Technology in the Modern World (My Turn)

In the modern world technology is becoming even more and more important to society as a whole. The advancements that have occurred have improved the productivity of the factories and even helped the elderly stay in contact with their family by using electronic means such as email, Skype or FaceTime. These advancements however have yet to reach certain parts of the word, many parts of this world do not have access to these networks that these other parts of the world exploit. This is not because of a lack of willingness to try to use this technology, this is actually caused moreover by a lack of the technology that allows these people to have access to these networks. This is a problem that developers must address while designing the technology for these parts of the world. We can live stream high definition video from the international space station but yet we still cannot get the internet access to certain parts of the world due to a small jungle or a mountain range. However, there are also other issues that must be addressed in order for these advancements to really affect them in a beneficial way. We must also focus on the education of these people and improving their technological language and bridging the barrier that separates us.

Technology has helped many different countries develop into the mega nations that they are today. The United States, for example, saw a massive surge in the economic sense when the shipping ports opened along the coast of New England and along the shores of Cleveland Ohio with the oil and steel industries. These ports were able to be so successful because of the access to the cutting edge technology that was available. If we are going help these other small nations grown and become more economically stable then we must give them access to the same technology that we exploited a little over a hundred years ago. This is what these smaller regions need, equal access to the technology that can help them become bigger contributors to the global economy. However, is not just a plea for the equal access to the technology it is also a plea for the groups that help these people know how to use this technology effectively.

Community action groups have helped many different people do things such as alcohol abuse and drug recovery. Recently they have started groups that educate the people on how to use these networks or computers. In order for this to be effective you must also teach these people how to use the technology to benefit their lives. Simply having the technology does no good, they must also know how to incorporate the technology into their way of life. Groups must be able to give these people aide and then to slowly educate them on how to use the technology and how to incorporate it into their way of life, mission groups through the Christian Church have done this for many years by means of mission trips. I for example, a few years ago went on a mission trip to a rural part of Kentucky. While there, we focused mostly on rebuilding run down houses and bringing them back up to code but we also gave them the technology they needed. We gave a family whose son was paralyzed from the waist down a sit in shower that was handicap accessible, this may be something most people have seen and could probably find out how to use relatively easily but we still had to show them how to use it. This is the same thing for the giving technology to other regions of the world where it may not be as readily available. Yes, they could probably find out how to use the shower, but wouldn’t it be an easier transition for them if we show them how and then they decide how they are going to use it in their lives. Another example of this is by giving an elderly person a computer and telling them to perform some advanced task, they may eventually learn but the need help to get started. That is why I feel that the community action groups will be critical for these regions to learn how to use this new technology. We need to show them the key parts and hold their hands for the first few times and then take off the training wheels per say and let them decide how they are going to use the technology to help them or if they even want to use the technology. However this divide effects the world in another way, it is also creating a new technological language that not everyone understands.

This divide has created another language that not everyone understands and knows how to use. The divide has effected education, because of the age gap or technological gap that the educators have with the students. The educators grew up while the technology was still in its infancy and the students have grown up with complete access to the technology to the point that it has become second nature. Many kids know more about using computers than even their parents, this may seem funny to some but this is actually a problem. The educators are trying to teach the way that they were taught and this creates divide because the youths of today have grown up doing things completely different than the ones that are trying to teach them. In order for the gap to be closed we must help the older people learn to use the technology and actually speak the “language” and then change their ways in order to reach the students more effectively. This can be done in many different ways, such as using technology in the class room like Smart Boards or edutainment. Edutainment is a new word that has been used to describe the educational entertainment. Edutainment may be video game that has a plot that coincides with the lesson or it may also be a video that has an underlying message that is designed to teach them. This however is not just a problem with the age of the people, it is also a problem with the region that they are located at. A person who grows up inside a city will inherently have more access to the technology than the people who grow up away from everyone else. This can occur anywhere that there is an obstacle that separates people such as a mountain range, a river or a jungle. This can be overcame with the education by groups within the community however.

There is no doubt that there is a divide in this world that has been caused by technology, the haves versus the have-nots. However this divide can be lessened by the combined effort of the developers and the community action groups. These developers must see these regions as important and set up an infrastructure that allows these people to flourish. However, the education on these is still very important and must be done in order for them to learn how to integrate it into their lives. By combining their efforts these impoverished regions of this world they may be able to improve productivity and have access to the outside world that they previously never would have had. The benefits of spreading these in my opinion outweighs the costs associated with doing this, in late 2010 the Arab Springs occurred and this was spurred on by the access to the technology. The Arab Springs was a revolution that spread throughout certain parts of the Middle East and was spread by the use of the internet and the cell phone camera. Those people had access to the internet and they could show someone on the other side of the country in real time what was occurring. The spreading of technology can do more than just improve the economic status of these groups it can also help them make the governments accountable to the people and lead to change that may be greatly needed. Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, it is becoming more and more common place in the world, the simplest tasks are now being done by technology. Most people who work retail for example would be completely lost without the access to the Wi-Fi network. I currently work for a retail store, when the network goes down the store runs to halt and we must try to do things the fashioned way. The only problem is we physically cannot run the store without the network, we have become so dependent on the technology that we have forgotten how to live without it. We have advanced to the point where we lost where we came from, we lost our traditional values and traditional means that we used before the adoption of these systems. Hope is not futile though, there is still hope for people. Technology will not the downfall of society as long as we don’t forget our roots, we started out as men who rubbed two sticks together and that created fire and that fire sustained life. What’s to say that the fire of today is not right around that corner or what to say that is hasn’t been created? We cannot forget the fire, the small basic technology that sustained us when we were just a caveman who rubbed two sticks together for warmth.

#MyTurn