Development of Technology and Its Effect on Society

Most people around the world are very familiar with implementing technology in everything such as for transport, paying bills and communicating with other people. The globe has become truly globalised in the 21st century. The use of technology in today’s society occupies a vital role for people to communicate easier, but it also causes a negative impact because today’s generation depend on technology more often compared to 20th century. Australian society is one of the countries that uses technology for everything such as apple pay, high-tech car parks and smart watch. According to Australian Bureau Statistics, there are 14.7 million internet subscribers at the end of June 2018 and increased by 3.6% at the end of December. This is also supported by the International Institute for Management development because it is proven that Australia is rank 15 out of 63 nations when it comes to digital competitiveness. This proves that technology has evolved over the years since industrial revolution started and it made a huge difference in the society to improve lifestyle and connect easier to other places and other people. Furthermore, technology has been part of everyone’s daily lives which becomes inevitable to society because it helps to create the future of education, medicine and other industries.

Industrial Revolution has been a global event, at least to the extent that it has happened in all those areas of the world, of which there are very few exceptions, where Western civilisation’s impact has been felt. Due to this, many technological innovations were invented to develop people’s work leading to economic increase of government. Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone invention in 1875 was the first technological innovation to have a huge impact on human communication. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century marked an era of growth, but most historians refer this period as the First Industrial Revolution to distinguish it from a second period of industrialisation since the early 19th and 20th centuries (Allen, 2009). This corroborates with a source from Robert Buchanan, a professor of History of Technology states that the rationalisation of production, which was characteristic of industry in the 20th century, can reasonably be considered as the result of applying new techniques that have been part of technological history since 1900. Both sources corroborate the idea that without the creation of industrial revolution, today’s century would not have a more advanced technology for the society. Also, many individuals around the globe appreciate industrialisation’s advantages like internet and mobile phones. According from John S. and James Knight, who are historian authors depicts that gadgets inevitably start to represent civic ambitions, the instruments to communicate with others and contribute to the globe around us. This is supported by Karehka Ramey, a professor at a university also says that the greatest task confronting individuals is to determine what kind of future we need and then generate appropriate innovations that will make things easier. It is portraying that technologies change and affect the future of the society since it evolved. As a result, Australia is renowned for quicker adoption of new technology techniques than most other nations. With one of the largest Internet access prices in the globe, it joined the fresh millennium.

Technologies are very important to the society today because everything involves technologies like computers, phones and smart watch. The development of technology made a huge impact to the society in so many positive ways such as improved transportation, improved communication and mechanised agriculture (Ramey, 2012). Additionally, with the help of technology, today’s century has achieved a lot, for example, have the opportunity to travel, keep in touch with friends on the other side of the earth and cure many diseases. In Australia, scientists and researchers have been accountable for many of the world’s significant breakthroughs, technological innovations and Australia’s technology development has had several significant outcomes. It has improved innovation and design possibilities, assisted multiple companies make changes in their current facilities, and helped enhance the value of their products. This proves technology has developed, and country like Australia is experimenting new ways of advanced technologies to be able to use in the future. Technology has taken the world closer and encouraged the exchange of ideas in order to find better alternatives to any issue. Based from a book author, Hemangi Harankhedkar utters that, “Advancements in technology have led to the evolution of newer and faster modes of transport and communication”. This source implies that through technology, communication has been better compared to the last century and it made it easier for today’s generation. However, not only did the communication improved by technology, it also improved the advancements in agriculture that leads to increase of food production (Wood, 2010). With the help of technology, food productions have increased, therefore, it results a great impact to the government and to the society as it increases the economic funds and produce more food for people. Moreover, the use of technology has encouraged studies from genetic to extra-terrestrial spaces and based from Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia is proud of its dedication to scientific discovery, and A$ 2.9 billion was spent from 2011-2016 through the Backing Australia Ability project to finance studies aimed at stimulating financial and science development. This shows that Australia is trying to make technologies more useful by doing projects and exploring new things. Technology always let everyone access free data, exchange of thoughts and links with individuals worldwide and this will help to form the society and the century ahead, which make a huge difference from the 20th century (Aginginplace.org). This also corroborates with the source of Robert Buchanan that depicts, “Despite the immense achievements of technology by 1900, the following decades witnessed more advance over a wide range of activities than the whole of previously recorded history.” (2018). It conveys the same message that today’s society has a wide knowledge about technology than the previous centuries.

Technology may have caused many positive impacts today, but it also brings negative effect especially on the younger generations. Some negative impacts of technology on society are resource depletion, increased population and people’s behaviour and attitude. According from Karehka Ramey, technology has caused concern due to its bad implementation, which has led in environmental pollution and has also threatened our life and community (2012). Technology on its own is unharmful to society, but the way in which society uses technology to achieve specific goals results in negative impacts on society. Furthermore, due to advanced technology these days, people who spend the whole day working on computers will never be able to physically develop their own meals like those who resist in the areas because they rely everything on the technologies. This is the difference of the modern world; people are becoming unproductive unlike before; much physical activity was engaged in the days when there were no gadgets and no contemporary means of transport. The common man’s lives was not as luxurious as today’s, but more vigorous. Based from a modern historian, Manali Oak, “The internet has bred many unethical practises like hacking, spamming and phishing. Internet crime is on the rise and being an open platform lacks regulation”. This is a reliable source because many young teenagers are facing cyber bullying and hiding their true identity to hack or copy someone’s personal account through social medias. This is why Australia created a project called CERT Australia which is the national emergency response team for computers. It is the government’s single point of touch for cyber security problems that affect significant Australian businesses. Having this kind of actions shows that technology affect people’s lives due to incidents from social media such as Facebook, snapchat and Instagram. Another negative factor of technology is that children spend all the time playing online and not playing outdoor for less or almost no time. Young people spend most of their moment working in social networks, missing the joy of real social life. This also shows that the result of modern technology made younger people become addicted to the internet and phones, and this has caused to many anxiety disorders. Also, as Hemangi Harankhedkar articulates that, “Technological means have also affected non-verbal communication. Lack of face-to-face interaction has reduced the non-verbal grasping power of individuals”. This depicts the difference of last century to today’s society. The social life of today has changed a lot since the advanced technology is created because these days, there are now few people who gather and hangout together because they care more about online life than the real social life.

Technology in the 21st century has developed, and it influences the society in positive and negative ways. Unlike in 20th century, people had time to interact with other people without computers and phones; they use dictionary, send handwritten letters and play outdoor games. Life before was simple yet fun, but today, since technology has been a huge innovation in the society, people have less contact to other people physically and they rely everything on technology. The rapidly progressing technology in general has provided momentum to innovations in different areas and enhanced the quality of human lives. Since the historical changes of technology, it largely has influenced every aspect of living that has made impossible to separate technology and human existence because society is intermittently co-dependent on technology. 

Works Cited

1. Allen, R. C. (2009). The industrial revolution: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Internet Activity, Australia, June 2018. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8153.0
3. Hemangi Harankhedkar. (2020). The Role of Technology in Today's World and in the Future.
4. International Institute for Management Development. (2019). World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019.
5. John S. and James Knight. (2019). Society and Technological Change. Cengage Learning.
6. Karehka Ramey. (2012). Importance of Technology in Our Lives Today. Retrieved from https://www.useoftechnology.com/importance-of-technology-in-our-lives-today/
7. Robert Buchanan. (2018). The Evolution of Technology. Springer.
8. Aginginplace.org. (2019). The Role of Technology in Society.
9. Wood, J. C. (2010). Technology and industrial development in pre-war Japan: the Mitsubishi Nagasaki shipyard, 1884-1934. Routledge.
10. Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. (2021). Backing Australia's Ability. Retrieved from https://www.industry.gov.au/policies-and-initiatives/backing-australias-ability