1. Technology since then

The many implications of technology made it one of the most discussed topics today. It became a worldwide phenomenon to follow and digest all the new stories about the next line up of tech. What is interesting is that things were much different back when technology was a luxury and not a necessity. It was in the Victorian era when the steam engine was first introduced. It was initially used to mine coal, but it shifted its usage to other fields rather quickly, from textile machines to transportation methods like trains and boats. The first steamboat would go on to help explore new territories, while the train was used mainly for local transportation. The use of such technology was a defining factor in the history of the tech itself and the world as a whole. The years that would come after it would bring many life-changing inventions and discoveries; most of them came from Europe due to the industrial revolution demanding such creativity.The next age of technological evolution would follow years after the second world war, in the newly discovered land of America. The development of software and hardware that were used in the race to arming and eventually space exploration, but that same technology shifted into a more casual use when the cold war was made since the companies making them were out of business. Army communication devices became cellular devices for everyone to use, granted they were gigantic at the time, but they dropped down in size as the demand on them grew smaller and more handheld. The invention of the car was a piece of massive news to the world, but back in the early days of motoring when roads were still made out of mud and gravel, it was not accessible to everyone, and the cost of buying and fixing the car was nothing short of a small fortune. It was until the 1940s when cars started to take a unique shape and be more user friendly. In the 1980s, the technology was at its peak in terms of advertising, and it was then when technology started to become mainstream. Everything from flip phones to washing machines to computers to TVs, technology slowly crawled its way into our homes and developed a relationship with their users. It was at this time that the priorities were set for the significant technological breakthroughs to shape what tech looks like today. That world had an optimistic view of the future, and that technology was the way to achieve its prosperity.Related: Evolution of tech: modern Technology Advantages

2. The compromise of technology

It is a known fact that technology was an excellent thing for humans to pursue because it made our lives much more comfortable and more straightforward. Typically when the term technology evolution is mentioned, the usual response on people’s minds is positive and indicative of only the good things it has to offer. The reason behind that is because that is all that people want to see, but the truth is that technology solved as many problems as it caused.

2.1 The positive side

Of course, people are familiar with the positive effect of technology evolution. Things are much simpler to do than ever, and the cost of doing them lowered extensively. Technology brought new ideas and terms into our lives. It helped with every significant field known to humankind, from construction and industry to medicine and healthcare to entertainment and finance. It is the engine that stimulates the imagination of dreaming kids that grew up to become technology enthusiasts and, eventually, participate in technology evolution. Transportation became faster, safer, and more comfortable thanks to the development of technology. At the end of the day, it flourished the world and opened more opportunities for work, innovation, and dedication. The globalization of technology also meant that more people would get into it, with that came the fast growth of technology and the different ways to encounter a problem and solve it using this new-found technology. The internet, being one of the critical factors for this globalization process, was also one of the foremost communicators that took the world by storm. It went from this playground for innovative and web nerds to a global network that allowed for sharing and storing large amounts of information directly, with the only barrier being the user’s own imagination.

2.2 The negative side

Somewhat shockingly, the people who are most associated with the evolution of technology are all familiar with the negative aspect of it. Times and times again have we found faults and errors in the new tech, yet we tend to dismiss them and never address them. The negative aspects of technology are slightly related to what the users do with it and how invested they are in it. A prime example of this is the terrible misuse of some nuclear technology to terrorize and horrify the world with atomic bombs like Hiroshima and many other cases of the sort. Others are related to human psychology, where the technology in question becomes embedded in the lives of so many people that it becomes nearly impossible to do anything else. Examples include smartphones and smart home devices. It may be the reason we made it this far, and it might be facilitating our lives. But the pollutions that leads to our planets demise, and the constant siege some peoples of the world are going through, and the many questions that science cannot answer. These are all strong reasons that make us reconsider our priorities, and whether technology is truly the world’s savior.

Originally published on Live Positively.