IB Work

The impact of technology on our daily life

by Antonieta Majorel '07

Technology has become part of our daily life and its presence is increasing with every new and fantastic service or device launched in the market. We have become so used to it that it has changed some traditions. The question is: does technology have a positive or negative impact on our daily life?

Nowadays, technology is experiencing great development in entertainment, such as multiplayer games, videogames, MP3s and even MP4s. These gadgets offer a variety of ways of having fun, on your own or with someone else. The negative point is that they are frequently used alone, which increases the tendency of isolation. People live immersed in their own universe, without paying attention to what surrounds them. As a consequence, face-to-face relationships are affected. However, with the Internet, e-mail and some online games, another form of global communication has emerged. We can be in touch with people from Italy, China and Guatemala simultaneously, or read the recent news published in South Africa, Prague or Vancouver. This favors cultural exchange, which makes people more open-minded and accepting of differences. Besides, MP3s and MP4s aren’t only used for entertainment but also for the storage of information, like pen-drives. This is a very practical use. The downside is that statistics show a tendency of getting deaf earlier if you listen to extremely loud music frequently.

Another aspect of technology is that it has changed the traditional concept of work. With e-mail, some jobs allow working at home, without going to the office. Research has confirmed that this new method is more productive than the traditional one. However, they also found that working at home leads to devoting more hours to work. This idea is related to the loss of privacy due to the fact that modern workers are always on call. With mobile phones and the Internet we are always available for any kind of message, either from family or work. The dilemma with technology is that we don’t know how to organize our time, i.e. when to work and when to relax. In fact, technology isn’t the problem; the difficulty is that we don’t set our schedule properly. Still, our life quality has decreased because we have become stressed-out workaholics. What's more, our work quality has also diminished because as technology allows us to do many activities at the same time, we don’t concentrate much on each and that affects our performance.

In conclusion, despite having negative consequences on account of its wrong use – deafness owing to loud music, isolation, extra hours working at home, being always on call - technology itself is a key tool that helps us to simplify and improve our life. A great variety of new devices and services promote cultural exchange, boost entertainment and give benefits to workers. So, the impact is largely more positive than negative.

REFERENCE

“60 minutes” February 2, 2006. Report by Lesley Stahl. “Technology, like wireless Internet, the Blackberry and even wired bathrooms are helping Americans work longer hours. Forget 9 to 5 – for some it’s now 5 to 9”.