Technology and Social Change - Essay Sample

Technology is a discipline of knowledge that is committed to creating tools, process actions, and extract materials. In simple terms, technology is the application of science in solving problems. Therefore, technology is used to cover different tasks in the daily lives of people such as extending our abilities. On the other hand, social change refers to any significant alteration in behavioral patterns, norms, and cultural values of people over time. In this case significant alteration implies changes that result in profound social outcomes such as the industrial revolution, feminist movement among others. Therefore, technology is a key cause of most of the social change since many of the social change, for example, the industrial revolution are due to technology (Sureshf, 2008).

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Impact of Personal Computer, Cellular Phones, and the Internet on the Society.

The current society that people live has greatly been impacted for many decades now by technological changes, but a personal computer, cellular phones, and the internet have made the greatest impact (Lin & Atkins, 2014). They are used for research, homework, business, and even communicating with friends and family members. At the same time, they are the reason for postponing and people withdrawal from reality of the world. Hence as technological changes occur it is good to put into consideration the effect they have on individuals.

Personal computers and cellular phones are tied to the internet have impacted current sociological issues. People tend to spend a lot of time on the internet either on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or blogging among others. Hence, it extricates individuals from the real world and embracing the virtual world (Wellman & Haythornthwaite, 2008). This leads to a society that is socially inept due to spending too much time Facebooking, Instragraming impedes the art of dialogue. People are not able to write sentences and communicate real meaning. It also prevents face to face communication hence the emergence of a generation that will not be able to read the nonverbal cues.

The internet use on both personal computers and cellular phones has become more addictive than a past time thing. Also, people are becoming more dependent on it and finding the virtual life more interesting than the real world. Also, the usage of internet in working place is becoming a big problem. Productivity and quality customer services are reducing due to the use of cellular phones which cause disruptions in the workplace such as playing games, interrupting the meeting, and spending too much on App such as WhatsApp chatting with friends instead of working (Wellman & Haythornthwaite, 2008).

Sociological Perspectives on Equilibrium Model, Cultural Lag, and Digital Divide

The equilibrium model handles alterations that happen in a section of a society and how changes have to be made in various parts. Moreover, if this does not occur the equilibrium of the society will be weak leading to the rise of problems. This perspective of the functionalists is significant to this topic due to its discovery of the have and the have-nots in a country (Mooney, Knox, & Sacht, 2007). It is most likely that people who accessibility to the internet will have a lot of sociological advantages. Meaning, some businesses might not accept online payments, resumes or applications. Also, people who uses internet have the capacity to make contact with people from far locations; this causes strain inequality the reason being the have-nots ignore certain sociological events. Also, they are limited geographically to the available jobs, certain academic opportunities, health care among others.

The views of the supporters of conflict perspective are that change is important since it is needed in correcting injustices and inequalities of the society (Mooney, Knox, & Sacht, 2007). As the usage of personal computers, cellular phones, and Internet increases, some individuals feel there is the need to regulate the internet due to cultural lag. The term cultural lag is used in describing what occurs in a social system when the cultural ideas used in regulating social life do not keep pace with the changing society (Gauttam, 2017). The relationship between conflict perspective, cultural lag, and the digital divide is because all the three consider social inequalities is due to users and non-users of Internet. Digital divide, on the other hand, is the increase in the gap between members of the society who are unfortunate. They include the poor, elderly, and individual living in the rural who do not have the accessibility to internet or computer resources and the middle class and the wealthy who have access to internet resources.

Technology and its Impact on Social Epidemiology, Health, and the Environment

Advancements in technology have had an impact on the social epidemiology, health, and the environment. Social epidemiology studies patterns, causes, and impacts of health and diseases conditions on specific populations (boundless.com, 2017). With the invention of the personal computer, the Internet, and cellular phones the scientists use these tools in conducting surveys on diseases. For instance, they found out what is the feeling of the society on Ebola or the number of people in the society who experience the same symptoms. Hence, expansion in research and acquiring results quickly. In health, technology has played a vital role such people can take their pulse rate using cell phone app or even monitor one's calories. Also, doctors now are preferring the electronic filing system to record their clients information, and instead of writing a prescription for their patient's doctors are sending it directly to the pharmacy (Prgomet, Georgiou, & Westbrook, 2009). Besides, technology has also become influenced by the environment and that how the solar was created. Despite, the fact that technology has done more harm to the environment, people are now devising ways to replace devices that make pollutions with those that do not (Cantoria, 2010).

Smart Homes and its Impact on Society

Smart homes are among the newest technological advancement. They are the application of internet of things which is increasing connectivity level between devices in the society. Smart homes are made up of some electrical devices that are connected to each other by ab internal network that is linked to the internet (Pubmed, 2009). Smart homes are surrounded by monitoring and control systems that are intelligent and provide the user with greater flexibility in management of daily consumption of water and energy. Smart homes provide efficiency gains regarding resource and time savings to consumers and energy suppliers. However, smart homes may alter individuals every days behaviors and relationships whereby since a home can be run effectively by the use of remote, it will affect the way homes are physically constructed and thus the allocation of social responsibility.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there has been a significant alteration in the society due to the application of science in solving a problem. Even though some individuals are left behind, they will catch up with others as days go by and there are individuals who will improve continuously because of new technologies coming up daily. The invention of the personal computer, the Internet, and cellular phones have continued to make the lives of people in the society easier including the recent one smartphones. All these aspects have linked the world in a way no one could have ever imagined.

References

Cantoria, C. (2010). The Impact of Technology on Environment: From Stone Age Technology to Green Technology. Bright Hub. Retrieved 28 April 2017, from http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/61319.aspx

(2017). Retrieved 28 April 2017, from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/health-and-illness-19/soc

Gautam, S. (2017). The Concept of Cultural Lag. Sociology Discussion - Discuss Anything About Sociology. Retrieved 28 April 2017, from http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/social-change/the-concept-of-cultural-lag/2916

Lin, C. A., & Atkin, D. J. (Eds.). (2014). Communication technology and social change: Theory and implications. Routledge.

Mooney, Knox, & Sacht. (2007). Retrieved 28 April 2017, from https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/user/kfrench/sociology/the%20three%20main%20sociological%20perspectives.pdf

Sureshf. (2008). About: The Relationship Between Technology and Social Change. Reflections and Insights on Transformation. Retrieved 28 April 2017, from https://sureshfernando.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/about-the-relationship-between-technology-and-social-change/

Prgomet, M., Georgiou, A., & Westbrook, J. I. (2009). The impact of mobile handheld technology on hospital physicians' work practices and patient care: a systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 16(6), 792-801.

The effect of smart home technologies to support people at home. (2009). PubMed Health. Retrieved 28 April 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0013940/

Wellman, B., & Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.). (2008). The Internet in everyday life. John Wiley & Sons.