Technology Has Mechanized Agriculture

          Modern agricultural technology allows a small number of people to grow vast quantities of food in a short period of time with less input which results into high yields and RIO ”return on investment”. Through government subsidies, small and medium-sized farmers have managed to acquire plowing, sowing, watering and harvesting machines. 

     Technology Has Improved Transportation

•  Transportation is one of the basic areas of technological activity. Both society and businesses have benefited from the new transpiration methods. Transportation provides mobility for people and goods. 
•  Technology has helped in advancing all the four types of transportation and these include ; (1) road transport used by automobiles ,(2) air transport which is used by airplanes , (3)water transportation which is used by ships and speed boats and (4) space transportation used to go to the moon. 

Technologies like automobiles, buses, and trucks have improved the way humans move and how they transport their goods from place to another.  Also, developing countries are getting funds from wealthy countries to improve their road transport which has resulted in the development of rural remote areas.

Technology Has Improved Communication

 Technology has improved communication: Communication is used for a number of purposes. Both society and organizations depend on communication to transfer information.  People use technology to communicate with each other. Electronic media like radios, televisions, internet, social media have improved the way we exchange ideas which can develop our societies.

Technology Has Improved Education And Learning Process

 Education is the backbone of every economy. People need well and organized educational infrastructures so that they can learn how to interpret information. Many schools have started integrating educational technologies in their schools with a great aim of improving the way students learn. Technologies like smart whiteboards, computers, mobile phones, iPads, projectors, and internet are being used in classrooms to boost students moral to learn. 

                               Negative Impacts

Resource Depletion

 The more demand for new technologies and advancement of current technologies, the more pressure we put on earth’s natural resources.

 Look at the total number of mobile phones and computers being manufactured today, our population is increasing every day and all these billion consumers demand either a mobile phone or a computer in their homes or offices. This is good news for the manufactures, like Apple or Samsung, the demand for their gadgets is high, but to sustain this demand, they have to exploit Mother Nature for resources like aluminum, once these resources are extracted from the earth plates, they will never return back because it took them a billion years to mature. 

Increased Population

 Technology has helped us live longer by improving health facilities and aiding in the research for solutions for most health problems which affect humans. This is good news for developed countries but is bad news for developing countries which have not been in a position to access these health care benefits brought by technology.

 In developed countries population growth is controlled by advanced birth control methods, this has helped them balance their population in relation to natural resources and other opportunities which come with a planned population. This is different in developing countries, the rate at which people produce is very high, the mortality rate is high, food is scarce and health care is poor. 

Increased Pollution

Pollution affects the land we grow crops on, the water we drink and the air we breathe. The increased demand for new technologies and advancement of technologies has resulted in many manufacturing and processing factories. As they work so hard to create the best technologies for both society and business, they release harmful chemicals and gasses which have polluted our environment and this has resulted in climate changes (global warming). So the more technology we enjoy, the more we harm our environment.

References:  https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6403452/

https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/news/20170811/technology-improves-access-to-birth-control

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-productivity/our-insights/discover-technologys-impact-on-natural-resources

https://edwp.educ.msu.edu/green-and-write/2015/the-role-of-technology-in-the-educational-process/

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Agricultural_technology

https://study.com/directory/category/Communications_and_Journalism/Communication_Technology.html

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Technology-and-Its-Influence-of-Modern-Transportation-FKV6N6SVC