Introduction
My plan for this essay was to look at the time it has taken for technology
to come in to what we know it as today, the beginnings of the telephone, radio
transmission, and the journey it has taken to what we know as mobile technology
and the internet, it has shaped how we as consumers use technology to communicate
and educate, social and economic impact of its uses and where it is leading us in terms
of the digital.
We want to be more connected to society by means of E-mail, texting,
video conferencing, its use in different kinds of businesses, film and
educational establishments. Pen and paper are of limited use in this decade,
but will we find a way where we are using even more advanced technologies
such as VR(virtual reality) and AR(artificial reality) to deliver knowledge and
information to schools and workplaces, and to train employees to use new
technologies for existing activities, to further enhance production.
Most of the technology that we use today began its inception in the U.S intended for use by the military. Companies such as Microsoft, Google and apple have bought in to this new technology and developed it for civil use. One example is face recognition which the military uses to counteract terrorism, Apple uses this for the new i-phone.
So where did all this begin? How did this type of technology evolve? we can only ask those questions by looking back to the past to see how technology has progressed through out the centuries.
Thomas Edison started his career at fifteen, after a train car accident left him profoundly deaf, working for the western union telegraph company, he became noted as an accurate and rapid operator, he spent his spare time in study, and at the age of twenty one, he worked on the Bell telephone, which was later exhibited in Philadelphia, he then went on to invent the phonograph in 1877.
Societies obsession with finding ways of capturing sound and vision and improving the materials used to do this escalated in the early 1930's with the introduction of magnetic recording tapes, making sound clearer and less distorted and more compact.
But why has technology advanced so quickly?
From the early 1980's since the introduction of the compact disc by Phillips we have seen technology move from being a basic tool, computer, phone, television,tape cassettes, video players, they have all advanced and are using more sophisticated technology, replacing physical devices for data requiring more and more data to hold the vast amount of files containing music, video, and documents helping us save space by uploading to the Internet where we can store infinitely and always have access. Then came home assistants such as Google home and Alexa, they help us incorporate different aspects of life from ordering groceries to monitoring our capacity to save energy while at the same time collecting data on our preferences.
Is it right that companies have access to all our data? Is it possible to be able to truly delete that information?
Is it right that companies have access to all our data? Is it possible to be able to truly delete that information?
The social and economic impact of the telephone changed peoples lives, as they now had a way of speaking directly and instantly to a person with out having to send a telegraph. People were amazed by how instant and clear their telephone conversations were and the design has become user friendly and more fashionable, having the latest design will improve your standing in your social circle.Bringing these new technologies was a step in to a new world of music, film and television, a pleasant distraction in another world that will predominantly, structure our lives, to be accepting of the new media technologies that are marketed in a way that people from upper and middle class societies feel they cannot do without.
Marketing such products has inundated society with a need to upgrade to the latest tools and gadgets to be able to stay ahead, in business, employment, social standing and moving with the times.
The human cost though is still being measured by the amount of energy and waste the manufacture of these gadgets and tools are having on the environment. We upgrade without thinking if our old tech is widely recycled, while mountains of old tech is piled high in landfill with only the metal components which are able to be used again.
Do we really think about how these changes are effecting our health and our mental well being with more and more children using technology, children as young as four and five are addicted to using tablets and mobile phones, and we are still unaware of the long term implications of this.
Mobile phones have moved from just making calls to calls and texting, to being able to access the Internet on the move and streaming films and music, it is making the home computer obsolete. In business it means people can move out of the office and conduct business on the move, where ever they are. No doubt this makes working life more flexible but the technology that is used can also monitor our search habits.
The human cost though is still being measured by the amount of energy and waste the manufacture of these gadgets and tools are having on the environment. We upgrade without thinking if our old tech is widely recycled, while mountains of old tech is piled high in landfill with only the metal components which are able to be used again.
Do we really think about how these changes are effecting our health and our mental well being with more and more children using technology, children as young as four and five are addicted to using tablets and mobile phones, and we are still unaware of the long term implications of this.
Mobile phones have moved from just making calls to calls and texting, to being able to access the Internet on the move and streaming films and music, it is making the home computer obsolete. In business it means people can move out of the office and conduct business on the move, where ever they are. No doubt this makes working life more flexible but the technology that is used can also monitor our search habits.
Companies such as Google, Yahoo, Bing to name just a few gather our data to personalise our experience every time we access the Internet.
Is big brother watching?
Many would speculate that society is becoming more intrusive, our lives are becoming more and more transparent because of our addiction to social media applications. Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Linked in, are allowing us to share personal experiences and become more and more open about our information, this kind of data can be captured and shared with third parties or used by advertisers to sell products and services matched with our information. GPS and location based services also captures our data, to enhance our experience whilst using certain apps such as weather and satellite navigation.
Google being one of the largest search engines has already released new tech called the home assistant that can set reminders, play music, even regulate your heating and switch your lights on and off at given commands, Google glass, a pair of glasses with a user interface that can be used as a computer to aid in health care, manufacturing and many other businesses, making working with computers hands free and enables the user to upload information to a hard drive and connect remotely to other computers, eventually all this information can be stored on the cloud.
''The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.''
"Bill Gates Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2019. 30 August 2019. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/bill_gates_446483
Speed cameras on our motorways and cameras in use in public spaces monitor peoples movement, and this data can be used to solve crime and deter crime as its presence can be a deterrent in itself.
In the book The Circle, the author explains this perfectly, transparency promotes trust, subliminally telling us that it is good to be open and share on social media, if we have nothing to hide.
With the introduction of moving pictures in 1927, we now had sound and vision working in synchronicity with each other, bringing yet another new immersing experience to audiences who could afford to visit theatres and other establishments that played moving pictures.
Disney's Fantasia 1940
In film and television we are bombarded with how technology can effect us, socially and economically how the use of Artificial intelligence can be used in a totalitarian society to enforce control, and to monitor our movements and behaviour, in health care and welfare, and our personal and financial habits.
The film Minority Report directed by Steven Spielberg, released in 2002, shows how technology has advanced and claims that since this films release that there are already some of the innovations being manufactured by large companies such as Boeng, NASA, and IBM. Hand gesture recognition and holographic screens, have been seen in most of today's Sci-fi movies.
Movies and film can depict, and in some circumstances predict how technology can be and will be used. Film directors are now seeking advice from scientists and engineers to realise their ideas for a distopian future, in Minority report (2002), it shows the main character, a detective as using hand gestures and 3D interfaces to interact with different screens and move seamlessly between, the film also shows the use of personalised advertisements on bill boards as the main protagonist walks by them. the information is displayed showing products and services relevant to that person which is not a great leap from Google ads that we have on our search engines every time we access the Internet.
This kind of technology is already being manufactured to hold personal data, albeit only medical information, this technology sits on the skin, we are one step away from technology being placed under the skin.
Science and technology are so intertwined now that you cannot have one without the other. It is a billion dollar industry that is manufacturing new tech to improve the products and services that help the medical profession diagnose and treat multiple conditions. But is this the start of our data being used to facilitate the use of 'on the body' technology as a way of carrying our data so that it can be used to develop artificial implants that can do the same thing.
Conclusion
We are continually bombarded with technology everywhere from the corner shop to the airport check in, the more we use it the more it has to be improved to work faster, to store more information, to entertain for longer, fact is that in order for the technology to be more efficient, it has to have a longer battery life, it has to have parts that don't wear out, it must be able to withstand corrosion, atmospheric changes, to be able to have down loadable updates, without the need to buy new equipment, but we are not far from this already and the next stage in technological evolution would be to make it affordable to all consumers. If we are going to be part of the next wave of the new digital experience eventually businesses would have to market new technology to all kinds of users, from business to commercial.
Movies and film can depict, and in some circumstances predict how technology can be and will be used. Film directors are now seeking advice from scientists and engineers to realise their ideas for a distopian future, in Minority report (2002), it shows the main character, a detective as using hand gestures and 3D interfaces to interact with different screens and move seamlessly between, the film also shows the use of personalised advertisements on bill boards as the main protagonist walks by them. the information is displayed showing products and services relevant to that person which is not a great leap from Google ads that we have on our search engines every time we access the Internet.
The electronic tattoo that can monitor patient symptoms remotely
This kind of technology is already being manufactured to hold personal data, albeit only medical information, this technology sits on the skin, we are one step away from technology being placed under the skin.
Science and technology are so intertwined now that you cannot have one without the other. It is a billion dollar industry that is manufacturing new tech to improve the products and services that help the medical profession diagnose and treat multiple conditions. But is this the start of our data being used to facilitate the use of 'on the body' technology as a way of carrying our data so that it can be used to develop artificial implants that can do the same thing.
Conclusion
We are continually bombarded with technology everywhere from the corner shop to the airport check in, the more we use it the more it has to be improved to work faster, to store more information, to entertain for longer, fact is that in order for the technology to be more efficient, it has to have a longer battery life, it has to have parts that don't wear out, it must be able to withstand corrosion, atmospheric changes, to be able to have down loadable updates, without the need to buy new equipment, but we are not far from this already and the next stage in technological evolution would be to make it affordable to all consumers. If we are going to be part of the next wave of the new digital experience eventually businesses would have to market new technology to all kinds of users, from business to commercial.
