Social Response to Technology - Essay Example

In looking at these innovations and improvements it is necessary to see what the reactions and changes have occurred within society as a result. The social response to technology in the modern world Society represents people living in proximity to one another and our interactions that result from this. Just a short time ago in the United States society was based in the mutual understanding and assistance of one neighbor to another. In the modern world we text each other when separated by a room, and as neighbors we must know each other on a social networking site before being able to get together in person.

Online Dating Magazine estimates that more than 120,000 marriages every year occur as a result of online dating. (Fernandez, 2009) Society as we know it today revolves around cell phones and I-Pads making our current generation one of the most technological of all. Technology of course is not all about communication, though this is a large part of it. Technological advances over the past 100 years have made it possible to travel into space, fly around the world without stopping, drive from coast to coast and know where we are at all times.

As a result of these innovations we are able to use indoor toilets and showers that use much less water than before. As a society we are able to do more in less time and travel more as well. This new approach to life is called the leisure class; while the leisure class has always had adherents it is far more prevalent with the added technological approaches and in our current modern society. Some have defined leisure class as those rich enough to not have to work. In our modern world there is far more access to greater wealth than ever before.

As a result of technological advances that have helped enact a global economic system wealth is no longer based on one’s class or background so much as their ability to gather it. According to one research the modern leisure class is not always as relaxed as the leisure class in the past. In fact many times the modern leisure class is far more interested in how they appear to others as a result of the availability of venues where one can mingle in society without necessarily interacting on a regular basis.

(Veblen, 2003 p.64) One of the largest changes in society is the applications of technological advances to law enforcement. With the advent of facial recognition software and easily deployed and maintained cameras that work in the dark or light as well as the ability to endlessly stream the footage the possibilities of security beyond what we knew before are available. One of the unfortunate side effects of this on society however, is the reduction in personal liberties. The argument can be made however that society embraces these changes simply because we do it to ourselves through social networks and the use of other technologies.

A new system being deployed is the Incident Command System directly applied to Facebook, twitter and other social media sites. In one study commissioned by the Red Cross, “74 percent expected help to come less than an hour after their tweet or Facebook post.” (Miller, 2011) In conclusion we can see that for every advance there is the possibility of social problems, we can also see that society itself promotes the use of these various tools within itself. Society may have some problems adjusting however; many of these advancements have been and will continue to be beneficial.

While physical contact seems to have been reduced used properly technology can increase