Technology That Is Helping Improve Society

The emergence of technology has been at the forefront of all major evolutions of human society. Fire, the wheel, electricity, and countless other intuitive innovations have got us where we are today. If you were to quiz the average person, they would point out that today there seems to be so much derision on any subject that it seems that civilization is breaking down. This perspective fails to recognize the importance that technology plays in the dissemination of opinions. Today, we will take a good look at three technologies that are working to improve society.

Social Media

Of any technology, social media seems to have the most diverse views. On one hand it is working to connect people that for all of human history had no connection, on the other they are often cited as the mediums responsible for all that is divisive in society. That’s a lot of ground to cover. For every negative situation social media seems to have put society in, it has civilized the culture more than all but a handful of inventions, despite all the memes that suggest the contrary is true. 

Social media is working for literally billions of people. It provides interaction that makes education more accessible, makes remote work easier, and gives people who never had a voice in the way their society functions, a platform to say their piece. Ultimately, the technology, despite the actions of the owners of many of these platforms (mining and selling personal data) is working to connect society quickly. 

Additionally, businesses of all kinds have been able to use these platforms to expand engagement. Millions of businesses use social media as their primary marketing platform. People are informed of news and current events faster than any time in world history because of the use of social media. In fact, some platforms can be identified as the primary tools that bring democracy to nations and build up or destroy the political careers of so many would-be leaders. 

What’s more, it is firmly the technology that has brought on significant social change for people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations. 

The future social media will likely expand to be an essential part of everyday life. Marketing will expand and in some cases goods and services will be made available through social media, further expanding the convenience for humankind. Being able to access anything you want on one platform, and give more exposure to more businesses in the act, could change the way people gain access to essential services like healthcare and financial services.

All in all, the pros of social media far outweigh the cons.

Infrastructure

Technology has been making transportation safer for decades, but the emergence of technology such as the Internet of Things, 5G, and artificial intelligence has paved the way for a massive enhancement in the way we view infrastructure. We are only a few years away from the deployment of autonomous vehicles on a mass scale and with that development, we will begin to see improvements to the way new infrastructure is built. 

Additionally, public works systems that rely heavily on human monitoring and support will start to be automated with AI-driven tools. This will make many of the systems we rely on: water, electricity, and more run more efficiently and should work to stagnate or decrease the prices we pay for these essential services. A society where human error and corruption is marginalized will only be better for the people who live in it. 

Mobile Communication

We can see just how much communication has changed when we consider the tools we use today. Only two decades ago mobile technology was rare and didn’t provide a lot of data access. Today, more people than ever utilize mobile devices to communicate and compute. With the global pandemic accelerating the development and use of mobile technology, and with 5G on the horizon, we will soon live in a world where mobile is the rule.

Businesses are utilizing mobile technology to do things faster and extend their reach to places where it simply wasn’t possible only a short time ago. Every year that passes, additional companies utilize new and dynamic powerful communications technologies.

Communications and data-transfer speeds will continue to improve, and society will be better for it. 

We all know that technology is a major part of our lives, and it will continue to be. What are your thoughts about these technologies and others that are working to make our society more civilized? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and check back to our blog as we discuss technology three days a week.