Technology shapes and is shaped by the social environment in the United States and all over the world. One of the advances in technology that has had the most significant effect on our lives has been the Internet.
The Internet has changed the way Americans function in business, education, healthcare, political campaigns, and in our day-to-day life. As a society Americans have become very dependent upon the ability to access information at the tip of our fingers. Technology has changed so much over the past few years that society has gone from having to have a wired connection to wireless, enabling us to reach the Worldwide Web through our cellphones.
Americans are able to pursue activities that
in the past were seen as unattainable. People who previously were unable to go to school due to time and location constraints can now participate in an online classroom. The Internet allows for our society to communicate across large distances, allowing us to be connected to each other by a click of a button. Society forms friendships with individuals they have never met in person. People who have disabilities are now also able to communicate with the outside world, should they find themselves confined.
The ability to have such wide access to information also has its downside. Americans as a society must now decide how to provide information without infringing on individual privacy. Laws are now trying to address the many issues that have been created with such broad access to information. Society is faced with such malice as stolen identities, sharing of copywrited material and music without permission of the originator, online scams that take advantage of our lack of knowledge.
The Internet has become the main source of information for many Americans. They rely on the Worldwide Web for current and breaking news, to pay bills, to meet people, to learn new skills, and to provide a sense of community through chat rooms. Society has become so accustomed to having this technology that should it go away tomorrow it would devastate a majority of our society. The Internet is just one of many technologies that has changed our daily life. It has transcended our society in many ways, some have been good such as communication, others have created problems such as lack of privacy, these problems society must now solve. Technologies will continue to be developed and Americans can be sure that their lives will continue to be changed by those developments.