Impact of Technology on Society Paper

The fact that technology and human life cannot be separated is well recognized and accepted. Technology now plays a crucial part in the seamless transition of daily chores and obligations and has gradually become a part of almost everyone's daily routine over time. Because of society's ongoing reliance on technology, its necessity has occasionally increased to the point where life cannot function without one of its components. (Balisteri, 85). The surroundings around us are so full of technology to a point where we take some aspects for granted and others we never notice at all (Colton, 10). The paper herein focuses on critically analyzing and evaluating the impact of technology on the society from a positive and negative point of view. The reason for this is that technology acts as a double-edged sword with beneficial and detrimental effects on the community. To provide a well-outlined argument on the topic the paper is divided into two, the positive and the negative impacts of technology on the society.

THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE SOCIETY.

Technology has brought about multiple inventions that have probably impacted society on various levels. In this part of the discussion, the argument is centered on the positive impacts that technology has brought about in the community. Technology impacts every single aspect of the society be it from communication, transport, agriculture, health, education and many more different sectors. The following are some examples that showcase the positivity impacted by technology,

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON AGRICULTURE.

Technology has played an essential role in the mechanization and modernization of the agricultural sector. The upgrading in the farming sector has led to new and unimaginable inventions that have proved advantageous in any given society. Modern agrarian technology has enabled the growth of various types of foods in enormous quantities over short spans of time resulting in high yields, and hence substantial income is earned from farming and agriculture (Decker, 4). The use of technology in agriculture has contributed to the manufacture of genetically modified plants that have a high growth rate and are resistant to pests and diseases. Technology has made cultivation easier through the inventions of suitable machinery needed in the process and has simplified how to acquire this mechanism.

Technology has also brought about the existence of artificial fertilizers that boost the soil’s fertility through the addition of nutrients that helps crops to thrive and enhance the high quality of produce. Take a right example like Egypt to experience the positive impact that technology has brought in Agriculture. Egypt is a desert country in the sub-Saharan Africa, yet farmers have made use of sprinklers to irrigate their farms, making Egypt one of the biggest suppliers of rice in the world.

IMPACT ON TRANSPORT

Transport is one of the major areas of technological activity. Technology has been substantially involved in the enhancement of all the primary means of transportation. These are, Air transport used by planes, Road transport used by automobiles, space transport used by spaceships and water transport by ships. Society has dramatically benefited from the improvement of all means of transportation. Transport, just like technology, can be viewed as a system, because it provides mobility for goods and people (Harrington, 9). The system consists of multiple parts that work together and are correlated to achieve a specific goal. Technology has been able to influence various inventions in all the forms of transport that have made transportation better, faster and more reliable.

IMPACT ON HEALTH.

Technological advancement in the health and medical fields is fascinating. From kidney and heart transplants to the cure of diseases that were previously believed to be incurable (Hjorth, 8). Society has benefitted a lot from this positivity that has been brought about by Technological inventions. People have been cured, medical services have been made better, and the list of positivity goes on and on to infinity.

IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION.

Communication has been said to be among the most important aspects of life, in fact, communication has often been likened to breathing. Society heavily depends on communication to transfer and receive information. Through technological inventions like the internet, televisions, mobile phones communication has been made a lot more comfortable and better. It is easier to get information in the current century as compared to people from the previous times (Luppicini, 12). The society has used the various forms of technology to voice their concerns, to ask for help, to reach their loved ones among many more; this comes as a result of the significant inventions brought by technology.

IMPACT ON EDUCATION

Education and the learning process has been dramatically improved through Technology. School is said to be the backbone of every economy. As such it is crucial that the system of learning to always be at a high level to provide quality education. Society needs well organized educational structures so that knowledge can be easily acquired. Technology has provided for this through the integration of instructional enhancements in the institutions of learning with the mission to improve quality of learning. The upgrades include the use of use of smart whiteboards, computers, iPads, projectors and the internet which are used in classes to provide quality learning. Through technology, visual education has become advantageous, and a prevalent form of learning that seats well with the majority of learners.

IMPACT ON BUSINESS

Thanks to technological advancements, business has been simplified to a point where people conduct transactions and run multinational organizations from the comfort of their homes. Online marketing is a high revenue generating business for any society as it is popular with most of the people and has a large customer base. Business is booming on a daily basis, and people are making money from exploiting the positivity of technology.

Technology has also been a significant source of employment. Major tech companies like Google, Apple, Samsung and much more have created job opportunities for thousands of people all over the world. Individuals with vast experience in the tech areas are in high demand and earn a lot of money all thanks to technology. These multi-billion dollar corporations are also involved in the betterment of the society through numerous projects that improve the lives of people in the communities affected.

THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON A SOCIETY

Some wise men once said that everything has a right side and a wrong side and yes technology is not an exception. Technology has also brought about some detrimental effects on the society. While they are not as many as its advantages, the disadvantages also need to be looked at and create a way to curb and reduce this adverse effects.

One of the prominent disadvantages of technology is the pollution of the environment. The contamination ranges from the air, water and even soil pollution. Most of the factories and processing plants that have come as a result of technological advancement have been the primary sources of emitting harmful substances in the environment. Automobiles, planes, ships all emit smoke which is a dangerous aspect of the environment. The inventions that have come from technological milestones have also led to global warming that is an imminent danger to the survival of the planet earth (Lytas, 12). This has dealt a significant blow to the society as to live a healthy life is hard due to the contraction of various diseases that arise from the pollution of the environment. To regulate this, the relevant authorities should purpose to come up with regulations that will deal with the proper disposal of harmful waste.

Technology has also significantly contributed to a high level of resource depletion. This comes as a result of the manufacturers and factories looking for raw materials. The corporations involved harvest raw materials and do not take a step in replacing the materials collected. For instance, the market for mobile manufacturing companies grows on a daily basis. As much as this shows booming business, the companies have to exploit nature’s resources that have led to a significant deficiency of minerals and resources to satisfy the society’s ever-growing demand for this products. Another example is the use of inorganic fertilizers to foster soil fertility (Smith, 86). As much as this leads to high yields and quality products, it also introduces harmful substances into the soil that in the long term will prove a dangerous threat to human life. If this is not taken care off as soon as possible, the future generation will have a hard time as they will live in a world with a complete lack of resources, thanks to the lack of proper management in dealing with the advancements in technology.

Technology has brought devastating effects in the health sector of the society. As discussed above, diseases have cropped up due to pollution that has been influenced by the milestones covered by technology. Long periods spent on laptops and mobile phones has led to rising in eye infections and defections. Obesity has also been on the gradual rise as a result of not exercising since people just hover around their computers all day. This has also led to laziness among the youth who not long ago were expected to be active and hardworking members of society. Technology has also led to the rise of cases of neurosis (Wood storm, 73). Neurosis causes emotional and mental stress through anxiety, fears, and anxiety. It happens that when an individual reads a lot about some disease or symptoms affiliated to the condition, one starts to postulate that they may be suffering from the disease they just learned about which in most instances happens not to be the case.

There has also been a rise in tech affiliated crime like hacking and internet fraud. Most people no longer perform crimes in the old school fashion. The internet has provided ground for dangerous criminals, scammers, and fraudsters. Monetary institutions like banks have suffered a lot through robberies from hackers who just need their computers to steal money from the banks to their accounts just to satisfy their greed. Internet bullying is also a form of crime associated with technology. The internet has promoted the rise of internet bullying that has sometimes been fatal by leading to people committing suicide. Another kind of crime that has cropped is stalking of individuals that have also had its fair share of disadvantages.

Another severe negative impact arising from technology is the effect on social and ethical norms. Technology has led to the depreciation of the societal, ethical standards and moral values. Nowadays it is effortless to come across sexual content and graphic videos while using the internet. The lack of regulation by the relevant authorities has made children be exposed to material that is too much for their age. There is also the rise of sexual perversion and intrusion of privacy. An individual might be innocently using the social media, and out of nowhere he or he receives nude photos from a stranger. This is disgusting and highly unethical conduct that should not be tolerated in any way. Sexting has also become a concern, especially when the parties involved in it are minors who have not been exposed to this content. It leads to the degradation of moral values in the society where most young people are eventually turning into perverts instead of the responsible people they are meant to grow into.

Technology has also affected the level of social interaction on a personal level. Through technology, nowadays most people interact through social media alone or spend most of their times on tech gadgets with no time for the human to human interaction. In turn, this has led to the development of people referred to as geeks or nerds. Nerds happen to be tech geniuses who mostly spend time on their own and are primarily lonely due to lack of friends. If this is not taken care of, the future humanity will be robot-like people who have no time to interact with each other which is very unhealthy.

Research also shows that technology has contributed to the short attention span that human beings exhibit. It is suggested that the attention span given from a person to another has significantly reduced from twelve minutes to a mere five minutes. It is precisely evident that human beings no longer have attention to each other which is worrying because we all need each other to survive in this world. It was also proved that people who spend more than five hours a day online suffer from a level of amnesia where they find it hard to remember people’s names.

CONCLUSION

From the argument, it is crucial to note that technology forms an integral part of the essential day to day activities of human life. Technological advancements as advantageous as they are to the society, they have also caused some detrimental effects. It is prudent to make use of technology reasonable so as to curb the negative impacts that technology may cause because in the long-term it is human beings who will ultimately suffer the most. The relevant authorities should draft measures and regulation to help in managing technology to assist human beings not to destroy themselves and the planet earth in the quest to advance technologically.

Works cited

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