Impact Of Technology On Society: Advantages And Disadvantages Essay.

Has the society surrendered culture to technology?

Has modern technology made the society better?

Who are the users of facebook, twitter, instagram and why prominence in the group.

What social change has technology brought along?

The History of Technology and its Impact on Society

This essay will enlighten on the social changes that technology has on the life of people. It helps in developing and updating tools to solve certain problems. Technological advances was made in the field of automobiles, radio, airplanes, television, mobile phones, computers and modems (Sarwar et al. 7). Improvement in technology has brought change not only in social life of people however, in every sector of life. They have changed the way people view their life effecting the way they interact and meet with people, learn, play, work, worship, travel and do business with others. Advancement in technology increases knowledge of people that changes their behaviour. Sociologists discuss about the effects that technology has on society and discusses the social improvements of technology on them. They say that interaction of technology with humans have changed all sectors of industry disrupting old business models, beliefs and theories of the people. The following paragraphs will briefly describe the history of technology followed by the advantages and disadvantages of technology on the social life of people.

2.5 million years ago, technology to humans meant the use of stone tools for hunting animals. The period was commonly known as Stone Age. Life of people was simple and their demands were less. Technology did not affect their social and personal life. A major turning point in the advancement of technology was the invention of fire around 500,000 years ago (Crowley David and Paul Heyer 130). Then came the Neolithic technology that used fire for casting and smelting metals. Copper and bronze was introduced at the end of the Neolithic period. With the invention of bricks and potter’s wheel technology advanced largely. These old technologies did not influence the social life of people (Marcuse and Herbert 11). However, with the invention of new technologies social life of people has been highly influenced. People are now spending more time in interacting with the new technologies. Next paragraphs will focus on the impact of technology on society.

The advancement in technology like Facebook and Twitter helps people to maintain a balance between their professional and social life. They can now easily communicate to people they care about (Stehr and Nico 5). Social media help to keep people up to date about the current events that are happening in the world. Facebook is not only a social media, it is also a platform where people share recent controversial events that are discussed there as well (Hwang Gwo-Jen and Po-Han Wu 56). The interaction of people with the world uplifts their social life and way of thinking. Introverts faces problem while having face-to-face interactions with others. Therefore, they are regarded unfit for any social gatherings and occasions. With the advancement of technology like WhatsApp and Facebook, people are becoming more introvert. They are spending most of their time in talking to people over internet that is ruining their social life. They feel awkward while communicating with others face to face. Face to face interactions with people enhances the social life of people (Laugksch Rüdiger and Peter Spargo 115). Direct interaction help in exchanging ideas however, people have become wrapped with technology and is unwilling to share a casual meet with people. They have made technology their new center of attraction and comfort zone. As the technology becomes more and more advanced, it seems to have more control over our lives.

Advantages of Technology on Social Life

Technology has positive as well as negative impacts on society. It has mechanized agriculture that allows small number of people to grow large quantities of food in short period. They have influenced the social and economic life of farmers (Chu and Hui-Chun 8). For example, Egypt is a dry country and receives little or no amount of rainfall. However, they use automated sprinklers to irrigate their farms. This will help them increase production of food and improve their social and economic life. It has also been successful in improving transportation. It provides mobility to people so that they can meet with other people. This will improve the social life of people that will help them perform direct interaction with others. Technology has improved communication between two persons. People use technology to communicate between each other. Radios, social media and televisions are the devices and applications that has helped to improve the way of exchanging ideas that has the potential to develop a society. The technological advances enhance education and learning processes (Kinshuk et al. 118). Social activities of individual is highly influenced by the knowledge possessed by him. Knowledge comes from learning. Therefore, improved education and learning processes will uplift the social life of people. In ancient times, people led a nomadic life for lack of knowledge. They used to eat raw meat and wander from one forest to another. In other words, they were uncivilized. As they innovated various tools and methods of farming, they started to become civilized. They shifted from forest to huts and learnt to cover their bodies with animal skin. They are regarded as the most uncivilized and unsocial people due to lack of knowledge. Social life for them meant killing animals with invented tools. They did not even knew how to speak. They communicated with each other through gestures. Therefore, to improve social life one should communicate properly. However, with technological advances communication has been made easy (Blok Vincent and Pieter Lemmens 16). A person can communicate with other by various means.

Along with the positive changes in society, several negative changes are invited by the use of technology. Resource depletion is one of the most alarming negative change that technology has brought. All the sectors of life are being affected by this. As the technology advances, it poses more pressure on the natural resources of earth. Depletion of resources invites economic, social and political unrest. People in a society are fighting with each other to grab the ownership of the remaining resources. Global warming and the increased concentration of harmful gases in the air is adversely affecting the health of the people. People is becoming unable to communicate to other people due to health issues. They are becoming home sick and self-centered. Thus, it is ruining the social life of people. The individual with monetary strength is ruling the society and are dominating the less capable ones. A communication gap has been created in the society. Second social change that technology has brought is the increase in population. As population increases number of people in a society increases. It has become quite difficult to interact with all the people in a society. Technology has provided solutions to all the health problems faced by the people. Therefore, their mortality rate has decreased. In other words, it can be said that death rate has decreased with advancement in technology. Population increase has an adverse effect on the climate that indirectly influence social life of people (Rosen and Larry et al. 12). For example, people do not feel like meeting or communicating to people in the summer season. They prefer to sit back in their house and take rest. Same situation is repeated in the rainy season where the weather does not permit the meeting of two persons. Direct interaction with people help them to share ideas and feeling with the other person. They will be able to unburden their feelings to others that will enhance their social life. Third social change that rises from the use of technology is increased pollution. It is not only affecting the environment however, changing the social life of people. Global warming and the increased concentration of harmful gases in the air is adversely affecting the health of the people. People is becoming unable to communicate to other people due to health issues. They are becoming home sick and self-centered. Thus, it is ruining the social life of people.

Disadvantages of Technology on Social Life

Other social changes that technology has brought are that people has become much more selfish than before. They only think of their own self and is least bothered about others. Events and stuffs shown on the social media are manipulating their minds. People have lost the power to think (Goldin Claudia and Lawrence Katz 114). They have become more dependent on the internet. Small issues that can be solved by thinking are now being solved by ideas from the internet. Sociologists argue that direct communication is the best way to build a healthy mind and a good human being. However, technology has changed the scenario. People are found to spend more time on the internet either surfing the net for getting some information or reading the news feed in social medias. Their mind is struck in only one thing and that is internet. Therefore, social changes due to technology are mostly negative.

From the above discussions, it can be concluded that the technology has brought a lot of changes not only to society also to the economic and population growth, environmental changes and political unrest. They have changed the way people view their life effecting the way they interact and meet with people, learn, play, work, worship, travel and do business with others. Advancement in technology increases knowledge of people that changes their behaviour. With the invention of new technologies, social life of people has been highly influenced. People are now spending more time in interacting with the new technologies. Social media help to keep people up to date about the current events that are happening in the world. Facebook is not only a social media, it is also a platform where people share recent controversial events that are discussed there as well. Face to face interactions with people enhances the social life of people. The interaction of people with the world uplifts their social life and way of thinking. Introverts faces problem while having face-to-face interactions with others. Therefore, they are regarded unfit for any social gatherings and occasions. Resource depletion is one of the most alarming negative change that technology has brought. All the sectors of life are being affected by this. As the technology advances, it poses more pressure on the natural resources of earth. Depletion of resources invites economic, social and political unrest. People in a society are fighting with each other to grab the ownership of the remaining resources. The individual with monetary strength is ruling the society and are dominating the less capable ones. A communication gap has been created in the society.   

References:

Aparicio, Manuela, Fernando Bacao, and Tiago Oliveira. "Cultural impacts on e-learning systems' success." The Internet and Higher Education 31 (2016): 58-70.

Blok, Vincent, and Pieter Lemmens. "The emerging concept of responsible innovation. Three reasons why it is questionable and calls for a radical transformation of the concept of innovation." Responsible Innovation 2. Springer, Cham, 2015. 19-35.

Chu, Hui-Chun. "Potential Negative Effects of Mobile Learning on Students' Learning Achievement and Cognitive Load--A Format Assessment Perspective." Journal of Educational Technology & Society 17.1 (2014).

Crowley, David, and Paul Heyer. Communication in history: Technology, culture, society. Routledge, 2015.

Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence F. Katz. "The race between education and technology." Inequality in the 21st Century. Routledge, 2018. 49-54.

Hwang, Gwo-Jen, and Po-Han Wu. "Applications, impacts and trends of mobile technology-enhanced learning: A review of 2008–2012 publications in selected SSCI journals." International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation 8.2 (2014): 83-95.

Kinshuk, et al. "Trends in educational technology through the lens of the highly cited articles published in the journal of educational technology and society." Journal of Educational Technology & Society 16.2 (2013): 3-20.