How Technology Has Made Lives Easier - Literature review Example

? 28 May, How technology has made lives easier: Life style has undergone an altogether change since the evolution of technology. Technology has changed the world in a way that there is more networking, more traveling, more business, more facilities, and more opportunities, though everything has been more on the negative side as well. There have been more sufferings, more violence, more killings and more abuse and exploitation, though life has become easier if not happier. People differ in the views regarding whether the change made by technology in human life has been beneficial for people in general or not, though no disparity can be identified in people’s opinion that technology has made life easier. “Technology seems to have made our lives easier but it doesn't make us happier” (Jackson). We can call the world a global village today only because of the influence of technology on it (“Benefits of Technology Facts”). Technology has totally removed the significance of distances. One can reach places hundreds of thousands of miles away in few hours. In the past, people used to travel for months and months and sometimes, it took them years to reach their destination. This has not only enabled people to see their loved ones more often, but has also benefited all countries of the world through promotion of trade and business. A Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the past would only take decisions but due to lack of expertise in the use of technology, he was obliged to pass the responsibility to other employees (“Benefits of Technology”). However, a CIO in the contemporary age is competent enough to use ICT and take more responsibility, thus making the business totally according to his aspirations. With the evolution of technology, the brick and mortar business has received a severe set back. More and more businesses are becoming totally computer based. Need to interact physically is obviated by the virtual interaction. A lot of businesses in the present age are being conducted on internet. Employees fulfill their respective responsibilities from their panels. An e-business offers numerous advantages in comparison to the brick and mortar business. Shift from the real world to the virtual world reduces overhead charges. Owners do not have to bear additional cost of transportation or other kinds of utility bills because of which, profit margin of the business is enlarged. Technology has had great impact on the life of individuals since its evolution. Comparing the technologically deprived past to a technologically rich present, Giovanni says: I grew up in the 1960’s and 70's when there were no computers, PDA’s or cell phones. There were no microwaves, no DVD’s, no MP3 players and there were only about 7 good stations on television. We didn’t stay home and play video games all day because there were no video games to speak of back then. Instead we played outside, talked to our friends on the phone and listened to music. (Giovanni). Giovanni and people like her had no access to the various forms of technology that is known by the present age man. 1960s were only four to five decades ago but the world was a totally different place to live in as compared to what it is today. There were no cell phones. Cell phones have silently become the most integral part of life in the modern age. It has facilitated the communication, and has allowed people to enhance their social networking. Letters that took days and sometimes, months to reach the target location can today be transferred sooner than the blink of an eye with the help of cell phones or emails. Another aspect that draws our attention in Giovanni’s statement is that technology has brought us impacted on our social relations. Although people today do not visit one another as often as they did in the past, yet paradoxically, they happen to exchange words with one another in the virtual world much more often than they did in the real world in the past. Internet is by far, the biggest discovery and success for mankind. It has provided the people with free of cost and unlimited access to information of all kinds. In the past, an individual required to consult many books in order to gain a sufficient understanding of a subject that was not commonly known by people in the society. This required the individual to put in a lot of effort. The process of retrieval of information was much larger than the information itself, and the readers had to go lots of extra miles to gain the basic knowledge. But in the contemporary age, knowledge is just a click away. All one needs to write in the search bar are few keywords and thousands of websites containing the required information appear on the screen. Even the process of searching is not at all difficult. For example, let’s suppose a child needs to learn the causes of the First World War. He would write “causes of World War 1” in the google search bar and hundreds of websites containing the required info will appear. Now let’s suppose the child does not want to go through a very lengthy reading passage. Instead, he wants the answer in three to four lines. He can achieve this by writing “answers.com” along with other keywords in the search bar. Answers.com is a wonderful website that provides instant access to information that can be comprehended by reading just few lines. If there is someone whose life has been changed or influenced the most by the technology, it is the working mom. One working mom says: On some days, I'm on my cell phone navigating an issue at work while frosting cupcakes for a school event. In that sense, technology has made it possible to be present both at home and at work when that's truly necessary … I wouldn't say technology has created any free time in my life. If anything, it has filled what might have been free time -- the 10 minutes when I'm waiting at the doctor's office, for instance -- with work. I check email, return phone calls and schedule appointments instead of daydreaming or reading a magazine. (Coker cited in Beattie-Moss). Coker has made a very rational analysis of influence of technology on her life by balancing its positive effects on it with the negative ones. There is no doubt in the fact that one can not find leisure time in the current age, and this can fundamentally be attributed to technology. Debra Hawhee, who is a faculty member at the Penn State expresses how technology has helped her in numerous ways after the birth of her child. Hawhee said: In the first few months of my baby's life, it was very helpful to be able to read and send emails as I could without having to devote an hour or so sitting at a desk and doing that work. My job is flexible, which means that I can do it when I want. This … allows me to put everything down and be with my kid for a few hours during a weekday. (Beattie-Moss). Internet is one of the blessings that mean a lot to the women. They can work without having to go to office. A vast majority of businesses that are conducted online have employed women. This provides women with the facility to do their part of the work along with taking care of their children. This essentially tells that working mothers have drawn numerous benefits from the use of technology, and it has made their lives easy, if not happy! In light of the facts discussed in this paper, it can be concluded that technology has made life easier. Technology has played the fundamental role in improving the social networking of people. People can interact with one another anywhere anytime irrespective of the differences of time zones or location. Online services like Skype enable the people to interact with one another from different parts of the world totally free of cost. The enhanced interaction in turn facilitates the people in numerous ways. There is no doubt in the fact that technology has made life easier for people in general, yet it could not make the life free of sufferings. In fact, new ways of torture have surfaced along with the evolution of technology. Many people are victimized by predators that retrieve personal information from such social networking sites as facebook and twitter. Many girls have been blackmailed and sexually exploited through modification of their pictures that they upload. Tolstoy has adopted a very pessimistic approach while evaluating the influence of technology on society, though he still admits that it has made life easier! When the life of people is unmoral, and their relations are not based on love, but on egoism, then all technical improvements, the increase of man's power over nature, steam, electricity, the telegraph, every machine, gunpowder, and dynamite, produce the impression of dangerous toys placed in the hands of children. (Tolstoy cited in Atkinson). Works Cited: Atkinson, Philip. “Technology Making It Worse.” Oct. 2010. Web. 24 May 2011. . Beattie-Moss, Melissa. “Has technology made life easier for working moms?” 24 May 2011. . “Benefits of Technology.” 2011. Web. 24 May 2011. . “Benefits of Technology Facts.” 7 Nov. 2006. Web. 27 May 2011. . Giovanni, Katharine C. “Is Technology Really Making Life Easier?” n.d. Web. 24 May 2011. . Jackson, Nick. “Dr Dylan Evans: 'Technology has made life easier, but not happier'.” 16 Nov. 2006. 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