Technology and society
There are many debates about the impact of technology on society. Some people think technology helps us to be more efficient but others think technology makes us lazy and do not even think clearly anymore. There are misconceptions and opinions about technology depending on who you talk to.
A year ago, a school librarian complained: “In the past students came to the library to look for information and read books; today with the Internet and Google they search online and read websites. It seems that nobody want to read books anymore.” I explained: “Even with technology, people still read books. Amazon sells several million books a year and the number of people who buy books from on line bookstores is increasing. Do not worry about websites because the way people read online materials is different than the way they read printed books. Online material is designed for short and quick reading, not for enjoying or for in-depth understanding. People read printed books when they are relaxing as reading time is a pleasure but they cannot do that when reading online. In the future, newspapers and magazines will be replaced by online websites but printed books will not disappeared because they are something people enjoy, contemplate to get deeper understanding. There is a place for online materials and there is a place for printed materials. I do not believe online websites or even e-books can replace printed books.”
Few months ago, a student lamented: “Social media destroys the ability to develop person to person relationship because today people relate to each other mostly online via Facebooks and Twitter.” I explained to her: “Social networking sites are created to let people make connections with others. You can use it to know what your friends are doing or search for old friends and re-establish friendships. You can also use these sites to make new friends with people who share the same interests.” I told her that social networking cannot replace person to person relationship because it happens in “Virtual world” and there are a lot of misleading and misinformation there. You have no idea who the other persons are and what they do. You need to be careful among people you think are your “friends” and there are limit of what you can do and should do. Because you create a personal profile on the social networking site, you also share much information about yourself to others. It is dangerous because hackers and criminals can use them to trick you to downloading malicious software and spread them to others. For example, you receive a link from a “friend” telling you about a new song but once you click into it, it is actually a virus or Trojan horse program that can infect your computer. Today many people are “addicted” to social networking as they are constantly being bothered by many updates from friends; the more friends they have, the more news reach them with all types of information that they do not need. They are losing control of their lives because they let these social network controls them.
Technology is also changing the way students learn. Today, students have access to more information than any other time in history and the amount of information is growing fast. Smart students know how to use the technology to their advantage, they know which websites to read, which information to use and balance their study time with other activities and succeed in developing their knowledge and skills to build a strong career. “Not so-smart” students became “slaves” to technology, they believe everything they read on the Internet without thinking. They spend more time on videogames, chat rooms, become addicted to the Internet instead of studying and they often fail in school and end up in the numbers of unemployed and unskilled people.
Many economists accuse technology as the factor that creates the rise in income inequality. One well known economist wrote: “The 21st century has divided people into two groups: The “technology educated” and the “technology uneducated” where the first group is getting richer, more powerful and controls everything…” That maybe too extreme because technology has improved people live in many ways. For example, mobile technology such as telemedicine has changed many lives in developing countries: A doctors can conduct diagnosis of patients in remote villages using mobile apps. Online education has provided trainings for millions of people all over the world. In these countries, technology has created many new jobs and raises the quality of living.
There are people who complain that technologies such as robotics, automation, artificial intelligent destroy jobs. But technology also creates many new jobs, mostly higher-paid jobs. Although smart robots can perform many things better than factory workers, but people can do what robots cannot, such as program the robots, control robot working systems. Even these jobs require technical trainings but with easy to learn programming languages and sophisticated voice recognition technology, it is possible to order robots to do tasks using your voice. My colleague at the Robotic institute at Carnegie Mellon already created many smart robots that are able to understand orders by human voice to perform certain tasks. I have played with some of them in their laboratory and tell the robot to: “Bring me a cup of water”; “Sweep the floor; “Cook dinner using the microwave oven.” So in the near future voice recognition and artificial intelligence technology can create smarter robots to help people. In some factories, manufacturing robots that understand human voice are being tested and that may help many relatively unskilled workers. My friend said: “Instead of doing the work, now people become robot supervisors.”
Many people still argue that technology only helps developed countries but hurt developing countries. It creates economic inequality since developing countries are poor and cannot afford these innovations. However, if you look back 20 to 30 years ago, the U.S. Germany and Japan were the top three economic powers but today China and India occupy number two and number five positions. What make these two developing countries move up that quickly? The answer: “Globalization and Education.” India invested heavily on improving the education system and is the software outsourcing center of the world. Using that as foundation, India has created many high-quality technologies that could compete directly with the U.S and Germany. China invested heavily in manufacturing to take advantage of its low labor costs and is the center of manufacturing center of the world. Using that as a foundation, China has created many new electronics products such as computer, phones, appliances and mobile devices. If you ask any Indian and Chinese about what has happened in the past twenty years, they can tell you that “technology is wonderful” and “globalization is the best thing that could happen.”
I believe certain inequality and disadvantage will change with time. As younger people who have grown up with technology become leaders, owners, managers and skilled workers, they can help improving their economy and advancing their society, if and only if they are educated properly. We are already in the 21st century or the “Information Age” and technology has changed everything but how much it impacts us, helping us or hurting us, is depending on how we use technology.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
