Technology Changes Not Just Our Physical Environment
Technology has changed our world in many aspects and through many different inventions and advances. Technology has changed our world in mainly two aspects, our physical environment and our way of life. Our physical environment is defined as the buildings, the infrastructure around us. For example, the trains and cars we see every day, the air-conditioners present in buildings and such. Our way of life is how we actually go about doing activities; the way we deal with matters. Technology has changed our physical environment in cities greatly.
It has changed the physical environment, for example, the temperature in buildings, where a room can be cooled with air-conditioning. Technology has particularly changed the transport sector, where the infrastructure in current modes of transport are all made possible with the use of technology. For example, the cars, trains and buses we utilize as means of transport, were all created through the use of technology. The roads and vehicles that we see on our roads now were all only made possible through the use of technology.
Compare this to the past, where walking or bicycles were the main modes of transport before cars and trains were invented. The use of technology has also changed our physical environment in terms of pollution. With advances in technology such as industrialization, the use of cars and so on, harmful gases have been released into the atmosphere as a result of these activities. These gases result in our atmosphere having more harmful gases compared to the past, in a sense changing our physical environment.
Also, the innumerable tall buildings that we see in many cities around the world were only made possible by the use of technology; to ensure that the buildings would be stable even as the buildings were built higher and higher. Technology is used to constantly improve the quality of concrete so that it is stronger, and thus can be used for taller buildings. The chemical composition of cements and concrete is constantly modified through the years so that they are stronger, and will be more stable for higher buildings.
Furthermore, the speed at which tall buildings are being constructed now is a big change from the past. With the use of technology through inventions such as cranes in construction, buildings can now be constructed at much faster speeds than before. Cranes can put the blocks of concrete in place in a matter of minutes compared to the past, where the laying of one block of concrete could even take up to about one hour. In the ancient past, buildings like the pyramids took decades to finish constructing, compared to skyscrapers now, finishing construction in the p of a few years.
Technology has not only changed the physical environment, it has also made it easier and faster for man to impact the physical environment. Technology has not only changed our physical environment, but also changed our way of life, the way we go about doing activities. One way technology has changed our way of life is through communication. In the past, the main modes of communication were either travelling miles to meet the person or sending letters to each other.
These two methods of communication in the past took up much time, and the sending of letters was also not entirely reliable as letters could get misplaced along the way and such. Compared this to the present, where we now have reliable and speedy forms of communication. Current forms of communication are emails, text messaging and the use of social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype and so on. With such forms of communication, messages can be sent across oceans and seas in the matter of several seconds.
Technology has enabled humans to interact with each other at such high speeds, and it has changed the way many of us communicate with each other. Some even find it easier to communicate with others through the use of social networking platforms, resulting in some people being very introverted in real life, but appear extroverted and friendly on social networking platforms. This changes our way of life as it reduces the human to human interaction between humans, it transforms the conventional way of communication between humans.
Technology has also changed the structure of the family. Traditionally, women were expected to stay home to do the household chores and care for the children. However, with the advances in technology, household chores did not take up as much effort and time as compared to the past. This change enabled women to go out and have jobs, as it did not take much time and effort to settle household chores thanks to the advances in technology. Women being able to go out and work instead of being a housewife was one way the advance in technology changed the family structure.
The increased freedom of women to work has also further effects on the structure of the family. With the increasing employment of women, women are also given increased status and independence of action, something women did not have in the past. With this increased status and independence of action, there is an increased possibility of women initiating a divorce. The divorce rate has increased steadily in recent years in many technologically oriented countries. A divorce would mean the destruction of family, and this is another way technology has changed our way of life.
It can be seen that technology can change not only our physical environment, but also our way of life in terms of communication with others as well as the structure of the family, the basic social institution. All in all, technology has changed both our physical environment as well as our whole way of life. Technology has changed our physical environment in terms of our transport infrastructure, the height and speed at which our buildings are built and the atmosphere on earth. Technology has also changed our way of life, mainly through communications and also the structure of the family.
