Technology and World Cultures | Teen Ink

Technology and World Cultures

November 24, 2014
By Max.b BRONZE, Kihei, Hawaii
Max.b BRONZE, Kihei, Hawaii
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Technology is the basis of how society runs and how people live their lives. Technology can be as simple as a spoon, or as complex as a computer. As technology becomes more advanced, people are able to improve and adapt to the increasing demands of modern life. Since technology is always changing we are constantly forced to adapt and develop new skills to keep up. Modern technology is the symbol of modern life. From transportation, engineering, medicinal, and communication-based technology, to artistic forms of technology, we are all influenced by the new changes in technology on our own society. Modern technology continues to impact how we live and how society changes and adapts to these new technology aspects, whether the influence is positive or  negative. The more advanced we make technology, the stronger the impact it has on modern culture and society.
The impact of technological developments resembles a coin, with its two different sides. one side represents the positive and the other represents the negative impact on global culture. There is a lot of controversy between citizens who believe either of the two different sides. Technology is either hurting our society or technology is significantly improving society and our everyday lives. They are both equal opinions on how certain people are personally influenced by new developments in technology. Technology affects just about everything we encounter. Its remarkably expanding due to how many contrasting people change it themselves. It doesn’t just have to be major manufacturers or scientists, however. People don’t require extensive factors in order to produce a new piece of technology that can either positively or negatively affect culture and society.
The positive effects of technology on culture can be widely explained. The progressing action of society generating changing technology in different fields can have an extensive positive factor to the changes to society. Technology is the basis that runs our society and is produced in almost every field. The usage or over-exploitation should always be avoided by society. People are mainly manufacturing new and improved technology in order to help society and can even focus on helping on a small percentage of the population in particular. 


Focusing on the positive factor of new technology, there are many different fields that new technology impacts. Obviously, the different forms of technology affects the certain field. Some of these departments are things such as: industry of the household. People were required to do much more labor before the concept of automation (Oak, Malani). Simple aspects of technology, the blender for example is a small piece of household technology that has had a large household impact on labor. Many people could say that these small gadgets have widely improved on the labor, making it considerably easier to perform household tasks.
There are many other fields they have vastly improved due to advances in technology. These include aspects like: changes to transport, medicinal and hospital improvements, management of data and information processing, entertainment and advertising industries, communication and the arts. The list is extensive, considering all the fields of work, study and many other areas where technology advancements have an impact on society.

Technology and Agriculture

Technology can positively and negatively affect our lives. There are many advantages to new and improved technology to all varieties of society and culture. Technology has improved and mechanized agriculture. The world’s population is estimated to reach 9 billion by the year 2050. This would result in almost doubling the world’s production of food. New harvesting and watering technologies have been crafted for farmers to help improve their production rate. Farmers are obtaining access to artificial fertilizers, giving the soil nutrients it needs so that farmers can produce the highest quality of food in short periods of time. An example of a different culture that benefits from this new type of technology is Egypt. A society that originates in the desert and  only receives only 200mm (7.8”) of rain a year, benefits from farmers having easy access to automated sprinkler systems.

 

A common recent controversy of technology and culture are GMOs. These are ‘genetically modified organisms,’ such as plants or animals that have been genetically modified by DNA or bacteria. Scientists engineer these genes to combine and create GMOs that can not be created by nature or natural causes. GMO crops currently marketed are mainly engineered to increase crop production by creating plants that are resistant to diseases caused by insects or viruses.
Most developed GMOs are actually not considered safe to consume. Almost all GMOs, especially crops, are engineered to tolerate herbicides/pesticides. Many people believe that GMOs may be the cause of certain health problems, environmental damage and violation of consumer and farmers rights. Currently, over 60 countries around the world either ban or put a restricted limit on the production and consumption of GMO products. Although, in the U.S., the government has authorized GMOs to be produced and sold to the public. The reason for this was from studies conducted by the corporations to profit from their sale. These same companies that produce GMOs are keeping certain information secret from the public leading to most people not knowing what they’re eating.
GMOs are an example of how people are manufacturing new techniques in order to rapidly distribute and produce more and more products faster. GMOs are a form of biotechnology that can create benefits for both consumers and producers. They have the potential to speed up the production and deployment of these products to countries that might need the food. Having easier to produce food and also being cheaper, has its upsides. However, there can be some risks when mass producing food for the increasing general population. For example, environmental damage for instance. There is a possible risk for GMO crops to spread to wild populations of plants or native animals. These genes spreading to other organisms can severely affect the biodiversity and even contaminate crops of organic farmers.
To conclude, technology has a big impact on how agriculture is used globally. Different people from different nations and countries may have to use this technology differently or require something different to create their produce. For example, Greenland is likely to use a different technique of agriculture than someone in Egypt.


Technology and Education

Technology has also widely influenced education in important aspects. The way students learn is being continuously influenced by the changes in technology and the form in which learning and teaching is changing. More students are using the internet to acquire research instead of using books or going to the library. Most students, especially high schoolers have access to mobile phones and computers at their home and while in school. Things like interactive textbooks and ebooks are more often being used to do online research which gives students easier access and costs much less.
Studies indicate that 70 million children across the world don’t get access to a school as well as education in general. Most kids in north-eastern Africa don’t have access to education at all. Somalia has one of the poorest rankings in education with only 10% of minors going to primary school. Most poverty stricken countries are continuously going downhill due to the global economic crisis. This crisis is responsible for most of the children in parts of Africa being denied access to primary education. Kenya is rated one of the worst 50 countries in the level of education, Kenya recently had to delay free primary school to 8.3 million kids due to the global economy crisis making them independent and without assistance. (Shepherd, Jessica)
Online learning on has also increased rapidly, more students are using the computer to gather information and data to create projects and papers. Learning games are also on the rise, from topics that span across all the learning fields within the educational system. Studies show that educational games motivate students to learn. Well designed web games can motivate students to further improve their knowledge and activity of learning subjects. (Plass, Jan) Findings show that students find more interest in learning when they are using technology / playing educational games, especially with another person. Video games are now expanding and increasing in school curriculum.

 

Technology and Social Media

Social media can be related to technology and the world in that we can connect to anyone and everywhere using the internet. An abundance of people now are using social media to connect with others around the country. This can even be used to connect with people who are across the world. Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube have revolutionized a new way for people to communicate. Social media has an impact on business, socialization, politics and productivity.
Social media is the new biggest way to communicate with people all around, as opposed to having to send letters. 47% of American adults use social networking websites. These social media websites give people the ability to create their own biographical profiles, share images, music, videos, opinions, ideas. This has a big impact on how people from two different places are able to communicate facts and opinions. Since a lot of people are building profiles on social networking websites, people who are involved in politics and business are also joining in to help themselves. These politicians use the social media to promote themselves, share their own ideas and connect with the community. This has been proceeding with politics in places like the U.S, India and Iran. Businesses also do the same thing, by organizing their own profiles to promote their products, share feedback with customers and market their own items. So many people are connecting through social media, it's easy to instigate consumers into the fray.
Although, there happens to also be downsides to social media, just like with many other forms of technology. Unfortunately there have been people who abuse the form of using social media to harass, cyber bully and even steal personal information from people. Social media has advantages and disadvantages on culture. Overall, social media is helpful to widely improve social life and professionalism towards business and politics.



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