How technology is changing the world

There's more to the technological revolution than smartphones and gadgets. It's as much about the people who use them, how they use them and give way to bigger ideas for the better

Consider this: every minute, more than 204 million e-mails are sent all over the world, 48 hours of videos are uploaded on Youtube, users of social media networking site Facebook share more than 684,400 pieces of content, Tumblr users publish more than 27,700 new posts, and the list can go on. With the help of technological advances, the amount of information, thanks to technology and internet that has been shared in the past decade, is more than what could be accessed or was available to humankind in centuries.
 
The way we work, study, learn, conduct business, drive our cars has changed irrevocably. And despite all technological advances, the world continues to struggle with better information dissemination, providing better health care to remote areas, protect sensitive information and intellectual property rights, more advanced systems for transportation and so on.
 
Technological experts and even scholars of social behaviour believe that what is needed is the way we think of solving problems in today’s world. The answer is to bring about a change in the thinking process. Once there is a shift there, understanding technology and how it can be used for a better living experience and knowledge sharing becomes more efficient and productive.
 
Why, all it took the education sector to consider an option for blackboard and using two-dimensional drawings for their students and the solution was there in the form of multimedia tools and three-dimensional DNA structures for them to study. Globally, the corporate world is coming up with ways to stay better connected with company stakeholders, while minimising the use of paper. Indian Railways, one of the most extensive railways network in the world, used technology seamlessly for its booking process, giving the consumers a world change of how the whole thing worked until the 1980s.
 
Thus, it not only has to do with people and technology but also the change in the way we perceive problems and solutions. Of course, a crucial part of the technological revolution that the world is witnessing is how it has increased interconnectivity among people who are working towards deadline, target, turnover, project, or even a social cause. Sociologists give significant credit to last year’s Arab Spring that took over countries in West Asia to technology and how people connected with each other despite surveillance and state arm-twisting.
 
And to help with this interconnectivity are more and more technological advances that are further facilitating the process. And it not only has to do with smartphones, hand-held gadgets and other devices but also a lot of what happens behind the scenes in terms of cables, software, hardware, and the nuts and bolts. Here’s to technology then, and the ideas that will be born of it and from it.