Impact of Technology on Society: In the past few decades, technology has proliferated. The use of technology has also increased drastically. It affects the lives of people and changes the way they learn, think, and communicate. It plays a major role in society, and now it is very tough to imagine life without technology. Both technology and society are co-related, co-dependent, co-influence with each other. Technology has an impact on society, including the potential for society to progress or decline, in both good and bad manner. Our society is shaped by technology, which has both beneficial and harmful consequences.
Impact of Technology on Society
Table of Content
Impact of Technology
Human societies and technology have grown inextricably linked since technical systems like mobile phones, computers, TV, etc. are produced by humans and reflect the very basis of a population’s needs and lifestyle. Although technology improves the lifestyle of human beings, it is also a major concern for future generations. Nowadays, people are excessively using technology which reduces their physical activities and directly affects their health. Also, due to the excessive use of technology, there are so many cybercrimes happen every day in which someone steals the identity or personal information of the victim, such as a Unique ID number, PAN number, Debit Card, etc. and uses it to conduct a crime or perpetrate fraud without our permission. Some other cyber crimes are:
- Hacking: An effort to manipulate a computer system or a network within a computer is known as hacking. It is unauthorized control of computer systems to commit a crime.
- Credit/Debit Card theft: Credit card fraud refers to any type of fraud involving a payment card, such as a credit or debit card. The objective could be to obtain products or services or to transfer the funds to a criminal-controlled account.
- Malware installation: Any program or file that is dangerous to a computer user is known as malware. Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware are all examples of malware.
- E-mail threat: The use of email to deceive another person for personal benefit or to harm another person.
- Phishing: Depending on the offender, phishing attempts can target a wide spectrum of people. It’s possible that these are generic phishing emails aimed at anyone with a PayPal account. These are frequently identified as phishing attempts.
- Spams: An undesired, uninvited digital message that is sent in large quantities is known as spam. You can get spam via email, phone calls, text messages etc.
- ATM cards theft: ATM fraud refers to a crime in which the criminal make the payments for the criminal activities via some other person’s ATM card using the PIN.
What is Society?
Society is defined as the group of among human beings sharing social relationships. Or in other words, a society is a group of people that lives together in a community that includes some form of government, along with some rules and economy.
What is Technology?
Technology is defined as the body of knowledge that deals with the innovation, invention, and application of technical means, as well as their interrelationship with life, society, and the environment. Or in other words, technology means the use of scientific knowledge to achieve some specific goal or create applications that are used in industry or in everyday life. So, if we are using some scientific knowledge to achieve some goal means we are using technology.
Impact of Technology on Society
We utilize and rely on technology in our daily lives, and our technical requirements and demands continue to grow. Technology is used by humans to explore, connect, study, and do work. The manner in which we use technology decides whether its effects are beneficial or detrimental for society.
Positive Impacts of Technology on Society
Technology has a more positive impact on humans or society as compared to negative. It makes our life easier and reward us by providing resources or tool that make our life much easier. Following are some positive changes that technology brings to our life:
- Improved Communication: Communication is the most important part of society, we build or transfer our thoughts with each other with the help of communication. Earlier people used pigeons or birds to transfer their messages to their loved ones. After that technology slowly grows and the medium of transferring information is changed to mobile phones, email, etc. Nowadays, we send messages to loved ones or known people via email, social media platforms, etc. It is the fastest, efficient, and effective medium. People can talk or share information with their loved ones easily even if they are very far away from them.
- Improved Education and learning process: Technology enhances the education and learning process. Nowadays, people can easily enhance their knowledge using the internet. Most of the data is present on the internet is free of cost, and you can access this data anytime and anywhere.
- Mechanized Agriculture: Technology changes the working mechanism of farmers. Lots of machines and technical instruments were introduced in the agricultural area which makes farming very easy, effective, automated, etc.
- Easy to access information: We can easily access information via the internet anytime and anywhere. Most of the information is present on the internet are free of cost, so you can use them to enhance your knowledge, skills, etc.
Negative Impacts of Technology on Society
As we know that everything present on this planet has both advantages and disadvantages. The same goes for technology it also has negative impacts on society and some other negative impacts are:
- Increase in unemployment: Nowadays, large and small business uses machinery and technical equipment because of their low costing and high efficiency due to which the rate of unemployment is increasing continuously.
- Increase in pollution: Not only humans but technology also affecting our environment. Due to vehicles and machinery, the rate of pollution is increasing continuously which causes global warming, etc.
- Increase in health and mental concerns: Nowadays, technology effecting the physical as well as mental health of human beings. It makes people lazy, emotionally weak, sleeping problems, reduce physical activity, also people are spending less time with their family and friends.
- Increase in cybercrimes: Due to the excessive use of the internet, the rate of cybercrimes are also increased. Some people (attackers) harm innocent people (victims) or children for money or fun.
Societal Issues and Cultural Changes
Social Issues
Following are some social issues that we face while using the internet:
- Identity Theft: To use the identity of some other person by getting his financial/ personal information in a fraud manner in order to commit a crime.
- Gaming Addiction: An individual’s capacity to perform in multiple life domains is severely affected as a result of the excessive use of internet games over a long period of time.
- Health and Fitness: Using a lot of the internet lay an impact on health and fitness, it may impact your eyesight, backbone, etc.
- Cyberbullying: The use of technology to bully, abuse, criticize, or target another person is known as cyberbullying.
- Terrorism and Crime: Theft of our cyber-infrastructure, as well as digital information such as software, hardware, data, or information, is considered cyberterrorism.
- Communication Breakdown: A communication breakdown occurs when information is not exchanged, resulting in a loss of interaction.
- Defamation of Character: The act of transmitting a piece of false information in order to do serious harm to another person’s goodwill is known as defamation of character.
Cultural Changes
Our culture has been radically transformed by technology. From our ideals to our modes of communication, we’ve come a long way. Many people now find it difficult to conduct a face-to-face chat. People use their phones, tablets, or computers to spend time with their buddies. Also, individuals now evaluate others based on how technologically, whether or not they own the latest mobile phones or cars. Nowadays, listening to music on headphones is preferred over listening to another person.
Most individuals nowadays prefer the internet because that is all they have ever known. Cell phones with touch screens are all the rage these days. Technology just serves to separate people from actuality. People nowadays lack the ability to interact in real-life situations such as individual connections, problem-solving, and showing adult actions. All this is influencing our culture. Technology influences culture every time we may get anything from an internet seller rather than going to a local business. Every moment someone always sits down to watch our night on-demand enjoyment, we are shaping culture through technology.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to authenticate biometric?
The technical difficulties of automated individual recognition based on biological and behavioral features are fundamental in the conversion of analog (facial image, fingerprint, voice pattern…) to digital (patterns, minutiae) data that can then be produced and matched with the effective algorithm.
What is the role of technology in modern society?
Technology helps in lending support in the automating various tasks, which include setting up reminders, communicating efficiently, payment of bills at click of a button and also shopping for simplest things.
What should we do if we find identity theft?
Put a fraud warning on your credit reports so that we help us to identify identity theft. Put a hold on your credit. Use credit card monitor service and increase the level of security on your accounts.
What is cybercrime?
An illegal activity that makes use of a computer or targets a computer is known as cybercrime. Example: hacking, phishing, spamming, child pornography etc. Cyber thieves carry out illicit actions by use of Computer technology.
What is cybersecurity?
The technique of protecting servers, mobile devices, laptops, networks, data, etc. from malicious invasions is known as cybersecurity. Being secure online is what cyber safety entails. Threats to our safety and security abound in the online world.
What steps should be taken to safeguard online identity?
The following steps should be taken to safeguard online identity:
1. When providing personal information on the internet, be cautious. Just because a website requests information from you doesn’t mean you have to provide it to them. Inquire as to who wants the data and why they want it.
2. Do not open the link or attachment if it comes from someone you do not know.
3. When shopping or banking online, use a secure network.
4. Install sophisticated security software on your electrical device.