At present, people do not even try to prove that technology has changed their lives significantly as this is obvious. It is possible to think of a variety of effects of technology. These effects can be divided into two major groups: positive and negative changes in people’s lives and in the life of the planet. It is possible to single out major positive and negative effects which can help define one major effect in the long run.
In the first place, it is possible to focus on positive effects of technology. Undoubtedly, technological advances have enabled people to improve people’s quality of life.
Now machines complete a lot of hard work and people can focus on other tasks (e.g. further development of technology, development of humanity). People have also managed to develop numerous tools to overcome diseases. Medical advances have contributed to the increase of people’s lifespan. Apart from this, development of technology led to various advances in the agricultural sector.
Now people can grow more food to feed more people. Availability of food also adds to the increase of people’s lifespan. Finally, development of technology has made the world shrink. Now people can ignore lots of boundaries. Thus, distances cannot be a problem now as people can interact irrespective of distances. Such availability of human resources contributes to cooperation, which, in its turn, leads to further development.
Nonetheless, all these benefits have quite a high price. One of the major negative effects of technology is the impact it has on the planet. The Industrial Revolution and further technological development have led to a variety of environmental issues. Now people face such problems as air and water pollution, shortage of resources (water, farming land, fossil fuels, etc.). Notably, people’s activity also contributes to global climate change.
All these environmental issues have impact on people’s health. It is necessary to note that lots of serious diseases appear and people have to work out more sophisticated tools to overcome these diseases. Furthermore, globalization, which can be regarded as one of the products of technological development, often leads to a rapid spread of viruses and pandemics can become frequent. Finally, people try to solve these problems with the help of technology, which leads to even more serious issues.
However, it is necessary to mention another effect technology has. Thus, people heavily rely on technology these days. People are alienated from the nature. Decades ago, people could create lots of things, but now machines do it, and people are becoming more and more helpless.
This trend can be traced in different spheres of people’s life (science, medicine, education and even everyday life). Contemporary children rarely use imagination as they have computers and TV. This can have a variety of negative effects in the long run. For instance, people can be absolutely hopeless in case of certain machines’ failure.
On balance, it is possible to state that technology has a number of positive and negative effects. On one hand, it improves people’s quality of life. On the other hand, it leads to numerous issues associated with a variety of hazards. However, it is possible to note that these effects are somewhat secondary compared to the existing trend. Now people start relying on machines, which can lead to different changes. For instance, people can lose any connection with nature, which will be disastrous for the future of humanity.