Technology’s impact on society in 20 years || Tech_Prints

Technology: “God of possibilities”|| A miracle performed by humans 

By Team FootPrints ||

Technology is the consequence of science and engineering. Innovations to improve upon everyday activities in society to make work much more easy and faster. It involves the use of machines programmed to make difficult and even simple tasks, simpler in our daily activities. For the past decades, advancement in technology has been at a faster rate. For instance, one could only send messages to the other through post office which was very slow and time consuming. But that was even better. How about the stone age where they set wild fires atop hills and mountains just to communicate to nearby villages? In recent times, one can exchange messages and even share live events to the other individual overseas within a blink of an eye and with a speed of light. Also, imagine the number of light years it’d take you to walk from Africa to India. If you believe in religion, you’ll simply call it one of God’s miracles. But if you believe in science, you can’t agree more with me that it is the ‘God of possibilities! Technology is simply fascinating and amazing. A miracle performed by man.

Let’s take a quick glance at generations back. I remember when my mom told me stories (or should we call them fairytales?)  of how they went to school. Related? While she told me such stories, all I could picture in my ‘cobweb-filled’ head was, “a cottage in the middle of nowhere far away from light and electricity and blah, blah, blah. How dumb! Come to think of it. Those could be facts though. For instance, the Serbian-American big brains, Nicola Tesla, invented alternating current and hydroelectric power in the 1880s. How was life till then? She exaggerated though, but there could be a pinch of truth in my mom’s fairytales.

The god of possibilities, Technology, has been the game changer of the new generation. It has led to an infinite number of discoveries and still counting. It can be seen all around us and in our everyday life. What about technology hasn’t the 21st century seen yet? Have we seen it all? Should we be envious of the next generation or shall we start to cry and pity them? Technology debuted long ago, but we are the ones unleashing and enjoying the best part of it. And, also the worst. More specifically, our social lives.

My mom used to drag me from football playing grounds and scolded me several times for playing too long in the sand with my peers and for coming home late. But what do we see these days? We’re witnessing the exact opposite. Funny but sad. These days our parents drag us out of our homes instead to go out there and socialize. We’ve become prisoners in our own houses. Antisocial as ever. Due to the rise of smart phones and personal computers. At the comfort of our homes, we can now have all the fun there is. Through mobile games, movies, social media, to name but a few. We have grown glued to our phones to the extent that we have become oblivious to anything happening around us. Even the most sensitive things. I could be physically present at a family meeting but mentally absent. A lesson in communication skills course will call i. This is another negative impact of technology. Neglection. We tend to neglect our families and friends and hug the new virtual families we created on social media. Even in our homes with our family around us, we no more experience that sound family atmosphere. Gone were the good old days when family gatherings and celebrations were the gifts we could ever wish for from a shooting star during Diwali and Christmas among other festivities. Do you recall that heavenly atmosphere and the chilled-electric feeling it sends down your spine when you finally see your nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles after a very long time. That moment when small smiles that linger at the corner of your lips turn into bigger ones, dimples begin to deepen and then finally burst into a never-ending laughter. I could swear that family meetings were the heaven Bibles preached about. They were the good old days indeed.

Let’s talk about its impact on education. There are so many pros and cons of technology in education. Flexible learning for example. I can stay in my room and do as many courses as I want on the Net. Popular learning platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, Google courses, name them. Very simple, efficient and effective way of time management. Even some stubborn lessons in class that you couldn’t grab, YouTube can now teach you at a zero cost. In other words, this saves us time from attending very long and boring lectures. Well, that’s where the cons of it comes in. Ever heard of this popular saying among students; ‘toppers go to college to learn while legends go for just attendance’?  All of us can attest to this fact.

Technology has also brought so much improvement in the business and economics sector. One can sit at home and make money online. Through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Self-employment opportunities have become very rampant. Just sell your talent on these platforms and you are good to go. One could also be a social media influencer which also comes with numerous opportunities at your doorstep such as running advertisements for small scale businesses and even the bigger ones. How do you do that? Just get the numbers! For instance, on twitter, skyrocketing number of followers can actually be a full-time profession.

Other forms of internet money are cryptocurrency and FOREX. In simple terms, these are investments and internet games that can fetch you quick money but can also make you beg your daily bread. And these form of internet monies are blessings that came along with curses. There are a vast number of fraudulent activities on the rise when you risk your hard-earned money in any of these. As communicated earlier, these are games that you’ve got to be smart if you want to win. Laziness also kicks in. What we normally hear nowadays is, work smart not hard. These are some of the curses that came alongside the ‘blessing’ we are graced with.

The natural environment itself we dwell in, has suffered enough in the hands of technology. No doubt Elon Musk is searching for a new home on Mars. Water pollution, land degradation, air pollution and what have you? Man drove out animals from their natural homes just to create more space for himself and his devious acts. Built companies, dams and industries, destroying the land and polluting the air and the only water sources he needs for survival. Cut down trees that shelters and protects not only him just to seek a more comfortable place for himself only. How selfish! Man destroyed the natural environment that protects him better, just to find cure from the destructions he caused to himself. Do you recall what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki some years back? That was long ago but their children are still facing the consequences due to mutations those evil nuclear and atomic bombs caused in their DNAs, thanks to advancement in technology.

Comparing just the last two decades, we can all agree that indeed, we have been graced with a much greater power that we have underrated so much. Surely, we are going to envy the next two decades in terms of technological advancements. But let us also start to cry and pity them. Because the good we see now, will get better and so is the bad.