If you look back, you will see that we have continuously made technological advancements. It’s not just us, technological advancement has taken place since our ancestor’s time. The only difference between the advancement in their time and advancement in our time is the rate at which we experience progress. The competition has increased so much since the late 20th century and 21st century that every day you hear about companies launching new technology to stay ahead in the market. But do you know what exactly is technological advancement and how we are working towards achieving it? Let’s learn more about the same in this discussion.
Technological Advancement Definition
We will be using simple terms to understand the meaning of technological advancement better. We, human beings, love exploring and this is how we know we will keep on developing new things. Basically, technological advancement is our attempt at understanding how things work to further develop processes, products, or services to move ahead and simplify our lives. Our experiments to understand how things work and use them to develop new things can be called technological advancement.
Importance of Technological Advancement
We saw what technological advancement is, now, let’s understand its importance. We live in a dynamic environment, if we don’t learn to keep up with it, then we will be left behind. This is why we keep innovating and developing so that we can stay in the market.
Here’s where technological advancement plays an important role. It helps us to become more productive so that we can carry out everyday tasks easily and earn more profits. We can also use it to find solutions to our existing problems and eliminate potential risks. It provides us with new ways to perform current activities to achieve better results.
Certainly, technological advancement is a must and absolutely necessary, not only from an individual perspective but also for the betterment of society and our world. Technology is ever-moving, driving necessary changes and helping us develop. Advancement in technology is important because:
- It opens new doors for mankind.
- It makes the world a much better place.
- Technological advancement allows us to enjoy many new and better conveniences.
- It also helps the economy and various sectors all over the globe.
- Being an inclusive process, technological progress or advancement is always bringing new things to the table.
- It can solve issues like incurable diseases and global warming with enough time.
- It helps us develop into more competent and efficient beings.
Examples of Technological Advancement
Now let’s look at how technological advancement has helped us to become more productive with the help of examples.
1. Technological Advancement in the Work Environment
More and more employers are switching towards hiring a remote workforce. The reason for doing this is that they can offer employees flexible working hours to increase overall productivity. We have advanced technology such as cloud computing, and productivity software that facilitates effective communication.
Now, we can use cloud computing to store and edit data on remote servers. It is a platform that allows businesses to perform activities securely.
We create a backup of data in cloud computing so that if for some reason we lose data then we can recover it. Also, we have different forms of this technology namely public, private, and hybrid. Depending on our business needs, we can either use any one form of cloud computing, or we can use all three.
With productivity software, we collaborate with team members across the world thus eliminating the need for the in-person office environment. The productivity software operates in real-time keeping members up to date with changes.
2. Technological Advancement in Social Life
In just a decade, the way we interact with others has changed so much. Consider the launch of social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram. This technology has changed the way we interact in our society.
Would you believe someone if two decades ago they told you that people can share their every experience with you and take you along in their journey that too only through the device? You would have been skeptical back then but now this is the reality. Using social media, people share their lives with others all over the world.
These sites keep on introducing new features to acquire more users and engage existing users. In some form, our real-time conversation is being replaced by technological advancement. Also, there are features like disappearing messages offered by social media that give an illusion to the users that it is private.
In reality, the data is less private than it seems to be. When was the last time you opened social networking sites? I would say pretty recently considering it has become our primary form of communication.
3. Technological Advancement in Business
It’s hard to imagine running a business without technology. Technological advancement has changed the way businesses interact with their customers. Right from launching the products or services into the market to delivering them to the customers, technology plays an important role. Businesses can reach a wider audience and offer them quality products and services.
Consider the internet, if it was not the internet, then how would businesses let others know about their presence and what they have to offer? Now, running a business is more than just lots of initial investment and contacts.
You can be a beginner and still find your place in the business world. Technological advancement allows you to set up your business, reach out to your target audience, offer them your products and services, and take feedback from them to grow further.
4. Technological Advancement in Health
Right from the individual level to the global level, technology has created a positive impact on our health. Technological advancements have given us software and applications that help us to monitor our health at an individual level. We can track the distance that we cover, the amount of water intake, and other necessary details to manage our health better.
We are providing solutions for diseases efficiently with the help of technological advancement. It has become cheaper and faster to connect with healthcare professionals. The physical distance barrier has also been eliminated and patients can connect to doctors across the globe simply by using technology.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Technological Advancement
As we move forward on the road of technology, we discover it is promising but equally perilous. And we know that the good comes with the bad, and not even technological progress is exempt from this phenomenon. So, we have taken the liberty to list some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with technological advancement:
Advantages
Here are a few advantages of technological progress or development:
- It will make technology more accessible.
- It will allow technology to create more employment opportunities.
- Communication technology will improve.
- It could offer different and better learning methods.
- Scope to revolutionize any technology-associated industry.
- It will make the Internet more integral, powerful, and inclusive.
- Can change computing systems, making way for advanced technology.
- It will be a lifesaver.
- It can help us to do more for the environment.
- Can increase productivity to new heights.
Disadvantages
Similarly, we have also listed a few disadvantages of technological advancement:
- More technology can easily cause a rupture in our current society, creating a social divide.
- People are already becoming lazy, it will only make them lazier.
- Create more and better distractions.
- This can cause a rise in mental healthcare cases.
- Further propagate social isolation.
- Technological advancement is a threat to our data security and privacy.
- It can create new crimes.
- Can lead to environmental harm.
- It can make our wars deadlier.
Different Factors of Technological Advancement
The following table explores the various factors of technological advancement:
| Factors | Impact |
|---|---|
| Innovation | Without proper stimuli, there will be no advancement |
| Investment | Any technological progress requires sufficient money or funding for research and studies |
| Skilled Workforce | Skilled people are needed to undertake the task and drive the progress |
| Sufficient knowledge and research | Without sufficient knowledge and research, the process will be directionless |
| Market | Sometimes a particular demand can also drive technological advancement |
| Trends | The latest trends can provide a blueprint on which further advancements can be made |
| Political factors | Any advancement requires a productive and encouraging environment |
What are the challenges to Technological Advancement?
Not everyone shares an optimistic view regarding technological advancements. Many are wary of new changes, while others have their interests tied up pretty badly in the current era. Any technological change often faces pushback or has some challenges it has to overcome. These challenges are:
- People can sometimes be ignorant, especially when it comes to technology and its potential drawbacks.
- Society can also exert enough pressure to prove itself a challenge.
- The political climate is crucial for any advancement, so it can be a high hurdle to cross.
- People can simply be resistant to change.
- A lack of funding can also stop any technological progress.
- Sometimes rules and regulations can act as barriers.
- One might simply be lacking the necessary infrastructure for proper advancement.
Conclusion
Just imagine, if technological advancement can change our lives so much in a couple of decades, then what would it be capable of doing for our future generation? The technology that we are developing now will become the very foundation of the future technology that currently exists only in our imagination.
All we should keep in mind is that we will see more technological advancement with time, and we should be open to changes. If given a choice, wouldn’t you want to use modern technology that can help you further with your everyday tasks and simplify your life more?