Role of Technology in Development - Term Paper Example

[Student’s Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Course name and code] 31 October 2011. Role of technology in development There has been a lot of advancement in technology in the past two centuries. Technological advancement has brought an altogether revolution in the way people communicate, interact and do business. “Toward the end of the second millennium of the Christian era several events of historical significance transformed the social landscape of human life” (Castells 1). On one hand, technological advancement has caused a lot of development, there have also, on the other hand, surfaced numerous social evils that were hard to be seen before. This paper analyzes the role of technology in development. The way technology has facilitated development on the national scale is quite obvious. Apart from that, technology has also enabled people to develop themselves on individual level. There was not lack of talent in the past, yet many people could not find a means to convey their talent to the audience. Nowadays, all one needs in order to display his/her talent is a computer and an internet connection. A lot of people have gained global fame in the past few years by uploading the videos of their talent on youtube. One such boy who came from nowhere to become a big star in the present age is Justin Bieber. Not many people were aware of Bieber’s exceptional singing skills until he uploaded his videos on the youtube. Internet not only facilitates people in promoting their talent by uploading the videos, but also provides them with a means to know how well their talent is appreciated by people all over the world. All one needs to do to know how good a video did is check how many people have liked it. The more the likes, the more famous the video and the more the chances of success for the individual become. In addition to gaining the fame, such videos provide the individuals with a means to attract the attention of the right people at the right time, just like Bieber was invited by some of the greatest composers of the present age. This led him to becoming the star he is today. Likewise, many people are doing good business by uploading their videos on youtube even if they are not gaining the fame of the magnitude that Bieber got. Youtube is the most cost effective means of advertisement in the present age, and has enchanted the business of millions of people all over the world. Nowadays, a beginner doesn’t need to take cooking classes or fitness classes in order to make low-fat diet or exercise. All information is available on youtube totally free of cost. Today, there are more cooking experts, dieticians, painters, sculptors and designers in every home than there ever were in the past. Thus, the development has not only occurred externally, but also various internal drivers of development have been introduced by the technology. Knowledge is the fundamental tool for development. Nowadays, people have access to a wide array of sources of information online. Although books have conventionally been a robust source of information for people in the past, yet online retrieval of information remains more convenient for people than that which is retrieved from books. Books are not only a costlier means of information, but also most of them present a biased opinion of the author about the subject. People tend to promote their views and ideology through their writings. Although the same happens on the internet blogs and articles, yet the credibility of information is enhanced when there are lots of positive comments about the article after its end. In a lot of websites, visitors are provided with the opportunity to leave their comments about the article after reading it. Visitors that feel that the author has misguided the people in any way openly criticize the writing while others that hold the same opinion as that of the author provide even more evidences in support of the author’s view. Hence, a neutral person that has no prior information about the subject is enabled to consider both sides and choose his/her own opinion. This is what makes the information retrieved from internet much more unbiased as compared to that which is gained from books. Having gained the unbiased information, people are more able to put it to positive use than when they are misled by the authors for their personal interests. Technology has done a lot to promote the industrial development by limiting the amount of manual work required to execute the tasks. Today, there are softwares available to make the work more organized, sequences and managed which was done manually in the past. The replacement of manual work with computer work has increased the quality of work since the margin for error has become minimal. Having acquired a robust technology-assisted foundation to lay their business upon, business entrepreneurs have taken their companies to levels beyond their original expectations. Technology has assisted the companies to diversify. A lot of companies that include but are not limited to Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Nobles have widened their customer base and increased the profitability of their businesses by shipping their products to the online customers. This has also been one of the prime causes of the spread of globalization and development. Today, the citizen of a third world country is able to enjoy pretty much the same life-style as that of a citizen of an advanced country. People all over the world have same gadgets, same awareness and accordingly, same opportunities. Citizens of the underdeveloped countries use the same quality products as the advanced nations. Although this has generally improved the quality of life of people all over the world, yet it has also hindered the development in certain ways. As the technology has reduced the applicability of manual skills in work, more people have become unemployed. Recently, we have seen the worst financial crisis that was ever seen on the global scale before. Many people all over the world have lost jobs in the past two or three years. This has not only caused a decline in the standard of living, but has also caused many to acquire money by unethical means as theft and robbery. “Business and the market economy have been instrumental in creating wealth and growth globally. But they have also played its part in creating a world where 40% of the world’s population controls 94% of wealth, with the other 60% sharing the remaining 6%” (Green 22). Technology has also played a major role in the refinement of global politics. The free media has unveiled the conspiracies and has made the politics transparent. Whatever happens at a certain point in time anywhere in the world immediately gets brought to the attention of the audiences world-wide. Politicians today are not as free in dodging the public as they were in the past. People are aware of what is happening around them. As a result of this, they know what they need to do in order to change the circumstances for the better. Although technology’s impact on industrial development is profound, yet its impact on the moral status of the society has been quite derogatory. There has been a consistent decline in the marriage rate in US since 1980s. The decline has become so enormous recently that married couples have become a minority in the society. More and more people are choosing to cohabit rather than marry these days. Technological advancement is one of the most cardinal reasons for this shift in the trend. As the use of social media websites has become common, a lot of marital couples that would otherwise have sustained have divorced. It has become quite easy for an individual to spy on the spouse’s profile and discover how the spouse has been cheating upon him/her by having an affair with someone else. In addition to the social media websites, increased health care is also a prime reason for decline in marriage rate. Making use of technology, researchers have been able to identify treatments for diseases that were deemed untreatable in the past. Consequentially, the average life of people has increased over the years. This has resulted in an increase in the population of old people that either never got married in their life or have been widowed. On the other hand, technology has also enabled people to control the birth rate as a result of which, there has been an immense downfall in the population of young people in the society. Thus, there are fewer people that are eligible for marriage and an even lesser population opts to actually get married. The decline of marriage rate has been a root cause of a lot of social evils. The first and the foremost unfavorable outcome is depression. Today, the population of depressed people is more than it was ever in the past. Over the time, cohabitation has given rise to homosexuality. In the past, people belonging to opposite genders used to cohabit. But since there is no religious significance of cohabitation, the lack of bond encouraged people belonging to the same gender to cohabit as well. Over the years, a culture has been developed in which sex outside marriage is considered a normal human behavior rather than a social crime. As a result, the teenage pregnancy rate increased. On the other hand, the same sex relationships have promoted such deadly diseases as AIDS. Thus, technology’s indirect impact upon the society has shown up in the form of people’s increased carelessness in sustaining healthy relationships with others. Besides, tension and anxiety in the private life saps people’s ability to contribute in the development of society. This tends to slightly balance out the development driving forces discussed before. Concluding, technology has brought an overall revolution in the lifestyle of people all over the world. There have been mixed effects of technology upon development. Today, people are privileged to have much more opportunities of development than they had in the past. People can retrieve credible information from online sources free of cost. They can advertise their skills on youtube and know where to approach the right people for their business from the youtube videos. Softwares have made businesses more manageable. The consequential spread of business has strengthened the economy. Technology has promoted globalization. People are able to shop online and upgrade their lifestyle. Technology has enabled the researchers to find cure for many diseases. People are able to control the birth rate. However, technology has also hindered the development in certain ways and has indeed, derogated people morally. Technology has spread unemployment across the globe. Reduced birth rate and improved average life has decreased the marriage rate. This has caused the cohabitation and homosexuality to spread which bring along with them, innumerable social evils. Works Cited: Castells, Manuel. The Rise of the Network Society. USA: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. Print. Green, Josephine. “Democratizing the future.” 2007. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. . Read More