Technology in Today's Society - Research Paper Example

? Technology in Today‘s Society The continuous up technology is, most commonly, a key characteristic of countries, which are highly developed in terms of culture, economy and infrastructure. However, the intervention of technology in society is not always welcomed – referring to the excessive use of technology in everyday activities replacing traditional methods of communication, a fact that cause turbulences in human relations. On the other hand, the level of involvement of technology on various social, scientific and economic activities is extremely high leading to concerns whether the limitation of the power of technology to influence societies worldwide is feasible. This issue is explored in current paper; the role of technology in modern society is critically discussed focusing on the reasons for the rapid expansion of technology in societies with different culture and ethics. Moreover, the potential of technology to promote social changes is examined. The various effects of technology on society are also evaluated. It is concluded that the relationship between technology and society is quite close leading to their mutual dependency. As for the drawbacks of the above relationship, these seem to be limited – at the level that they cannot lead to irreversible damages on either the society or the technology. In order to identify and evaluate the effects of technology on society, it would be necessary to refer primarily to the features of technology, as identified through observing the use of technology in various human activities. Through these features the context of technology – priorities, rules and benefits – is made clear; in this way, the potentials of technology to intervene in society influencing its ethics and ideas, can be understood. One of the key characteristics of technology seems to be its trend to change; in fact, it could be noted that change is the primary feature of technology (Aswathappa 256). The term ‘change’ as used for describing technology has two different aspects: it refers to the continuous update of technology – in order to meet the increasing human needs; moreover, the above term is used to reflect the alteration of human relations, as members of society. At this point, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of technology it would be necessary to check the level at which ‘people are prepared for it’ (Aswathappa 256). In other words, technology can be related to the society influencing the behavior of humans within a particular social group. Its ability to be expanded rapidly is another feature of technology. Indeed, when entering a particular society, technology is likely to widespread ensuring that all people within the specific social group are reached – meaning that those people become aware of the above technology and its benefits/ characteristics (Aswathappa 256). Furthermore, technology can expand across the society with no support from the members of the society; this phenomenon can be characterized as a ‘self-reinforcing ability’ (Aswathappa 256). It is because of the above characteristics that the effects of technology on the society can be significant. Having the potentials to expand rapidly – with no external support – across the society, technology can influence the behavior of the members of the society; however, the level of its power within each society cannot be precisely estimated in advance being depended on the local culture and traditions but also the buying power of consumers – which will define their ability to access the particular technology. The potentials of technology to intervene in society seem to be primarily related to the following characteristic of technology: its content; in accordance with Aswathappa (256) the technology can be described as ‘a complete set of knowledge, ideas and methods’ (Aswathappa 256). It is at this point that technology can highly influence society – which is based on specific ethics, ideas and traditions. It is assumed that the ability of technology to influence the society in the long term will be depended on its ability to be appropriately transformed – following the alterations of the trends and ethics of the society involved. The ability of technology to be partially independent from society – referring to the self-reinforcing characteristic of technology as explained above, is not absolute. More specifically, in societies with poor infrastructure and weak economy, the introduction and the expansion of technology can be quite difficult. This fact is proved through the example of Africa: in the particular region, computers were installed during the colonial period (Beardon and Whitehouse 138); through the years, the update and the expansion of computers in the specific region were supported by the foreign forces – a term used to declare the foreign organizations and individuals supporting the relevant schemes (Beardon and Whitehouse 138). The use of information technology systems – computers and other devices of such kind – helped the countries of Africa to manage their administrative activities more effectively. In the above case, technology could not be able to influence the societies of the African countries without the support of foreign forces; i.e. the self-reinforcing ability of technology is applicable only under the term that the infrastructure of the region can support the expansion of technology. In other words, there are cases, like the above one, where technology cannot influence society. However, the above case indicates the potentials of technology to change the region’s social ethics and traditions in the future – under the terms that the local political and economic environment would allow such interaction. The ‘self-reinforcing’ feature of technology – as explained above – has been strongly criticized in the study of Silberglitt. The above researcher notes that technology does not have the power to influence society – at least not at an important level – unless it is combined with a strong integration of the so-called technological developments (Silberglitt 15). For example, in order for Internet access to be available to the population of a particular region it is necessary for ‘broadband optical fibers and wireless network to be used’ (Silberglitt 15). In other words, without the appropriate infrastructure in place, technology cannot strongly affect the social relationships within a particular society. From a similar point of view, Kumar and Chubin (122) note that the level at which technology influences a particular society is depended on the answers given to the following questions: which was the cost of the technology used across the specific region – on the basis that it is the society that will have to cover the relevant cost; which was the response of the society to the particular technology; which were the benefits of the technology for the local society and at what level the technology affected the society in the first place – referring to its first entrance in the particular society (Kumar and Chubin 122). On the other hand, the relationship between technology and society could be explained by using a philosophical approach: in the context of this approach technology should be regarded as closely related to the society, since technology is ‘human-made and it can be developed only within society’ (Gonzalez 20). In other words, technology can influence society on the terms that technology can be regarded as a social activity – being initiated by humans and within a specific society, as explained above. Through this approach, the following assumptions can be made: a) technology reflects the characteristics (ethics, culture) of a particular society, b) technology can have a direct impact on daily human activities – on the basis that technology is a social activity; in this way also, the level of technology involved in the daily activities of each individual is also likely to define the social power/ status of the particular individual. The above approach is reflected in the following phenomenon: the number of the members of the social networking websites is continuously increased, a fact proving the importance of technology in developing social relationships; however, there have been also cases where these websites have been used as tools for committing offences. It is made clear that technology can help towards the increase of socializing but its use should be based on particular rules having always in mind the risks involved. In accordance with Das and Kolack (9) technology influences society in the following way: within each society a decision needs to be taken regarding ‘the groups that will control technology’ (Das and Kolack 9). Moreover, another issue needs to be resolved: the interests of which group will technology served (Das and Kolack 9). The above view is based on the fact that the introduction of technology in a specific society needs to be carefully studied giving emphasis on the interests of a particular social group – under the terms that it is difficult for technology to serve, continuously, the needs of all people within a particular region. An hierarchy of needs has to be established – referring to the needs of social groups of the particular society; then the level at which the technology involved will be supported can be defined. For instance, in a society with extreme needs for healthcare, the local government should focus on the introduction of technology, which can be used in healthcare units – not in technology used for restoring energy or for communicating. Moreover, if the technology promoted in a particular society is not appropriate – as described above – then it is expected to lead to social turbulences, giving the impression that local authorities have not set social needs as a priority. It is in the above context that the involvement of technology in the social and economic activities of a particular society has to be decided. In accordance with Tribus (27) the introduction and the expansion of technology should not be the primary concern of policy makers worldwide; it is explained that the increased use of technology in daily social and economic activities has been unavoidable because of the continuous increase of population – as followed by the differentiation of human needs. Emphasis should be rather given on the control of technology, i.e. on the identification of the group of people who will decide on the characteristics of technology introduced in a specific society and who will manage this technology – indirectly, through other persons acting on their behalf. The use of technology as a tool for promoting the interests of specific groups of people is also highlighted in the study of Achuthan (43); in the above study it is explained that technology is usually regarded as the most effective tool for a particular social class to declare or secure its superiority over the other social classes (Achuthan 43). Such phenomena can be also developed at the level of state – referring to the use of technology by certain states in order to increase their power in the international community (Achuthan 43). In this way, technology can be a cause of severe conflict either between social classes or between societies. The expansion of technology across various social activities is usually related to the economic and social characteristics of the country/ region involved. Technology was not always highly involved in society; in fact, the high interaction between technology and society has been a phenomenon of the 20th century – being in progress in this century. In fact, the high development of technology in the previous century has been compared to the industrial revolution of the 18th century (Castells 29). Through the decades, the power of technology to influence all aspects of social and economic life has been significantly increased; this trend should lead to concerns regarding the future involvement of technology in society. A further increase of the power of technology over society could lead to the radical transformation – or even to the elimination – of traditional social values and ethics setting in risk the social identity of local population (Geisler 4). For this reason, the first priority for policy makers in countries internationally would be to keep the balance between technology and society setting rules and criteria for the involvement of technology in daily human activities (workplace, educational sites, research and development units) – at least at the level that such initiative is feasible. Works Cited Achuthan, Sarla. Computer Technology for Higher Education: The Canadian experience. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, 1993. Aswathappa, K. International Business. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2010. Beardon, Colin, and Diane Whitehouse. Computers and society. Oxford: Intellect Books, 1993. Castells, Manuel. The rise of the network society. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Das, Mitra, and Shirley Kolack. Technology, values, and society: social forces in technological change. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. Geisler, Eliezer. The metrics of science and technology. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. Gonzalez, Wenceslao. Science, technology and society: a philosophical perspective. Santa Cristina: Netbiblo, 2005. Kumar, David, and Daryl E. Chubin. Science, technology, and society: a sourcebook on research and practice. New York: Springer, 2000. Silberglitt, Richard. The global technology revolution 2020, in-depth analyses: bio-nano-materials-information trends, drivers, barriers, and social implications. Santa Monica: Rand Corporation, 2006. Tribus, Myron. “Technology and Society – the real issues.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Volume 27, Issue 10 (1971): 27-30. Read More