The Plus and Minus of Technology

To a very good extent, human society has become dependent of technology. In the first place, humans invent technologies in order to make life easier for them. Thus, it is only logical that they’d maximize the use of technologies that actually work for them.

There was a time when people spent their entire days hunting for food. And the day’s catch would only be enough for the day’s meals. In times when the catch was big, the surplus food often just went to waste because there was yet no way to store it fresh for tomorrow or the next few days.

Life then was rather bland. People’s only motivation was the dictates of their guts. They didn’t have time to aspire for higher life values. They were practically living like animals, albeit the more intelligent – living only for themselves, gratifying their own mundane needs.

Soon, they wanted more than mere day-to-day existence. They thought up a way to have food security. They invented the technology called agriculture.

From there, humans wanted more and more. They invented a technology for every need. Human life became easier… and easier. The technological conveniences enjoyed by people in the present began a long time ago.

Of the many technological advances there are today, the digital communications technology is no doubt the most popular. People are so involved with it, because they have control over it; many of the modern digital communication gadgets they can hold in their hands.

This particular technology alone has a big implication in the way people work. Nowadays, people can report to work from everywhere. There is almost no need for a physical ‘office’.

Even a small home baking business with two employees can use software to track both customers and cash flow. Also, there are now accounting and marketing software programs available to help small and large businesses. There are even software programs that can analyze the buying behaviors of customers, to guide businesses when to follow up or what new products to offer.

For big businesses, technology helps keep the work environment better organized – with less human effort. A software can be tailormade for everything from payroll to inventory. Computers make it much easier to write and edit documents, such as letters or proposals.

Business communication that used to take weeks or months by snail mail can now take only minutes by e-mail. And there’s no need to print letters on paper anymore; a digital copy is more efficient. There is no more need, as well, to spend for airfare and hotel for business conferences. Today’s phone systems allow for three-way or four-way calling, which also saves on time.

Judi Light Hopson, writing at www.smallbusiness.chron.com cites: “Virtually all modern technology, from cellphones to e-readers, saves time and energy. Instead of having to stay in the office, as workers did little more than a decade ago, businesspeople can take calls on the go. Electronic readers help business travelers access newspapers, mobile messages and the Internet quite easily.” She adds that e-mailing business associates from an electronic device means there is no need to return to the office after work if one is traveling around town or already headed home.

But the kind of convenience and efficiency that technology gives can have a downside. The technology that saves time and energy can erase the human touch if it’s carried too far. And frequent checking on e-mails and social media can negatively affect productivity.

Software programs for taking calls can frustrate clients who need to reach someone to help with their concerns. Hopson gives an example of customers “calling a help desk for answers to a question might not reach a live person. Pressing numbers to communicate your needs, such as ‘1 for yes’ or ‘2 for no’, depersonalizes the relationship between customers and the companies they patronize.”

Technology may even provide workers a way to evade responsibilities. Voice mail and e-mail may not be acted upon promptly or may even be ignored. Thus, communication “that might have resulted in sales or important relationships are diffused or gone for good,” Hopson writes.

Even at home, the same technology that makes a task easier or takes over human labor altogether can have a downside. Too much technology encourages indolence. In homes where there are growing children, it can deprive the little ones of the essential skills training from doing tasks with their own hands.

Too much technology encourages indolence. In homes where there are growing children, it can

deprive the little ones of the essential skills training from doing tasks with their own hands.