Modern Information Technology Impacts Our Everyday Lives Essay

Over the past 20 years, the world as we know has changed drastically. We have moved from a world that was bound by wires and copper cabling to a world that offers any bit of information you want with the touch of a glass screen from a device that fits in your pockets. In this same period of time, shopping used to involve planning a trip to a brick and motor store and hope they had the product you were looking for, and at the price you wanted to pay. If you lived in a small market, you didn’t have the choices to comparison shop other stores. In today’s age, a consumer can shop from the comfort of their home, and find exactly the right product at exactly the right price. With a click of a mouse and a charge of a credit card, the product will be rushed to the consumer’s house with little to no effort for them. Large retailers like Amazon.com can have a product delivered to a consumer by as early as the next day! This type of convenience has changed our daily ways in many ways, both positive and negative. For example, people can communicate with each other miles apart from their computers and smart phones via email and texting. While some may say this is good thing that allowing distant relatives and friends quick and simple communication without worrying about distance, others would say that email and texting simply takes a lot of the personal touch from the conversation. With retailers moving their sales online, some people believe that the personal touch of being able to talk to someone directly about the product may detract from the experience. Positive Impacts of Modern Technology We should begin looking at the positive impacts that this new technology has on our daily lives. Technology is evolving very quickly, and sometimes consumers have a hard time keeping up with the latest trends, but the impacts are made every day to help improve our lives. Whether we are using computers to communicate by video conferencing with friends and family in another country, or ordering the latest Harry Potter book to be instantly delivered to our Kindles, these technologies are enriching our lives. As retailers move to the web, consumers are able to comparison shop many different sellers with the click of a mouse. There are also dedicated websites out there that allow a consumer to instantly search for a product from hundreds of sellers, and then find the one that has the lowest price and best shipping. On top of this, the internet provides a way for consumers to research the products they are buying. We can look up reviews from other buyers to see if the product lives up to manufacturers claims. When a consumer decides what and where they will buy, they can have the product whisked away from the distribution center and be delivered on their doorstep by the end of the next day, all from the computer of their home. With the massive explosion of social media sites, people are able to find and communicate with their long lost friends and family all from a central location. We can share photos, send messages, and chat in real time with our connections. Although the entertainment industry has been slow to adopt the new technologies in fear of losing money to â€Å"pirates†, we have seen a huge growth of online video. Consumers are able to find and watch their favorite shows whenever and wherever they like. Television sets are now shipping with built in internet connectivity to allow purchasers to access the internet to watch videos and share photos with one another. Companies like Netflix and Hulu have embraced online streaming and are offering thousands of hours of online video for a very low monthly subscription. These services are not limited to just televisions either. Computers, smart phones, and tablets are all easily able to access this same content for on-the-go watching. Online gaming has become huge in the past few years as well. People can play against each other in massive online role playing games such as World of Warcraft, and even console makers such as Microsoft and Sony have enabled their gaming consoles for online play. This brings the world together as a playing field and we are no longer constrained by our living room when it comes to finding new opponents. With the help of Google, people are now able to research topics in record time. With a few keystrokes, users are able to find information on any topic under the sun. Online search engines allow us to research the world’s libraries and other research facilities. We are also able to scour the web for information. This makes student homework much simpler and faster, and allows them to learn more information quicker. Data organization has also become a simpler task thanks to modern technology. Companies can store their entire repository of data onto a simple database server. They can query this server for any bit of information they need within a few seconds. Not only beneficial for companies, home users are able to store their personal documents and photos securely on their PC’s as well as in an off-site â€Å"cloud† and not have any fear of losing this information when a natural disaster occurs. Negative Impacts of Modern Technology While there are many positive impacts on today’s society, there are also many negatives that are introduces as well. Many would argue that there are jobs being lost because of this new technology. Automated and robotic systems have taken the place of humans in the work force. With retailers moving their sales operations online, they no longer need the support staff for their brick and motor stores. Many stores are not able to keep up with the low prices from the mega-retailers online, so they are forced to close down. With the influx of social media as our main communication medium, some think that we have lost the personal touch of spending time with our close friends and family in favor of sitting behind our computers online. People that are only using social media as their main form of communication could lose the ability to interact physically with one another. The many distractions of email notifications and incoming text messages have also become a detractor. People no longer consider it rude to stop in the middle of a conversation to respond to a text message that has just come in to their phone. This could lead to low levels of concentration. At the same time, malicious people have found easy ways to target those that are online. With the vast amount of spam email and harmful virus spreading around the world, more and more people are becoming susceptible to attack. Another negative impact is the illegal use of technology for gambling and other addicting habits. Online gambling sites attract millions of people per day and can completely consume those with weak will power, leading to distressed families and financial means. Underground websites also harbor criminalist activities as well. Pornography and child pornography are trafficked daily on the internet, and the sheer magnitude of the web makes it hard for authorities to track down and eliminate. There are even websites such as TheSilkRoad that sell illegal drugs in the same fashion as Amazon sells normal goods! In Summary Although we cannot stop the negative effects from this new technology, we shouldn’t fear it. Learning to recognize the potential positive impacts this new technology can bring to our lives while at the same time recognizing the potential threats we will be better able to adapt to them and take advantages and enrichments they bring to our daily lives.