TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON HUMANITY

()
Our personal life is highly dependent on the technology that people have developed. Technology has advanced with years and it has changed the way we purchase products , the way we live , the way we communicate , the way we travel , the way we learn and so many changes have been brought about by these continuous technological advancements. As people’s demands and life style change, the demand for advancing the type of technology we use is high. Almost every thing we use has been innovated to better standards, a good example is the ”Mobile Phone ”, the type of mobile phones we had in 1995 are no longer on demand in this century, the demands of mobile phone users have changed greatly, and this has resulted in the advancement of mobile phone technologies.

Users of mobile phones demand simplicity and more functionality, which has forced mobile phone manufactures to develop computer minded smart phones, which are so easy to use, but also they come with more functionality compared to the type of mobile phones we used to have in the past.

Technological advancements have helped businesses and organizations save time and cost of production, which has been an advantage to all business, they manage these advancements to gain competitive advantage. A good a example is the 3G / 4G broadband, small businesses have taken advantage of this super fast internet to reach target markets with less costs of operation.
In the past, only big successful companies would dominate the market because they could afford the expensive adverting Medias, like Television, to reach any target market. Small businesses typically don’t have fat budgets and find it hard to compete in any given profitable market. Now with advanced internet technologies, a small business can use most advanced internet marketing tools with a small budget which can range from $100 – $5000 to reach over 100,000 target customers.

The effects of technological advancement are both positive and negative. Positively, technology advancement has simplified the way we do things, it saves time, it increases on production, it simplifies communication, it has improved health care and it has also improved our educational environment. Negatively , technology advancement has made humans so lazy , technology users are so dependent on new advance tech tools , this laziness has resulted into less innovation , it has increased on health risks because technology users exercise less , it has affected the environment because of the increase pollution which has affected the Ozone layers which has resulted into global warming. When it comes to education, students are more dependent on Calculators and computers to solve simple equations; in this case they can not train their brains to solve a simple task which makes them lame in class. Below I have listed a few technological advancements which have changed our lives:

Technology Advancement in Medicine and Health care: Technology has helped in saving many innocent lives. Human medicine and health sciences have improved. Doctors and medical students have embarked on medical technological tools to carry out extensive research on human health problems and challenges. This extensive research has resulted into the development of new drugs, and treatments which have helped in curing most challenging human diseases and this has helped in saving so many lives and it has also prolonged the human lifespan. Let’s look at some cool medical technological advancements and how they help us.
Fig 1: Smart phone Ultrasound: Using a $100,000 which was provided by Microsoft, experts at the Washington University in St.Losuis managed to integrate a USB-based ultrasound probe with a Smart phone. The main goal was to create an simple hand sized ”Ultrasound device ” that can enable doctors in remote areas to image a patients kidney , liver , bladder , eyes , veins and arteries so that they can easily detect any infections. This type of device can be of a good use in many developing countries and it can help in saving lives. Doctors without boundaries can use this mobile ultra sound to help out many patients in remote areas.

Other health care technologies include; Nanocomposite Contact Lenses used to treat diabetes , Robotic Surgeons , Neuroprosthetic Chips which prevents seizures and control artificial limbs with mind , Multimodality Hybrid Imaging Technology which detects prostate cancer and Artificial Wombs which are used to grow an embryo outside of the body of a woman’s body. Learn more about these medical technologies here

Technological advancements in communication: Communication is a major factor in both human lives and business. Communication technology has changed with years and it has even become better, I can tell what the future holds in this field of communication. In (fig 1) you can see a lady using a fixed land line to communicate, by then, this was the best way to communicate with your family, friends or business partners and suppliers. The only challenge it had was that it was fixed, so if you where not in the office or at home, people could not communicate with you. With years this technology has evolved and we have witnessed new mobile phones which made communication easier. In (fig 2) you can see two adults enjoy advanced communication technology (ipad) , this is a new technology , which can do more than just making calls. With its technology, you can even do a live video call and see the people you’re communicating with, similar to Smart phones like iphone or Samsung galaxy which can have related functions.

Technological Advancements in Agriculture: Agricultural technological advancement has played a big role in changing the face of agriculture. This has resulted into increased production and abundant food supply. In (fig 2) you can see farmers in a developing world using poor methods or irrigating their plants. During droughts, crops will run out of water, so farmers have to irrigate their crops for a better yield, but with the type of irrigation method in fig 1, the crops will not yield well so the farmer will make a big loss. In fig 2, advanced sprinklers are used to irrigate a big farm and this saves the farmer time. A farmer who used this advanced technology will have a large output as well as produce high quality products. This is an automated water sprinkler, which can be set basing on the time of the day and movement of the sun, so the crops will always get sufficient water.

Technological Advancements In Education: Technology advancement has greatly changed the education sector. We now days learn through mobile gadgets and tablets. Technology has simplified the way teachers reach their students and it has also helped students learn from anywhere as well as enable them access academic information at any time from anywhere. Information is power, so both students and teachers can use advanced technologies for education to make research on subjects of interest. Some of the most popular technology advances which have changed the face of education include: Use of smart phones in classroom , use of tablets and mobile computers in education and classroom , use of smart whiteboards for visual illustration in the classroom, use of internet for long distance learning , Use of social ,media to connect students with teachers for example Piazza.com. Lets’ look at the example in the images below. In (fig 1) , the teacher is using a black board and chalk to explain mathematical equations, this is the type of education most of us had, but some students could fail to learn because of its lack of real time visual illustration. In (fig2), the teacher is using a smart whiteboard which gives students visual illustrations on each subject; you can see that all students in the classroom are well engaged compared to a classroom with a black board.