Sónio Das Neves

Licenciatura Em Ensino de Inglês com Habilitações Em Português

The Impact of Technology on Society

Universidade Rovuma
Instituto Superior de Ciências Naturais e Ambiente
2024
 Sónio Das Neves

The Impact of Technology on Society

Presented to the Department of Letters and

Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of
English Didatics1 requirements.
Lecturer: Dr. Liguni Chuluma

Universidade Rovuma
Instituto Superior de Ciências Naturais e Ambiente
2024
Content Page

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
1. Concepts of Technology......................................................................................................................5
2. Technology changing societies............................................................................................................5
3. The impact of the computer.................................................................................................................6
3.1. In the field of medicine....................................................................................................................7
3.2. In the field of education...................................................................................................................7
1. Positive Impacts of Technology on Society:........................................................................................9
2 . Negative Impacts of Technology on Society:.......................................................................................10
Conclusion:...............................................................................................................................................11
Reference...................................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction

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.

Therefore, in this work is focused about some positive and negative impacts of technology on
society
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1. Concepts of Technology

According to Volti (2009, p. 6) technology is defined as “a system created by humans that uses
knowledge and organization to produce objects and techniques for the attainment of specific
goals. On the other hand Merriam-Webster (2016) technology is something that is definitive
precisely specifies to provide a final solution.

Another definition of technology provided from the viewpoint of the archeologist, White (1949
p. 364 ), stated that technology was “composed of the material, mechanical, physical, and
chemical instruments, together with the techniques of their use, by means of which man, as an
animal species, is articulated with the natural habitat” .

In addition Technology is the use of scientific knowledge for practical purposes or applications,
whether in industry or in our everyday lives. So, basically, whenever we use our scientific
knowledge to achieve some specific purpose, we're using technology.

2. Technology changing societies

In its simplest sense, technology can be equated with tools. In its broadest sense, technology also
includes the skills or procedures necessary to make and use those tools (Henslin, 1998). Henslin
further argues that the phrase new technology is often used to refer to the emerging technologies
of an era. Many minor technologies appear from time to time, but most are slight modifications
of existing technologies. Occasionally, however, technologies appear that make a major impact
on human life. It is primarily these to which the term new technologies refer. For people 500
years ago, the new technology was the printing press (Henslin, 1998). For us these new
technologies are computers, satellite and various forms of the electronic media. The sociological
significance of technology is that its importance goes far beyond the tool itself. The type of
technology a group has sets framework for its non-material culture. Technology even influences
the way people think and how they relate to one another (Stromquist, 2005). An example is
gender relations. Through the century and throughout the world, it has been the custom (a
group’s non-material culture) for men to dominate women or enjoy patriarchal relations, but
today, with instantaneous communications (the material culture), this custom has become much
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more difficult to maintain. For example, when women from many nations gathered in Beijing for
a U N Conference in 1995, satellites instantly transmitted their grievances around the globe
(Stromquist, 2005). Such

communications both convey and create discontent, sometimes a feeling of sisterhood, and
women agitate for social change. In today’s world, the long accepted idea that it is proper to
withhold rights on the basic of 232 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.

someone’s sex can no longer hold. What is usually invisible in this revolutionary change is the
role of technology, which joins the world’s nations in to a global community network. Until
recent technological advance, this was impossible. It must be underscored that apart from its
particulars, technology always refers to artificial means of extending human abilities (Nisbet
1969; Edari,1976). All human groups make and use technology, but the chief characteristic of
post-industrial societies (also called post-modern societies) is technology that greatly extends our
abilities to analyze information, to communicate and to travel. These new technologies, as they
are called allow us to do what has never been done in history- to probe space and other planets,
to communicate almost instantaneously anywhere on the globe, to travel greater distances faster,
and to store, retrieve and analyze vast amounts of information. This level of accomplishment,
although impressive is really very superficial. Of much greater significance is a level beyond
this, how technology changes people’s way of life. Technology is much more than the apparatus.
On a very obvious level, without automobiles, telephones, televisions, computers and the like,
our entire way of life would be strikingly different. In analyzing how technology spreads it is
important to stress this sociological aspect of technology- how it affects people’s lives.
Sociological theorists, William Ogburn, Karl Marx, Oswald Spenglerand Zald and McCarthy
have dealt with this aspectcomprehensively. The computer provides a good example. The
subsequent discussion considers how it (the computer) is changing our way of life

3. The impact of the computer

When we buy groceries, a computer scans our purchases and presents a printout of the name,
price and quantity of each item. Our grades are computerized and probably our paychecks as
well. Essentially the computer’s novelty has given way to everyday routine. It is simply another
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tool. Many people rejoice over the computer’s capacity to improve their quality of life. They are
pleased with the quality control of manufactured goods and the reduction of drudgery. Records
are much easier to keep, and people can type just one letter and let the computer print and
address it to ten individuals. With much ease, one can modify this sentence, this paragraph or
any section of a manuscript using the computer.The most significant areas where the computer
has had an enormous impact is in medicine, education, the workplace and in geographical and
social mobility (WorldBank, 2009).

3.1. In the field of medicine

With computers, physicians can peer within the body’s hidden recess to determine how its parts
are functioning or see if surgery is necessary. Surgeons can operate on unborn babies and on
previously inaccessible parts of the brain. In a coming “Lab-on-a-chip,” one million tiny
fragments of genetic DNA can be crammed onto a disposable microchip. Read by a laser
scanner, in just a few minutes the chip reveals such things as whether a patient carries the cystic
fibrosis gene or has grown resistant to AIDS drugs (King, 1994). As the future rushes in, the
microchip is bringing even more technological wonders. In what is called telemedicine, patients
can have their heart and lungs checked with a stethoscope by doctors who are hundreds of miles
away.

The data are transmitted by fibre optic cables (Richards,1996). Soon a surgeon in Boston or San
Francisco, using a remote controlled robot and images relayed via satellite to computers, will be
able to operate on a wounded soldier in a battlefield hospital on the other side of the world
(Associated Press, 1995). Some analysts are now speculating that the computer might soon lead
to “doctor less” medical offices.

3.2. In the field of education

In the field of education the computer continues to dowonders. For instance, almost every grade
school in the United States introduces its students to the computer. Children learn how to type on
it, as well as how to use mathematical and science software. Successful educational programmes
use game like format that makes students forget they are studying. Classrooms are being wired to
the Internet. Students in schools that have no teachers knowledgeable in Russian or Chinese
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subjects are able to take courses in these subjects (Cyber school, 1996). Schools able to afford
the latest in computer technology are able to better prepare their students for the future. That
advantage, of course, goes to students of private and other affluent public schools, thus helping
to perpetuate social inequalities that arise from the chance of birth (Vago, 1992, Henslin, 1998).
The computer can transform the college of the future. Each office and dormitory room and off
campus residence can be connected by fibre-optic cables, and a professor can be able to transmit
a 200-page- book directly from his or her office to a student’s bedroom, or back the other way, in
less time than it took to read this sentence (Harvard Wired, 1994). To help students and
professors do research or prepare reports, computers will search millions of pages of text. Digital
textbooks will replace printed versions. Students and lectures may be able to key in terms such
as, social interaction and gender, and select their preference of historical period and geographical
areas and the computer will, for example, spew out maps, moving images and sounds.

In the workplace the computer is also transforming things on a deeper level, for it is altering
social

relationships. For example, no longer do I bring my manuscript to a university secretary, wait,

and then retrieve it several days later. Since I make the corrections directly on the computer, the
secretary is bypassed entirely. In this instance, the computer enhances social relationships, for
the departmental secretary has much less work, and this new process eliminates excuses when a
manuscript is not ready on time, and the tensions in the relationship that this brings. The
computer’s effects may be so radical that it reverses the historical change in work location
(Stanz, 2010). As discussed earlier, industrialization caused work to shift from home to factory
and office. Science workers can now be networked; this fundamental change may be reversed.
Already millions of workers remain at home, where they perform their work on computers. On
the negative side are increased surveillance of workers and depersonalization. As one telephone
information operator remarked, The computer knows everything it records the minute l punch in,
it knows how long l take for each call … I am supposed to average under eighteen seconds per
call …

Everything l do is reported to my supervisor on his computer, and if l have missed my numbers l

get a written warning. L rarely see the guy … It’s intense. It’s the computer and me all day. I am
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telling you, at the end of the day l am wiped out. Working with computers is the coal mining of
the nineties, (Mander, 1992: 57).

Despite this factor, it is apparent that the value of the computer in the world of work is
undoubtedly

immeasurable. Technology is certainly the driving force in social change. There are of cause,
other perspectives that help to account for the changes in society, as the ensuing discussion will
show. These theories are evolutionary, cyclical and social movements (Richards, 1996: 232).

In addition here are some positive and negative impacts of technology on the society:

1. Positive Impacts of Technology on Society:

Improved Communication: Technology has made it easier than ever to connect with people all
over the world. With the rise of social media and messaging apps, we can now communicate
with friends, family, and colleagues in real-time, regardless of where they are located.

 Access to Information: The internet has made it possible to search for and find
information on virtually any topic. Additionally, technology has made it possible for
people to access education and training, no matter where they live.

 Medical Advancements: With the help of technology, doctors and researchers have
made significant strides in treating and preventing diseases. Technology has made it
possible for medical professionals to access patient records and communicate with other
healthcare providers, which has improved the quality of care for patients.

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:
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 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. (Sarwar & Soomro, 2013:218).

2 . Negative Impacts of Technology on Society:

 Job Loss: As machines and robots become more advanced, they are capable of
performing tasks that were previously done by humans. This can lead to job loss and
economic instability for those who are displaced.

 Cyberbullying: Social media and messaging apps have made it easier than ever for
people to harass and bully others online. This can have a profound impact on mental
health and well-being, particularly for children and teenagers who are more vulnerable to
online bullying.

 Technology Addiction: Many people spend excessive amounts of time on their phones,
computers, and other devices, leading to a range of negative health effects, such as eye
strain, sleep deprivation, and increased stress levels.( Gérard, & de Benedittis ,
2023:134)
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The Future of Technology in Society:

Looking ahead, it is clear that technology will continue to play a significant role in society. In the
coming years, we can expect to see new technological advancements that will change the way we
live and work.

However, there are also concerns about the impact of technology on society in the future. For
example, there is a growing concern about the potential negative effects of artificial intelligence
(AI) and automation on jobs and the economy. Additionally, there are concerns about the impact
of social media on mental health and well-being, particularly among young people.
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Conclusion:

The effects of technology on society have been both positive and negative. While technology has
made it easier to connect with others, access information, and improve medical care, it has also
led to job loss, cyberbullying, and technology addiction. As we move forward, it will be essential
to consider the potential impacts of new technological advancements and work to mitigate any
negative effects. Ultimately, it is up to all of us to ensure that technology is used in a way that
benefits society as a whole.
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Reference

VOLTI, RUDI. 2009. Society and Technological Change, 7th ed. New York: Worth Publishers.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER. 2016. Definition by Merriam-Webster. Available online:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary (accessed on 30 June 2017).

WHITE, L. A. (1949). The science of culture, a study of man and civilization.

KING, D. E., & BUSHWICK, B. (1994). Beliefs and attitudes of hospital inpatients about faith
healing and prayer. Journal of family practice, 39(4), 349-352.

COOMBS, R., RICHARDS, A., SAVIOTTI, P. P., & WALSH, V. (1996). Technological
collaboration: The dynamics of cooperation in industrial innovation (pp. 232-p). Edward Elgar.

PÉRÉA, C., GÉRARD, J., & DE BENEDITTIS, J. (2023). Digital sobriety: From awareness of
the negative impacts of IT usages to degrowth technology at work. Technological Forecasting
and Social Change, 194, 122670.

SARWAR, M., & SOOMRO, T. R. (2013). Impact of smartphone’s on society. European journal
of scientific research, 98(2), 216-226.