Connections at our Fingertips
Today, most people would agree that keeping up with the latest technology is a near impossible task. Technology is constantly going out of date and being replaced with new, improved devices to keep up with the most recent demands. The best example of this is communicative technology. This type of technology includes the devices we use daily to stay in touch with friends, family, and the world around us. A smart phone that came out just six months ago is already almost obsolete, replaced by a new device with the newest features. The same is true for the laptop that was on the top of the charts a year ago. The demand for faster and easier communication is the drive behind these innovations. Some people may say that all of these advancements are happening too quickly, and are changing the world for the worst. However, I believe that the advancements in communicative technology that keep our world connected have had an astonishingly large amount of positive effects on the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds through increased accessibility, use of mass media, and especially improvements in education.
As communication is made more convenient and becomes more accessible, the dynamic of human interaction changes greatly. The most popular forms of communication are cell phones, texting, email, and social networking. In 2010, the number of cell phone subscriptions surpassed 5 billion worldwide, and this number was projected to pass 6 billion by 2012 (Over). The number of Facebook users reached 400 million in 2010 as well (Dybwad). These types of technology have greatly changed the way humans interact, especially when distance is a factor. Today, it only takes a few seconds to send to an email or a text halfway around the world. It’s easy to call up an old friend living in a different country and have a normal conversation with them. In the past, the only way to get messages to distant recipients was to use methods such as homing pigeons or runners. With these methods, the time it took depended on how far the message must be sent. This usually meant days or even weeks. Even the more modern postal service is considered to be “snail mail” compared to the methods available now. A few days to send a letter and then having to wait for a response seems painfully slow when you can shoot an email to them and have a response within minutes if necessary. There is no denying the fact that communicative technology is all around us. It has become a necessary part of our everyday lives. Having a phone with internet access at our fingertips has become habit, and if that were to change, there would be serious complications in the way humans live their lives.
Large organizations, such as schools and businesses, rely on communicative technologies to stay connected with their students, employees and customers. Mass media has greatly changed the way these organizations are able to distribute information. Businesses and schools utilize mass emails to spread information quickly. This makes it possible to inform those necessary of meetings, new procedures or tasks that need to be completed without having to speak to each person individually. This helps assure a well-informed faculty or campus. There are also critical uses in these settings including notification of a bad situation, such as a fire or an armed assailant (Fenell, What).
Communicative technology also helps businesses, and some schools as well, by allowing them to collaborate with contacts across the world. Many businesses have outsourced some of their work to countries like India and the Philippians. Now employees working on the same project can use video conference or conference calls to discuss ideas and issues regarding the project. Businesses and schools also benefit from collaboration with other countries when it comes to research and development. Discoveries made in a European country can easily be shared with people all over the world if they