speech on life before technology

Speech on Life Before & After Technology | Short & Long Speech Writing For Students

Short speech on life before & after technology in english : samples.

Good morning, respected teachers and dear friends,

Today, I am here to speak on life before and after technology.

In the past, life was simple. People used to sit down and write letters, meet each other in person, and spend time with their family and children played outdoors. There were no mobile phones or computers, so people entertained themselves by reading books or enjoying nature. Work was done by hand, and tasks took longer to complete. Everything moved at a slower pace, and life was more focused on personal connections.

But today, technology has changed everything. We now have mobile phones, the internet, and computers. We can talk to anyone around the world in seconds. Work is faster with machines, and learning new things is just a click away. However, technology also makes us spend less time with family and nature.

In short, technology makes life easier, but as Steve Jobs said, “Technology alone is not enough.” We should use it wisely and and remember to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

2 Minute Speech on Life Before & After Technology in English : Samples

Good morning Everyone.

Today, I am here to discuss the world before and after the rise of technology. Technology has deeply impacted our lives, the way we learn, and how we connect with others.

In the pre-technology era, communication was much slower. People sent letters and postcards, which took days to reach their destination. Phones were rare, and face-to-face conversations were the most common way to stay connected. Education was different too—students relied on books and libraries for information. Entertainment was simple, with outdoor games and reading being popular activities.

However, technology has sped things up significantly. With the internet and video calling, we can now communicate with anyone instantly. Social media has evolved, allowing easy access to texting, calls, and video chats with just a phone and Wi-Fi. Learning has also become more efficient, as students can quickly find answers online. In healthcare, advanced machines and treatments have revolutionized medicine. Entertainment has transformed as well, offering countless options like online movies, video games, and TV shows.

Despite these advancements, technology has its drawbacks. Privacy concerns, especially on social media, are often discussed, and the misuse of personal data is a growing issue. Additionally, automation has replaced some manual labor jobs. As Steve Jobs wisely said, “Technology is essential in our lives, but it cannot replace the trust we have in people.”

In conclusion, while technology has brought tremendous progress in many areas, it’s important to maintain a balance. We should use it responsibly and remember the value of simplicity in life

3 Minute Long Speech on Life Before & After Technology in English : Samples

Today, I will discuss how life was before technology and how it has changed many aspects of our lives today.

Life was much slower and simpler without technology. People communicated through writing letters, postcards, and telegrams, which took days to reach someone. Face-to-face conversations were common.People also used newspapers and journals to share news and information. Education was different too; children spent a lot of time in libraries to find information in books. For entertainment, children played outside or spent time with their families. In healthcare, doctors would see each patient in person, which took a long time to provide care.

Everything changed with technology. Now, we have mobile phones, the internet, and social media. We can communicate directly with anyone in the world through video calls, messages, and apps like WhatsApp or Facebook. This has made communication quick and easy. Technology has also transformed education. Today, students can find information by searching online, watching educational videos, or even attending classes virtually.

In healthcare, technology has made a big difference. Doctors now use advanced machines and tools to treat patients, helping save more lives and find cures faster. Entertainment has become digital too. People can watch movies, play video games, and stream shows online from home.

However, technology also brings challenges. One major issue is privacy. Social media platforms collect our data, and many people worry about how this information is used. Automation is another concern, as machines now perform jobs that humans used to do, leading to job losses in some fields. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The future depends on what you do today.”

Overall, technology has made life easier, faster, and more connected. However, it also comes with the responsibility to use it wisely. We should balance the benefits of technology with simple joys in life, like spending quality time with family and enjoying nature.

More Speech Writing

Frequently asked questions (faqs) on life before and after technology speech writing, 1. what was life like before technology.

Life before technology was simple and slower. People wrote letters to communicate, played outside for fun, and read books. Education was done in classrooms and libraries. Families spent more time together, and healthcare involved doctors visiting patients in person. Everything focused on face-to-face interactions.

2. How has technology changed communication?

Technology has made communication much faster and easier. Now, we can use mobile phones, emails, and social media to talk to anyone, anywhere in the world. Instead of waiting days for a letter, we can send a message or make a video call in seconds.

3. What are the benefits of technology in education?

Technology has improved education by providing easy access to information. Students can search online, watch educational videos, and attend classes remotely. This helps them learn more effectively and quickly. Technology makes studying fun and allows students to connect with teachers and classmates from anywhere.

4. What challenges does technology bring?

While technology has many benefits, it also has challenges. Privacy is a big concern, as social media collects personal data. Automation can lead to job losses because machines replace some workers. Additionally, people may spend less time with family and nature, focusing more on screens.

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How Life Was Before the Digital Age: A Glimpse into the Past

How did people live before the digital age? How did they spend their time, how did they connect with each other, and how was the pace of their lives?

In the not-so-distant past, the world looked vastly different. Before the advent of smartphones, social media, and the internet, people lived in a reality that seemed almost alien to the hyper-connected present.

Let’s take a nostalgic journey back in time and explore the simple yet fulfilling lives led by individuals before the digital age took over.

A Glimpse into the Past, to the Time Before Screens and Internet

In retrospect, life before smartphones, social media, and the internet was characterized by simplicity, genuine connections, and a slower pace.

While the digital age has brought incredible advancements and convenience, there’s a certain charm in looking back at a time when interactions were less virtual and more tangible.

It’s a reminder that, even in our fast-paced present, there’s value in appreciating the unhurried moments that define our shared history.

1. Face-to-Face Connections

Before the era of instant messaging and video calls, human connections were forged through face-to-face interactions.

Communities were tightly-knit, and socializing often meant meeting friends at local gatherings, community events or simply enjoying a cup of coffee together.

2. Letter Writing and Snail Mail

Communication, while slower, was a more deliberate and thoughtful process. People expressed their feelings and shared life updates through handwritten letters.

Waiting for a letter to arrive created a sense of anticipation and excitement, adding a unique charm to relationships.

3. Entertainment Without Screens

Long before binge-watching became a trend, entertainment was a communal experience. Families and friends gathered around the radio to listen to news broadcasts, dramas, and music.

Board games, card games, and outdoor activities were the main sources of amusement.

4. Resourcefulness in Research

Knowledge acquisition required a trip to the library, encyclopedias, or consulting with experts.

The research involved flipping through physical pages and jotting down notes, making the process slower but perhaps more immersive and memorable.

5. Memory Lane: Photo Albums and Scrapbooks

Capturing memories was an intentional process involving film cameras. Developing film rolls and creating photo albums were cherished activities.

Each picture held a unique story, and reminiscing involved physically flipping through pages rather than scrolling on a screen.

6. Navigation Skills

Before GPS navigation, people relied on paper maps and road signs to find their way. This of course, sharpened the mind and one’s navigation skills.

Getting lost was a part of the journey, sometimes leading to unexpected discoveries and adventures.

7. Privacy and Unplugging

Privacy was more tangible, and the concept of “unplugging” was non-existent since there were no digital devices constantly demanding attention.

People enjoyed moments without the pressure of instant notifications or the fear of missing out.

8. Handwritten Records and Note-Taking

Before the digital note-taking era, individuals jotted down their thoughts, to-do lists, and important information on paper.

The tangible nature of handwritten notes added a personal touch to the daily organization.

Our Step-by-Step Guide to the Power of Affirmations

9. Work-Life Balance

The boundary between work and personal life was clearer before the constant connectivity of smartphones. Once you left the office, there were no work emails or messages following you home.

This clear distinction allowed for better work-life balance, enabling people to fully engage in leisure activities and recharge for the next workday.

People had life, bedsides their jobs. They had time for their families and for hobbies.

10. Personal Responsibility and Self-Reliance

In an age without immediate access to vast information databases, people relied more on their own knowledge and skills.

Whether it was fixing a leaky faucet or troubleshooting a car problem, people often took the initiative to solve issues themselves, fostering a sense of self-reliance. Tis helped people develop new skills.

11. Real-Time News

Staying informed meant waiting for the evening news broadcast on television or reading the morning newspaper.

Breaking news didn’t arrive instantly, and there was a natural delay in processing and disseminating information.

This slower news cycle allowed for more thoughtful reflection and analysis. You were not wired to the news 24/7, which meant less stress and more tranquility .

12. Limited Consumer Choices

The pre-digital era offered fewer choices when it came to products and services. Shopping meant physically visiting stores, and options were limited to what was available locally.

This limitation sparked a sense of contentment and appreciation for what was accessible rather than a constant quest for the next best thing.

13. Encyclopedias and Reference Books

The absence of search engines meant reliance on encyclopedias and reference books for gathering information.

Home encyclopedias were prized possessions, and browsing through them was a form of exploration and learning.

14. Physical Fitness and Outdoor Play

With limited screen time, physical activity was a natural part of daily life.

Children played outdoors, adults engaged in sports, and parks were bustling with activity.

The concept of “screen time limits” wasn’t necessary, as most of the entertainment and socializing happened in the physical realm.

15. Waiting in Line and Patience

Queues were an inevitable part of life, whether it was waiting in line at the bank, post office, or the grocery store.

People carried books, engaged in conversation, or simply observed their surroundings. Patience was a virtue cultivated through these slower-paced moments.

16. Music Discovery

Discovering new music involved radio stations, recommendations from friends, or browsing through record stores.

The act of physically flipping through vinyl records or cassette tapes added a tactile dimension to the music-listening experience.

Life before the digital age was quite different from life today.

In reflecting on the past, it becomes evident that life before the digital age was marked by a series of deliberate actions, tangible experiences, and a different rhythm.

While the conveniences of the digital era are undeniable, there’s a certain nostalgia associated with the simplicity and genuine connections that defined an era characterized by a lack of screens and constant connectivity.

Image source – DepositPhotos

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Latest stories, what it was like to live without today's technologies we totally take for granted, we had actual encyclopedias instead of wikipedia..

It's hard to imagine life before technology . What if you had to get through a day without the internet? What about going on a road trip without Google Maps? Or getting gifts in a pinch without Amazon? That all probably sounds nearly impossible these days. But not only did we do it a few decades ago, some of us even miss those simpler times. We managed to get just as much accomplished, but we just did it a little differently. 

Today's modern conveniences are easy to take for granted, but it's important to look back on just how far we've come. “There’s a great saying that if we don’t know where we come from, how can we know where we are going?” says Francine Cefola, co-author of the new book Tell It To the Future . “I am a firm believer that we learn from the past, and if we ignore things we can’t conceptualize because it seems too archaic or slow or unproductive, we miss understanding how we got to where we are today.”

In case you don't remember life before technology took over and made everything "easier," here's a glimpse of how different the world was in the 20th century. And for more on how far we've come,  This Is What Dating Looked Like More Than 50 Years Ago .

1 | Before GPS, we used atlases to get us around.

Anyone who took numerous road trips in the 20th century didn't have Google Maps handy. Instead, we had to take our atlases along for the ride. Spiral-bound and just over 160 pages, these atlases contained highway and road information on all 50 states. But navigating from point A to point B was still tricky. And because the atlases were only updated once a year, the information wasn't always accurate.

Peter Dalbis, 76, of Oak Park, Illinois, remembers being on the open road, guided only by his not-always-trusty Rand McNally road atlas. “Sometimes there were missing roads,” Dalbis said. “Or a road on the map that didn’t technically exist. But we’d figure it out. You can’t be complacent with an atlas, not like those people who put all their trust in a GPS. We never drove a car into a swamp because our Rand McNally told us to, I’ll tell you that much.”

If an atlas was ever lacking important travel information, Dalbis says he'd pull into a visitor’s center. “They’d know the exact change you needed for tolls, and if there was any construction ahead we needed to worry about,” he said. “After a long day on the road, it could just be nice to hear another human voice. Plus, they had maps, too. Free maps!” 

2 | Before e-mail or texting, we wrote letters.

If you wanted to send a message to someone without actually talking to them before the 2000s, you had to write them a letter. Yes, a letter—by hand, with paper and a pen or pencil. And  then  you had to go to the nearest post office to buy stamps.

The messages involved a little more effort and many people feel like it was a healthier way of communicating. "Letters have always been a nice way to show someone when they are gone that you're thinking about them," Mike Stouffer, of Wausau, Wisconsin, told CNN , referring to the notes he'd send to his wife Bobbi in the early 1990s. "They helped our relationship develop in a big way." 

Floridian Uf Tukel told CNN: "E-mail can never replace the excitement and thrill of receiving and opening a personal letter." 

3 | Before Wi-Fi, we used a phone line to connect to the internet.

Long before Wi-Fi was a reality, the only way to go online was with dial-up internet access. Margaret Weiss, a life and finance coach in New Jersey, reminisced on Quora  about the early days of the internet. “[You'd need] a regular landline, which you would then pluck out of the wall socket, and connect the cord to your machine,” she wrote. You'd also need a monthly internet subscription. And in 1998, it would cost you  $21.95 a month for an unlimited connection to AOL.

Christopher Burke, a software developer from Seattle, wrote on Quora  about the hassles of the dial-up internet days. “If you have only one phone line, you have to make sure nobody else in the house picks up the phone to dial while you're connected to the internet, or your connection will ‘drop’ and you'll have to dial in again,” he recalled.

“Some cities had only one or two dial-up numbers, each connected to a switching system and a bank of maybe 10 or 100 modems. So during busy times of day, you might not be able to connect to the internet at all because all of the modems were in use by other users.” And everyone remembers the noise you'd hear as you dialed in.

4 | Before digital cameras, we'd wait a week for film to develop.

Florida resident Barbara Lichtenwalter's entry into photography was with a Beseler Topcon Automatic 100 film camera. (The original user’s manual is 60 pages long and contains detailed instructions on everything from shutter speed, to depth of field distance charts, to the 11-step process to load the camera.) “It took me weeks to learn how to take a decent photo ,” she said.

And with film, seeing what you photographed was anything but immediate. “You mailed away the film or took it to a film developer and you’d get it back in about a week. Then you’d see if you had anything in focus or the right colors,” she explained.

That said, even back in the day, you could still take a “selfie” of sorts, as long as you were fast and your camera came equipped with a timer. “You could prop [the camera] up and run to where it was aimed and a week later you’d find out if you were actually in the photo ,” Lichtenwalter said.

5 | Before Venmo, we'd use cash or a check to pay friends.

Getting money to a friend or family member in the days before Venmo invariably required face-to-face contact. “If you owed somebody 20 bucks, you had to get the physical currency—either from an ATM or by walking into your bank's branch and requesting a withdrawal from one of the tellers," explained Chad S. of Portland, Oregon. "And then you had to bring that cash to the person you owed it to and hand it directly to them."

Or you could use a check. But that was, as Chad said, "a whole thing." "I paid a lot of debts by handing people a personal check. But it doesn't have the immediacy of cash," he explained. "They have to bring that check to their bank, sign the back of it, and fill out a deposit form, and then wait up to three days, and sometimes much longer, for the money to clear in their account.”

Things were considerably more difficult if you lived in a different city than the person you were trying to send money to. “You could mail them a check,” he said. “You could also mail them cash, which my grandparents sometimes did, but that was always dangerous. I remember my parents telling me, 'If you're going to mail cash, make sure it isn't visible through the envelope.' So we’d wrap cash in paper or a greeting card or something to conceal it.” And then, again, there was a wait involved. “A letter could take several days to get to somebody,” Chad said. “And sometimes weeks.” 

6 | Before e-cigarettes, smoking was a very different experience.

It wasn't too long ago that e-cigarettes and vaping didn't exist, but things have changed so quickly. On Quora , Kevin Bryant, a Brit who quit smoking after 25 years, reminisced about his favorite part of smoking cigarettes: “the satisfaction of unwrapping a new pack.” He went on: “The crinkling of the surrounding wrap, the smell of the fresh tobacco—the odour [ sic ] of adulthood, of choice, of freedom, of relaxation."

Bryant also wrote about the context in which he smoked (i.e., indoors), which was largely allowed in major U.S. cities until the 2000s. He recalled heading to a pub and getting “a pint of warmish British beer, chatting about the serious and trivial in the smoky atmosphere with the jukebox blaring in the corner.”

7 | Before iCloud storage, we printed out everything.

Even when personal computers became the norm in the mid to late 1990s, we still didn't entirely trust technology to keep our files safe and secure. So if there was an important document you absolutely needed access to, you'd print it out on paper.

On Quora , Arizona resident Tom Crosley recalled his father's office being “taken up by filing cabinets.” He added that his dad “also had a walk-in safe, similar to the ones found in banks, and it was filled with more filing cabinets. The safe was not there because of a theft worry, but because it was fireproof.” Crosley's father employed an entire staff of filing clerks whose sole job was to “retrieve, file, and update records kept in this cabinets." 

8 | Before Netflix, we had to leave our houses to see movies.

Seeing the hottest new movie during the 20th century wasn’t as easy as streaming it on your smartphone or adding it to your Netflix queue .

“You had to go to a theater,” explained Adam Cole from Atlanta. If you didn't catch a film during its original run, you'd have to wait for it to air on TV “in an edited form with commercial interruptions,” Cole pointed out. That would take months... or even years!

For example,  Star Wars , which was originally released on May 25, 1977, wasn't available for pay-per-view subscribers until 1982, and it didn't come to HBO until 1983. That's a six-year wait! “Theater was really the only way to actually see a movie the way it was meant to be seen,” Cole said. “I stood in line for two hours to get a ticket to The Empire Strikes Back , and then stood in another line for an hour and a half to get into the theater.” 

9 | Before DVRs, On Demand, or streaming services, we had to watch our favorites shows live.

As recent as the mid-'00s, if you weren't available to watch your favorite TV show live, you were out of luck. There was no Hulu or On Demand service to catch it on the next day.

Your only choice in the '80s and '90s was to try to record the episode you knew you'd be missing via your VCR. But even that wasn't a surefire success. As one commenter explained on MetaFilter , "The VCR didn't have its own tuner, and needed the cable box, and there was no communication between the devices," he wrote. As a result, "you would have to set the channel on the cable box and then the timer on the VCR. Mess either up, and you miss your show." Anyone born before 1990 probably remembers that gut-wrenching feeling of  90210  not recording, or learning your parents had taped over your favorite episode while trying to record  NYPD Blue .

10 | Before tablets, we played car games all together.

Keeping a kid entertained during a road trip involved a bit more creativity decades ago than just handing them a tablet. “When I was younger, we would play number car games with our parents ,” said Illinois native Christopher Trifilio. “My father would think of a number between one to 100 and we would guess. He would say ‘higher' or 'lower’ until we got it right.”

"When we took plane trips, we always brought books and a whole backpack full of coloring books, crayons, and colored pencils. It was fun to be creative," Trifilio remembered. "Each of us would try to demonstrate we were the best at coloring. Then we'd draw pictures of each other, which usually resulted in a lot of laughs since none of us were artists.”

The short of it is, kids had to entertain themselves. “I remember spending all of my time looking out the large windows of our car to see what I could see,” remembered Laura Warfel of Chicago. “If we happened to be driving at night, I would boost myself up so that I could look up at the moon and stars.”

11 | Before Kindles, we had to go to the library.

There was also no reading during a car or plane trip unless you remembered to pack a physical book. And if you didn't own one, you had to head to the library. “Books came in all sizes and you could borrow them from a library,” remembered Cefola. But finding that perfect book required an understanding of how they were arranged in a library. “Library books were arranged by the Dewey Decimal System—a system of numbering to put books in their respective genre,” Cefora explained.

Chris Coleman, a librarian based in Thousand Oaks, California, provided the following explanation on Quora . “For every single piece in the collection, a paper card is typed up with the item information. ... For a patron to locate an item, they look at the files and sort through the cards," he noted. "When a patron finds a card matching the selection they want, they can use it to locate the item in the collection. They then bring both the card and the item to the circulation desk, where they take the card and place it in a dated file, insert a dated due-date card, and return the item to the patron.”

Clearly, the Kindle was just the stuff of science fiction in those days.

12 | Before fitness trackers, we never thought about our heart rates.

Tracking your fitness in the 20th century was far less precise than we’ve become accustomed to today. “The only time I ever tracked my fitness was at the gym,” recalled New Yorker Ron S. “That’s the only time I even wondered how many steps I was taking or anything like that. And my heart rate , gosh, I don’t think I ever thought about it. That’s something your doctor checked during an annual exam. It’s not something you monitored every day. That would have been crazy to us.”

Cefola said that most of the people she knew during those pre-fitness tracker days “weren’t as dedicated to exercise. It was a weight-loss tool rather than healthy living. There were private gyms that you could belong to and use their equipment, like Jack LaLanne or Vic Tanny’s, or you could buy a small set of dumbbells for home use. But walking and home exercise were for ‘health nuts’ and bodybuilders.” 

13 | Before "wick-away" fabrics, we didn't understand clothing could have "a cooling system."

A New York Times story on " space age clothing " from 1983 included a headband made with a "lightweight insulating material and a special cooling gel" that could "lower the temperature on a forehead by 30 degrees and thereby help reduce perspiration loss and the discomfort of strenuous exercise .”

But according to the headband's inventor, customers weren’t actively looking for sweat-repelling workout clothing. “People walk into Bloomingdale's and see one of my headbands for $14.95 and they think it’s just a headband,” he told the Times . “They don't know it's a cooling system.”

14 | Before Instagram, fashion inspo came from stores themselves.

“We learned what was the cool new thing to wear by reading fashion magazines or watching music videos,” said Heather G. of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “But probably the most immediate way we learned about what was fashionable was the department stores.”

Major chains like Hudson's, Marshall Field's, Macy's, T.J.Maxx, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward didn't just provide the latest clothing brands, they also served as style gurus. “My daughter laughs at this, but I really did make a lot of my fashion choices based on what the mannequins at Montgomery Ward were wearing,” Heather said. “The store put a lot of effort into creating these dioramas. The mannequins would be interacting, so it was easy to fantasize that this was what your life could look like. It really was the Instagram of its time .”

Some people, like Warfel, had a more personal relationship with their local clothing stores . "My mom would take my sister and me into a store, and we would know the sales ladies by name," she said. "The sales lady brought us different sizes and also other outfits that she suggested for us to try on. We relied on certain name brands for quality and style, and sometimes for social status."

15 | Before FaceTime, we sent each other voice and video recordings.

If you wanted to stay in touch with loved ones who didn’t live close by in the 20th century, and a phone call didn’t have the intimacy you wanted, there was no FaceTime to solve your problem. But there were other ways to feel connected to those living far away.

“I remember when I was in high school, we would record messages of us singing in tape recorders and send those small cassette tapes by mail to my brother and aunt, who lived abroad,” remembered Marita, who lives in Winnipeg, Canada. "They said they felt happier and their longing for family was eased with our letters and recorded messages and songs."

16 | Before Skype and WhatAapp, we cared about the cost of long-distance calls.

Phone call fees were often based on distance—the closer you lived to the person you were contacting, the cheaper the call. "The first minute was always the most expensive," one blogger recalled on Flashbak . "Long distance rates were so steep that you could fill your tank up with gas for the price of talking on the phone for an hour."

The other factor was the time of day. Calls were cheaper on weekends and late at night. "In most homes, long distance was forbidden except on weekends," the blogger wrote. "If you absolutely had to call on a weekday, it would have to be late in the evening and you’d have to make it super quick. ... I recall having to wait until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night to call relatives, and the bill typically added up to $17 for an hour, which was a lot of money back then!"

17 | Before e-ticketing, we had to buy event tickets at a box office or via a lottery system.

Today, we all know how frustrating it can be to wait for your digital spot in line when tickets go on sale for your favorite artist's tour. But just a few decades ago, it was an entirely different experience. You had to go to an actual retailer, like a record store or a venue's box office, to get tickets. Scott Hudson, a music critic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,  wrote  about desperately wanting to see Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s in Lincoln, Nebraska. "The day before [tickets] went on sale, a buddy and I made the four-hour journey and discovered we were (approximately) number 1,800 in line," he noted. 

The box office opened at 10 a.m. and even with "10 or so clerks selling tickets," they still didn't make it to the front of the line until around 6 p.m. That's because "you'd point to a spot on the venue floor plan, and [the clerks] would go see if there were any tickets in that section. You'd repeat this process until you found open seats you were willing to live with. They weren't even updating these sheets to show what areas were sold out." The only other ticketing option was even riskier. "Giant tours generally utilized a mail order lottery system," Hudson explained. "You'd send in a money order and return envelope, and every day you'd wait by the mailbox to see if you made the cut."

18 | Before drones, aerial photography was no easy feat.

As cinematographer Royce Allen Dudley explained on Quora , aerial photography used to be achieved with helicopters and occasionally fixed-wing aircrafts . “In some instances, the camera was nose- or side-mounted inside a transparent aerodynamic sphere, gimballed, and controlled remotely by joysticks from the passenger seat,” Dudley wrote. “Most good camera pilots are/were veteran combat pilots. Their finesse at the helm to put the lens where [necessary] was awesome.” 

The process wasn’t just difficult, but dangerous as well. There was a high mortality rate for aerial film crews, Dudley noted. In fact, it was “maybe the most dangerous job in cinema, other than those of the stunt brothers and sisters.”

19 | Before Wikipedia, we'd invest in a set of encyclopedias.

Any family in the 20th century that wanted 'round-the-clock access to tons of information couldn't simply hop on the internet. As an  Orlando Sentinel  reporter  explained in the late '80s, families would invest in a huge set of encyclopedias that were “hardback volumes with gold-lettered bindings and pseudo-Greek titles, such as Encyclopedia Britannica and Encyclopedia Americana.” And they weren't cheap. The price ranged between $300 to $1,500. There were even door-to-door salesmen who used "high-pressure sales tactics" to hawk costly encyclopedias.

During dinnertime arguments, Karen from Montana remembers using her family's encyclopedias to solve problems "like, 'Do bananas grow up or down?'" "We'd discuss the problem, someone would then decide to solve the issue by dashing for the encyclopedias, and guessing if the answer would be under B for banana or F for fruits,” she recalled. Just flipping through an encyclopedia would “introduce us to other topics of conversation, and away we would go down the rabbit hole of learning... together.” 

20 | Before Amazon, we'd get our basics at the dime store.

Before you had every single item imaginable at your fingertips and needed a random knick-knack, you headed to the local dime store. "The dime store was once an innovative concept in retailing. Shoppers could find a variety of everyday goods at low prices. Stationery, sewing notions, toys, health and beauty aids, dishes and some apparel remain the staples of the variety store," wrote an  L.A. Times  reporter in 1988.

"If somebody really wants a purple zipper, he can go to his dime store,"Marvin A. Smith Sr., executive vice president of the National Assn. of Variety Stores, said at the time. "And if he doesn't have it, he will order it for you." On top of that, dime stores served grilled cheese and malt milkshakes. Can Amazon do that? And for some special online finds, check out the  27 Gorgeous Handmade Items You Can Buy on Amazon .

21 | Before social media, you had to work harder to maintain relationships.

Maintaining your social circle required a bit more effort for past generations. In the 20th century, “you had to call someone on the phone and then make plans to meet them,” recalled Cole. And if you missed the call, that person could eventually fall out of your life, for better or for worse. John P. from St. Louis added, “You could go years, decades even, without ever hearing from your old high school friends or a distant cousin that lived six states away or all your ex-girlfriends. You had no obligation to interact with any of them. It was amazing.”

And if there was information you wanted someone to hear, you had to say it to them directly or pass it along via a third party. “If there was a meeting or a reunion, you’d just tell two or three people and let them pass the news verbally,” remembered Marita. “Or we’d go from house to house to let people know the meeting time and place. It was a personal thing. We communicated face to face.”

Even when the internet was introduced in the 1990s, social media didn't work like it does today. “When I was a kid, we also had Bulletin Board Systems, which were the ancestor of the internet,” said Cole. “You'd call a computer with your computer, connect up, and leave a message on a computer board that everyone could read. This was a great way to have group chats .” And for more on social media communication at its worst, check out the  30 Lies Everyone Tells on Social Media .

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• The Inventory

What it feels like to be the last generation to remember life before the internet

Technology has a lot to answer for: killing old businesses , destroying the middle class , Buzzfeed. Technology in the form of the internet is especially villainous, having been accused of everything from making us dumber (paywall) to aiding dictatorships . But Michael Harris, riffing on the observations of Melvin Kranzberg , argues that “technology is neither good nor evil. The most we can say about it is this: It has come .”

Harris is the author of “ The End of Absence : Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection,” a new book about how technology affects society. It follows in the footsteps of Nicholas Carr, whose “ The Shallows ” is a modern classic of internet criticism. But Harris takes a different path from those that have come before. Instead of a broad investigation into the effects of constant connectivity on human behaviour, Harris looks at a very specific demographic: people born before 1985, or the very opposite of the “millennial” demographic coveted by advertisers and targeted by new media outlets.

These people, says Harris, are the last of a dying breed. “If you were born before 1985, then you know what life is like both with the internet and without. You are making the pilgrimage from Before to After,” he writes. It is a nice conceit. Harris, like your correspondent, grew up in a very different world, one with limited channels of communication, fewer forms of entertainment, and less public scrutiny of quotidian actions or fleeting thoughts. It was neither better nor worse than the world we live in today. Like technology, it just was.

Being in this situation puts us in a privileged position.”If we’re the last people in history to know life before the internet, we are also the only ones who will ever speak, as it were, both languages. We are the only fluent translators of Before and After.”

That means being able to notice things like the reduction of interactions to numbers, and how that translates into quantifications of human worth. ”I think it has to do with this notion of online accountability. That is, noticing that you actually count seems to be related to a sense of self worth,” he says over the phone from Toronto, where he is based. “So it’s like if a tweet gets retweeted a couple of hundred times, that must mean that my thoughts are worthy. If my Facebook photo is ‘liked,’ that must mean I am good looking. One of the things that concerns me about a media diet that is overly online, is that we lose the ability to decide for ourselves what we think about who we are.”

Not yet a Luddite

Harris isn’t railing against these things, though. He doesn’t prescribe fewer internet hours or complain much about “kids these days.” Instead he acknowledges that his worries stem mainly from his anxieties about his own behavior. Like many of us, Harris checks his email on his phone first thing in the morning. “When you wake up, you have this gift of a blank brain. You could fill it with anything. But for most of us, we have this kind of panic. Instead of wondering what should I do, we wonder what did I miss. It’s almost like our unconsciousness is a kind of failure and we can’t believe we’ve been offline for eight hours,” he says. It is habits like this that are insidious, not the internet itself. It is a personal thing.

Analog August

Toward the end of the book, after having investigated our penchant for online confessionals, the perils of public opinion, and technology’s impact on everything from sex to memories to attention spans, Harris writes about his decision to take a month off from the internet. In the hands of a less talented writer or a shallower thinker, this might have been a bit of stunt journalism, and not a particularly original one either.

But Harris emerges unrepentant from his month in the wilds. Did he experience an epiphany? Not really. “But it’s the break itself that’s the thing. It’s the break—that is, the questioning—that snaps us out of the spell, that can convince us that it was a spell in the first place,” he writes. I asked Harris if he would recommend an “analog August” to others, as his publishers are doing to publicize the book—albeit only for a weekend rather than a whole month—with a free Penguin Classic thrown in for good measure.  ”A full month off is a huge luxury which I was able to take because I was writing a book. For most people, taking a month off would mean losing your job,” he says.

Still, Harris says an occasional break can be helpful. “I think what you get is a richer interior light and the ability to see yourself in a critical light, living online. Because if you’re in the middle of something you can never see it properly.”

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Home > Blog > Getting Into College > Paying for School > College Payments > How Was Life Before The Internet – What Did People Do?

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

How Was Life Before The Internet – What Did People Do?

Updated: June 19, 2024

Published: June 1, 2021

It’s hard to imagine a time in the world where smartphones and social media weren’t an integral part of your life. Let’s go back to what seems like an eternity ago, to see how life before the internet was different.

10 Ways Life Was Different Before The Internet

Amazon was just a river/rain forest.

If the word Amazon was mentioned in a sentence, it was only in reference to the river in South America. No one could think about the possibility of online stores .

Planning ahead

Last-minute plans were not possible once you left your house. You’d be very careful to set up exact meeting times and locations with your friends.

Recorded music off the radio / mix tapes

If there was a song that you loved, you would have to record it off the radio. Looking for a compilation of songs? You’d have to make that yourself too.

You needed to leave your house to socialize

There was no online shopping or Zoom — if you wanted to buy something or see a friend, you needed to get off the couch and out of your house to socialize.

You had to look up information in encyclopedias

Before the days of Google and Wikipedia, if you wanted information on a particular topic, you would have to look it up in an encyclopedia, listing everything in alphabetical order.

Tinder in real life was a piece of paper

When there was someone you were interested in, in order to ask them out, you needed to either pluck up the courage to ask them out in person, or else pass them a piece of paper with three boxes: check yes, no, or maybe.

Web design was done by spiders

Many jobs did not exist before the internet. Those that were web designers were most likely a spider.

Wasting time in the office was more obvious

It was a lot more obvious if you wanted to look at something other than the work in front of you on the computer . Staring out the window or looking at inspiring pictures on the office walls were far more obvious than they are today.

Posts were made on real walls

If you had an event or information you wanted to share with other people, then you needed to physically print it on a piece of paper and post it on a real wall for others to see.

Mobile games were much simpler

When mobile phones first came out with the ability to play games on them, they were much simpler than they are today. Nokia’s famous snake game became a “game changer” in the world of gaming.

Looking something up took a lot of time and work

As Google and Youtube were not available, if you wanted to learn something you needed to read it in a book. Before the internet, you had to spend hours within a library searching through books to find the information you needed.

Games with more than one player needed a table

Multiplayer games needed to be played on a table, and with the other players in the same room as you! You didn’t have the freedom to play with people from around the world.

Trolls were mythological creatures, not angry opinionated people

Trolls were seen in fantasy films or children’s stories. Today they are people who feel the need to share opinions that would never have been acceptable in public before the internet.  

Long-distance communication meant letters, not email

You would get excited when the mailman would come by, hoping that someone sent you a letter.

Selfies required sophisticated technology

If you wanted to take a picture of yourself you needed more sophisticated technology; you needed to get the Gameboy Camera.

Search for movie times in the newspaper

If you wanted to know what time your movie was playing at, you had one place to search for the answer — the newspaper.

Life Before Cell Phones

Being unreachable.

You could leave your house and focus on whatever task or activity you set out to do. No one could reach you or disturb you.

Looking someone up in a phone book was the original Google search

There was a huge book that had everyone’s phone number in it. You needed to look them up to find their number. If you wanted the number for a business, the yellow pages were the original Google.

Having fun outdoors

When not in school or doing chores, kids would be outside playing with each other for hours on end. Parents would send them out themselves and hope that when they were hungry for dinner or lunch they would come home to eat.  

Watching TV

You had to watch television shows when they were scheduled to air. This also meant you would have to wait a full week until the next episode aired.

Playing board games with your family

Family time was spent playing board games, many having established designated “game nights” each week. There were lots of different games you could play together. It was a great opportunity to have fun and bond with each other.

Used real cameras

People couldn’t use their phones to take pictures, you needed to use an actual camera.

Used maps or asked someone to get directions

When you went on a trip, you needed to be prepared and bring a physical map with you, or risk being left to constantly ask directions along the way. There was no Google Maps to reference.

Shared unfiltered pictures of yourself

People shared the pictures they took without any editing, emojis, or special filters.  

Used payphones

What happened when you were out and needed to call someone? Payphones. On every corner there were public phones, and it cost 25 cents to use.

Memorized people’s phone numbers

Before smartphones, if you wanted to call someone you had to actually know their phone number.

Life Before Social Media

There was a lot less fomo.

Today you are bombarded with everyone else’s pictures of their ever-so-fabulous lives, bringing up the feeling of FOMO, or fear of missing out. But back in the day you weren’t subjected to that unless someone showed you printed pictures of their trip or life.

Not everything had to be photographed

There wasn’t this deep desire to photograph every experience you had or thing you happen to see.

Didn’t search for approval from others

The reason for posting every aspect of your lives is to get approval from others to confirm that you are living correctly. Before the internet there was no way for you to get that kind of immediate, and consistent approval, so no one was searching it out.   

Were not subjected to other’s toxic opinions

Once in a while at a family gathering you would be subject to a relative’s unwanted opinion on your life. But with the age of the internet came constant posts or comments in your newsfeed about someone’s toxic opinions daily.

You didn’t have something to waste so many hours of your life

Quickly checking one Youtube video for reference is never as simple as that. Before you know it, 4 hours have passed and you watched 100 videos and found yourself ordering something new on Amazon. Before you know it, half your day has been wasted checking your phone or computer.

Not exposed to such tragedy from around the globe

Global tragedies have always occurred, but they weren’t in your face every moment of the day. Not only do you hear of global horrors as they happen, but there are the tragic images and videos to go along with them.

No constant comparison between yourself and others

Maybe you would be jealous of someone’s hair, figure, or job, but it wasn’t shoved down your throat to see all day, every day.

Not able to spy on others

The ability to stealthily stalk everyone you went to high school with was not as easy as it is today. You would have to sit outside their house to spy on someone — sounds creepy, right?

Life before the internet definitely had its pros and cons. It was a time with more face-to-face interaction and time spent outside of your house. It can enrich your life to incorporate some aspects of these activities and help find a balance between the two worlds.

In this article

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Social involvement in technological advances

Modes of technological transmission.

• Earliest communities
• Tools and weapons
• Building techniques
• Manufacturing
• Craftsmen and scientists
• Copper and bronze
• Urban manufacturing
• Transmitting knowledge
• The mastery of iron
• Mechanical contrivances
• Agriculture
• Military technology
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• Agriculture and crafts
• Architecture
• Communications
• The Renaissance
• The steam engine
• Metallurgy and mining
• New commodities
• Land reclamation
• Military fortifications
• Transport and communications
• Steam engines
• Electricity
• Internal-combustion engine
• Iron and steel
• Low-grade ores
• Mechanical engineering
• Civil engineering
• Steam locomotive
• Road locomotive
• Steamboats and ships
• Printing and photography
• Telegraphs and telephones
• Gas-turbine engine
• Atomic power
• Improvements in iron and steel
• Building materials
• Synthetic fibres
• Synthetic rubber
• Pharmaceuticals and medical technology
• Food and agriculture
• Transportation
• Alternatives to fossil fuels
• Gas turbine
• Automation and the computer
• Food production
• Space exploration
• Science and technology
• Criticisms of technology
• Nuclear technology
• Population explosion
• Ecological balance
• Interactions between society and technology
• The putative autonomy of technology
• Technology and education
• The quality of life

• Is Internet technology "making us stupid"?
• What is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technology on society?
• Where and when did the Industrial Revolution take place?
• How did the Industrial Revolution change economies?
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history of technology

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• Frontiers - The Evolution of Technology and Physical Inactivity: The Good, the Bad, and the Way Forward
• San José State University - Introduction to the History of Technology
• Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research - Technology and Society – A Review
• Table Of Contents

history of technology , the development over time of systematic techniques for making and doing things. The term technology , a combination of the Greek technē , “art, craft,” with logos , “word, speech,” meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, both fine and applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts” themselves came to be the object of the designation . By the early 20th century the term embraced a growing range of means, processes, and ideas in addition to tools and machines . By mid-century technology was defined by such phrases as “the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment.” Even such broad definitions have been criticized by observers who point out the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between scientific inquiry and technological activity.

A highly compressed account of the history of technology such as this one must adopt a rigorous methodological pattern if it is to do justice to the subject without grossly distorting it one way or another. The plan followed in the present article is primarily chronological, tracing the development of technology through phases that succeed each other in time. Obviously, the division between phases is to a large extent arbitrary. One factor in the weighting has been the enormous acceleration of Western technological development in recent centuries; Eastern technology is considered in this article in the main only as it relates to the development of modern technology.

Within each chronological phase a standard method has been adopted for surveying the technological experience and innovations . This begins with a brief review of the general social conditions of the period under discussion, and then goes on to consider the dominant materials and sources of power of the period, and their application to food production, manufacturing industry , building construction , transport and communications, military technology , and medical technology. In a final section the sociocultural consequences of technological change in the period are examined. This framework is modified according to the particular requirements of every period— discussions of new materials, for instance, occupy a substantial place in the accounts of earlier phases when new metals were being introduced but are comparatively unimportant in descriptions of some of the later phases—but the general pattern is retained throughout. One key factor that does not fit easily into this pattern is that of the development of tools. It has seemed most convenient to relate these to the study of materials, rather than to any particular application, but it has not been possible to be completely consistent in this treatment. Further discussion of specific areas of technological development is provided in a variety of other articles: for example, see electronics ; exploration ; information processing .

General considerations

Essentially, techniques are methods of creating new tools and products of tools, and the capacity for constructing such artifacts is a determining characteristic of humanlike species. Other species make artifacts: bees build elaborate hives to deposit their honey, birds make nests, and beavers build dams. But these attributes are the result of patterns of instinctive behaviour and cannot be varied to suit rapidly changing circumstances. Human beings, in contrast to other species, do not possess highly developed instinctive reactions but do have the capacity to think systematically and creatively about techniques. Humans can thus innovate and consciously modify the environment in a way no other species has achieved. An ape may on occasion use a stick to beat bananas from a tree, but a person can fashion the stick into a cutting tool and remove a whole bunch of bananas. Somewhere in the transition between the two, the hominid, the first humanlike species, emerges. By virtue of humanity’s nature as a toolmaker, humans have therefore been technologists from the beginning, and the history of technology encompasses the whole evolution of humankind.

In using rational faculties to devise techniques and modify the environment, humankind has attacked problems other than those of survival and the production of wealth with which the term technology is usually associated today. The technique of language , for example, involves the manipulation of sounds and symbols in a meaningful way, and similarly the techniques of artistic and ritual creativity represent other aspects of the technological incentive. This article does not deal with these cultural and religious techniques, but it is valuable to establish their relationship at the outset because the history of technology reveals a profound interaction between the incentives and opportunities of technological innovation on the one hand and the sociocultural conditions of the human group within which they occur on the other.

An awareness of this interaction is important in surveying the development of technology through successive civilizations. To simplify the relationship as much as possible, there are three points at which there must be some social involvement in technological innovation: social need, social resources, and a sympathetic social ethos . In default of any of these factors it is unlikely that a technological innovation will be widely adopted or be successful.

The sense of social need must be strongly felt, or people will not be prepared to devote resources to a technological innovation. The thing needed may be a more efficient cutting tool, a more powerful lifting device, a labour-saving machine , or a means of using new fuels or a new source of energy. Or, because military needs have always provided a stimulus to technological innovation, it may take the form of a requirement for better weapons. In modern societies, needs have been generated by advertising. Whatever the source of social need, it is essential that enough people be conscious of it to provide a market for an artifact or commodity that can meet the need.

Social resources are similarly an indispensable prerequisite to a successful innovation. Many inventions have foundered because the social resources vital for their realization—the capital, materials, and skilled personnel—were not available. The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters , submarines , and airplanes , but few of these reached even the model stage because resources of one sort or another were lacking. The resource of capital involves the existence of surplus productivity and an organization capable of directing the available wealth into channels in which the inventor can use it. The resource of materials involves the availability of appropriate metallurgical, ceramic, plastic , or textile substances that can perform whatever functions a new invention requires of them. The resource of skilled personnel implies the presence of technicians capable of constructing new artifacts and devising novel processes. A society, in short, has to be well primed with suitable resources in order to sustain technological innovation.

A sympathetic social ethos implies an environment receptive to new ideas, one in which the dominant social groups are prepared to consider innovation seriously. Such receptivity may be limited to specific fields of innovation—for example, improvements in weapons or in navigational techniques—or it may take the form of a more generalized attitude of inquiry, as was the case among the industrial middle classes in Britain during the 18th century, who were willing to cultivate new ideas and inventors, the breeders of such ideas. Whatever the psychological basis of inventive genius, there can be no doubt that the existence of socially important groups willing to encourage inventors and to use their ideas has been a crucial factor in the history of technology.

Social conditions are thus of the utmost importance in the development of new techniques, some of which will be considered below in more detail. It is worthwhile, however, to register another explanatory note. This concerns the rationality of technology. It has already been observed that technology involves the application of reason to techniques, and in the 20th century it came to be regarded as almost axiomatic that technology is a rational activity stemming from the traditions of modern science. Nevertheless, it should be observed that technology, in the sense in which the term is being used here, is much older than science, and also that techniques have tended to ossify over centuries of practice or to become diverted into such para-rational exercises as alchemy. Some techniques became so complex, often depending upon processes of chemical change that were not understood even when they were widely practiced, that technology sometimes became itself a “mystery” or cult into which an apprentice had to be initiated like a priest into holy orders , and in which it was more important to copy an ancient formula than to innovate. The modern philosophy of progress cannot be read back into the history of technology; for most of its long existence technology has been virtually stagnant, mysterious, and even irrational. It is not fanciful to see some lingering fragments of this powerful technological tradition in the modern world, and there is more than an element of irrationality in the contemporary dilemma of a highly technological society contemplating the likelihood that it will use its sophisticated techniques in order to accomplish its own destruction. It is thus necessary to beware of overfacile identification of technology with the “progressive” forces in contemporary civilization.

On the other hand it is impossible to deny that there is a progressive element in technology, as it is clear from the most elementary survey that the acquisition of techniques is a cumulative matter, in which each generation inherits a stock of techniques on which it can build if it chooses and if social conditions permit. Over a long period of time the history of technology inevitably highlights the moments of innovation that show this cumulative quality as some societies advance, stage by stage, from comparatively primitive to more sophisticated techniques. But although this development has occurred and is still going on, it is not intrinsic to the nature of technology that such a process of accumulation should occur, and it has certainly not been an inevitable development. The fact that many societies have remained stagnant for long periods of time, even at quite developed stages of technological evolution, and that some have actually regressed and lost the accumulated techniques passed on to them, demonstrates the ambiguous nature of technology and the critical importance of its relationship with other social factors.

Another aspect of the cumulative character of technology that will require further investigation is the manner of transmission of technological innovations. This is an elusive problem, and it is necessary to accept the phenomenon of simultaneous or parallel invention in cases in which there is insufficient evidence to show the transmission of ideas in one direction or another. The mechanics of their transmission have been enormously improved in recent centuries by the printing press and other means of communication and also by the increased facility with which travelers visit the sources of innovation and carry ideas back to their own homes. Traditionally, however, the major mode of transmission has been the movement of artifacts and craftsmen. Trade in artifacts has ensured their widespread distribution and encouraged imitation. Even more important, the migration of craftsmen—whether the itinerant metalworkers of early civilizations or the German rocket engineers whose expert knowledge was acquired by both the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II—has promoted the spread of new technologies.

The evidence for such processes of technological transmission is a reminder that the material for the study of the history of technology comes from a variety of sources. Much of it relies, like any historical examination, on documentary matter, although this is sparse for the early civilizations because of the general lack of interest in technology on the part of scribes and chroniclers. For these societies, therefore, and for the many millennia of earlier unrecorded history in which slow but substantial technological advances were made, it is necessary to rely heavily upon archaeological evidence. Even in connection with the recent past, the historical understanding of the processes of rapid industrialization can be made deeper and more vivid by the study of “industrial archaeology.” Much valuable material of this nature has been accumulated in museums, and even more remains in the place of its use for the observation of the field worker. The historian of technology must be prepared to use all these sources, and to call upon the skills of the archaeologist, the engineer, the architect, and other specialists as appropriate.

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• Stories From Experts About the Impact of Digital Life
• 3. Fifty-fifty anecdotes: How digital life has been both positive and negative

Table of Contents

• 1. The positives of digital life
• 2. The negatives of digital life
• About this canvassing of experts
• Acknowledgments

A number of these experts wrote about both sides of the story, taking the time to point out some of the ways in which digital life is a blessing and a curse. A selection of these mixed-response anecdotes follows.

James M. Hinton , an author, commented, “Having grown up in the pre-internet era, my childhood was spent in a substantial monoculture. There was a single shared set of values and beliefs that everyone was expected to conform to. As someone who did not fit into that set of shared expectations (and only grew further apart from them as I aged) this created a substantial sense of isolation and even oppression. The advent of internet technologies – and particularly the ability to communicate instantly, inexpensively, across the planet – has given me access to like-minded individuals who have eased that sense of isolation. This makes it sound as though my answer should have been that these technologies have created, and will continue to create, a substantial improvement for my well-being. However, the very technologies that have created these opportunities have exposed me to even more of the general hostility of the surrounding culture to those like myself. Rather than a small, local community isolating me, now there is sense that a substantial portion of the world, establishment and orthodox belief systems are actively opposed to my positions. Perhaps, to take things to a bit of an extreme, I could compare it to being sent to the Warsaw Ghetto. I am, at last, surrounded by a large number of people like myself, but with an impending sense of dread at what is waiting just beyond the fence to eventually come down and wipe us out.”

Technology improves the lives of people who can avoid being dominated by it and forced into debilitating addictions to it. Frank Kaufmann

Frank Kaufmann , a scholar, educator, innovator and activist based in North America, commented, “Technology improves the lives of people who can avoid being dominated by it and forced into debilitating addictions to it. Technology allows me to grow and benefit from loving relationships among friends and family who can now be close despite geographical distance. Tragically it prevents the addicted from growing and benefiting from the most exquisite types of encounter, namely being in the physical and personal presence of another.”

Eric Royer , a professor based in North America, said, “Digital technology has fundamentally reshaped higher education, to the point where lectures are being replaced with online courses and information is readily available at the click of fingertip. This means that knowledge is no longer the domain of the ‘Ivory Tower’; however, I hold concerns over the effect of the internet on actual learning and a love for education itself. As a consequence of digital technology, education has become a commodity, and students view it as a means to an end.”

Sasha Costanza-Chock , associate professor of civic media at MIT, said, “On the one hand, digital technology has been used by progressive social movements to rapidly organize an enormous mobilization wave after the election of Trump. We’ve seen digital media used as a key tool to turn out hundreds of thousands of people with very short notice to protest the Muslim ban, attacks on LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, the Women’s March, #MeToo, continued #BlackLivesMatter mobilizations, and more. At the same time, digital media are also used to surveil social movement actors in increasingly sophisticated ways; to propagate well-funded disinformation campaigns; and they are also used by far right movements.”

Barry Chudakov , founder and principal of Sertain Research and Streamfuzion Corp., wrote, “As a researcher with colleagues in the communications sphere, I hear a recurring conversation about the new world realities of ‘Me, Inc.,’ made possible by ubiquitous digital technology. The good news is that concept-generation, creativity, programming, publishing or musical performance is no longer in the hands of indifferent gatekeepers – the greybeard editors of various industries who decided which voice and talent was worthy. But this coin has another side.

“Digital technology has, in many areas, hollowed out apprenticeship and expertise. Anyone with a tool (a digital camera or smartphone, editing software, some programming chops) can now be an expert and build an app or a reputation. Older communicators may marvel that newer digital tech tools enable fresh ideas, ingenious approaches and direct versus staged or canned presentations. On the other hand, in the ‘Here Comes Everybody’ world of digital tool mayhem, just having the tool is readily equated with expertise. Many people see in this the breakdown of ‘guild wisdom’ – learning a craft that took years of mentorship and trial and error, which results in reduced standards of excellence and quality. Often there simply are no standards. When there are no real experts, everyone can present her/himself as an expert.

“The impact on workers’ well-being is profound: from relying on buzz words to explain approaches that are highly conceptual but lack experience, to relying on data summations that cannot be clearly articulated as beneficial to outcomes but provide a cloud of information that appears to be relevant – I see a high degree of insecurity and a struggle for clarity and standards. Whether you call yourself a designer, a programmer, a social media expert, a storyteller, a data analyst, a market research professional – you can now go through any door that is near you to get a job or build a career. But the mentors, for many, are gone. You will come up with brilliant insights that were ho-hum years ago; you will propose fuzzy solutions that appear to you clearly superior but are hollow as a dead tree; you will eventually consider your career and brand far more important and worth spending time on than your client’s job – following the dictum that ‘Me, Inc.’ means Me First.

“My friends’ lives in regard to well-being feel permanently insecure. The framework of progression, succession and apprenticeship is gone. ‘Me, Inc.’ rules. It’s me and my software and my digital technology. But, of course, a new apprenticeship will likely appear and then gatekeepers and filter governors will once again be part of the scene, albeit in different form – probably algorithms. This is because newer digital tools enable cooperation and increased socialization, even if it happens through screens, platforms and crowds.”

[the beaten trail]

Seth Finkelstein , consulting programmer at Finkelstein Consulting, wrote, “When the Net was younger, many users of it were easily able to have *substantive* open forums where anyone could join. I very much enjoyed being able to have discussions with people who were at a status level far greater than I could have communicated with beforehand. On the other hand, that meant people at a correspondingly higher status level could be personally offended by what I wrote. In retrospect, for me, the trade-off was not worth it. This is now writ large in social media today. There’s much more of a potential for becoming internet-famous, which can be a blessing or a curse. But it’s possible that there are many more and powerful curses around than blessings.”

Christian Huitema , a technology developer/administrator based in North America, appreciates the internet but commented that being disconnected is still occasionally quite important, “We now have a new checklist item before going out to dinner: We make sure that none of us is carrying a phone.”

Our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness, and our human relationship with technology is a classic testament to that. Andie Diemer

Andie Diemer , journalist and activist user, wrote, “I use technology in almost every aspect of my life, as everyone I know does. It helps me make quicker, more-informed decisions and it can connect me to anything or anyone at any given moment. However I’ve also noticed the compulsions that come along with having technology so engrained in my life; the dopamine hit when you see you are receiving likes, the soothing feeling that can come from looking at photos of baby animals. Technology can make us feel anything whenever we want – all we need to do is hit search. As much as it’s great to plug in and be connected and feel limitless, there is no real total opposite of that in our society anymore. There is no way to totally shut it off or opt out. Most jobs require you to be computer-literate or to have a cellphone that can be on your person at all times. Our greatest strength can also be our greatest weakness, and our human relationship with technology is a classic testament to that.”

Colin Tredoux , a professor of psychology at the University of Cape Town, commented, “The advantages of digital technology are clear, but there are also disadvantages. One memorable advantage was being able to track and keep in contact with my two young children, ages 12 and 7, when they were lost on a train in Germany. I was able to get them to approach passersby, and get them onto a train that would get them to a designated location even though I was in Cape Town at the time. However, I can also tell stories about how much the ubiquity of digital technology has made everybody feel unsafe – the slightest disappearance of children or friends or adults from instant communication makes everybody highly anxious, almost always for no good reason (last year my daughter, now 20, went offline in Paris, and we spent six hours fretting, worrying, etc.). In other words, we need to weigh up the cost of worrying versus the benefit of making safe. My sense is that the former occurs with 100-times-greater frequency than the latter, so then the important question is what weight to put to the two.”

Simeon Yates , professor of digital culture at the University of Liverpool, wrote, “Digital life can be dominated by email and time-management tools. Even using these well leads to a significant increase in workload. This is not matched by changes in organisational structure and management practice to address this workload. This has long-term health impacts. But digital life is also good. Nearly everything we do for enjoyment has been helped by tools and apps: Going climbing (using an app for route guidebook), reading (endless access to books), music (endless access to music), film (endless access to film and TV), keeping in touch with friends and family, organising time together. All of these are much easier.”

Daniel Schultz , senior creative technologist at the Internet Archive, commented, “This morning I rolled out of bed to see a note from a constituent on Twitter, an email from a public school think tank about the extreme need for more effective communication with parents, I logged onto Slack to catch up on notes from my coworkers and friends, and received a FaceTime from my daughter downstairs as a reminder that it was time to eat breakfast with her. The end of this story actually captures both the benefits and risks of technology. I was immediately drawn into my phone after waking up – I got information, some of it adding to my pile of tasks and increasing my stress, some of it enabling human connection, but it was also at the expense of spending my first moments with my family. My life would not exist in its current form without digital technology. I work from home, and as a result I am able to see my family any time of the day. My professional collaborations are coordinated and executed online. A large portion of my civic engagement and advocacy is done through the creation or use of technology to share a message or make a point.”

Leora Lawton , lecturer in demography and sociology and executive director of the Berkeley Population Center at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote, “In positive ways I have close friends that I met online through email lists, colleagues that I communicate with and the ease of doing business or personal matters no matter where I am in the world. I love being able to check things in Google on my iPhone as the thought occurs. I like apps on my phone. I get to listen (or watch) baseball and other sports anywhere. However, I dislike the continuing demise of radio and print newspapers. Online sources are a different experience. They have their pluses, but there’s a reason why people still like vinyl over CDs. I feel the same way about radio. I take 25 hours off each week from the digital world – sometimes more – for religious reasons. Without the religious imperative I’m not sure I would do it, but I’m so glad I do. It’s such a relief! My co-religionists all agree. Even the teens often agree (not always of course, but they are teens).”

Daniel Berleant , author of “The Human Race to the Future,” commented, “We all remember the days when any group was subject to interruptions as someone’s cellphone rang. Text messaging and email have made communication even easier, while alleviating the interruption factor imposed by a ringing phone. At the same time, it has presented a disadvantage: people often will not answer a phone call, especially young people. This has produced an adjustment problem in my own experience, whereby I would sometimes like to call a family member on the phone, but cannot get through because they prefer a text message that does not interrupt them. I, and others, need to adjust expectations and tactics to the realities of modern cellphone-based communication.”

Charles Ess , professor, department of media and communication at the University of Oslo, said, “An obvious example is the use of digital technologies to communicate with family and friends around the globe. On the one hand, all of this makes it wonderfully easy and convenient to stay in touch – including during critical life moments such as the birth of a new grandson, a sibling’s loss of a job, a serious illness or death, et cetera. At the same time – as someone who grew up writing letters, e.g., the ones I wrote to my parents while working and then traveling through Germany and Europe in 1971 – I’m acutely aware of what is NOT communicated through digital channels (researcher Sherry Turkle addresses this more eloquently). First of all, such a letter demanded extended attention and focus – and, as research over the past 10 years or so has confirmed, the process of handwriting slows one down so as to open up silences and spaces for reflection that we elide quickly over if only using a keyboard. There is also the materiality of the letter. To not only see the words – but to hold in one’s hand a piece of paper that existed with me and then with those close to me at a specific time and place decades ago – is utterly distinctive. I receive hundreds of emails a day and write 10 to 20 or more. My professional and personal life turn on them, along with many other digital and communication technologies, of course. But I strongly doubt that my children will be interested in or find much value in trawling through even just the emails sent to them after I am gone. While they have their own affordances – first of all, speed and convenience – they also suffer from a kind of immateriality and, usually, brevity. By contrast, I suspect they’ll find my physical letters to be far more valuable and precious. I don’t think this is just nostalgia. Rather, it resonates with the so-called ‘death online’ research, which – alongside evidence for the many benefits of grieving and mourning via social media, memorial sites, etc. – also documents how for some number of people, precisely young people, there is the discovery that grief requires embodied co-presence. This is ramified by the unpleasant sides of online grief, e.g., postings from ‘friends’ who ignore you the next day, etc. Again, there is some indication of not necessarily rejecting ‘the digital’ entirely in favor of ‘the analogue’ (with all the caveats those terms require) – but rather of attempting to find a better balance.”

Nathalie Coupet , an internet advocate based in North America, said, “My first thought in the morning, having just awaken, is: ‘Do I have any emails?’ The internet has taken over my life and made me a 24-hour-a-day-connected pod to its mother ship. Without my smartphone, I dare not venture in the Big World out there. What if someone was trying to contact me? Ironically, I still remember the day when, sitting comfortably in a tram in Zurich, I had vowed to never carry a cellphone with me. To jealously safeguard my independence. To daydream in peace and be deliciously idle. Not to be so engaged all the time in a stressful awareness of place and time, people and events. To be left alone. It has now become a goal.”

Craig J. Mathias , principal for the Farpoint Group, wrote, “I’ve benefitted from email, other messing services including voice and video communications, access to a wide array of information via the Web, and access to many services I use regularly, like banking and health care. All of these are good, but I do worry about security and privacy, which still receive far too little attention. Stronger penalties are required for those who compromise these vital requirements.”

Kathleen Hayes , a technology specialist based in North America, commented, “For the good, my 91-year-old mom checks emails and uses her tablet when she travels so she can stay connected. She uses the caller ID on her home phone to ward off robo calls. For the not-so-good, on her new car some of the controls were difficult for her to figure out. What used to be a knob is now a screen with a vague description of what it may or may not do.”

A professor at a major U.S. state university said, “I am able to share information with my family who live in other states more easily. We are able to see photos and share news to groups that would have taken longer in the past. I do often wonder if we really want photos of our children online, however. I feel concern about safety and well-being of children.”

Theodora Sutton , a Ph.D. candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute, wrote, “… Digital technology is interwoven into my daily life as it is with everyone I know. The first thing I do when I wake up is usually check my iPhone for messages and news or scroll through Twitter on my laptop to help wake myself up. I find it to be an extremely useful and relaxing way to see what’s happening in the world without necessarily engaging. I also often use resources online when I’m struggling to fall asleep, as there is a rich library of calming content and most of it is free. A problem that I have with my digital technology is the way that boundaries are blurred. For example, context collapse on social networking sites, which make posting content a minefield, and can cause unnecessary anxiety. Another way that similar boundaries are blurred is in the activities I use the laptop for – both working and relaxing can be provided by the same ‘portal’ of my laptop screen, which I find unhelpful, as when I’m working there is always a distraction available, and when I’m relaxing it’s always possible to quickly check my work email, both things which can hinder the task at hand.”

Richard Padilla , a retired system administrator, said, “Tech has changed the development of the lives of everyone. A need to refine its processes for better growth is now the requirement.”

Michele Walfred , a North American communications specialist, said, “I have witnessed family members unable to join conversations, sit at a table and not bring their phones with them, etc. Social media platforms have provided everyone with a forum to express views, but, as a whole, conversations are more polarized, tribal and hostile. With Facebook for instance, there has been a huge uptick in fake news, altered images, dangerous health claims and cures, and the proliferation of anti-science information. This is very distressing and disturbing. People are too willing to share without doing their due diligence and fact-checking first. People now get their news from sources that are only aligned with their belief systems or ‘tribe’ and freely shut out any information that they don’t like or agree with. On a positive note, if one is interested in diverse opinions and views, the ability to make informed opinion and decisions is at one’s fingertips. I learn something new on the internet every day. GPS, maps, navigation have transformed my personal transportation. It has changed the way I shop, source local materials, find out what is going on in my own community, or – when I travel – immediately connect me to inside information about a new town or city. I used to bring along a Rand McNally map. Now I use Google Maps and, while I miss looking at maps, the technology now is so accurate and convenient. I am an avid photographer, and the multitude of editing apps is astounding. I have 40 installed on my iPad and they have transformed my artistic efforts. My grandson lives three and a half hours away in a very large city – not a pleasant drive for me, so being able to FaceTime him is a development I treasure.”

Timothy Leffel , a research scientist at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, one of the largest independent social research organizations in the U.S., said, “I probably spend more waking hours looking at a screen than not. And this seems to be the new normal, which is a bit jarring. If you’d told me 10 years ago that this is what everyday life would be like today, I’m not sure what I’d think. I’m not sure what I think today, even. I have superficial knowledge of any topic at my fingertips, which is incredible. But with that knowledge comes a highly addictive and hidden reward system that probably leads me to overestimate the positive impact of computers on my life.”

Bouziane Zaid , an associate professor at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, wrote, “Changes in quality of life, whether positive or negative, cannot be reduced to our uses of technology. It is a human tendency to idealize a past that probably was never as good as we think it was. Well-being is improved and lessened due to hyperconnectivity.”

Kathleen Harper , an editor for HollywoodLife.com, said, “GPS has changed my life – for the better. It sounds dramatic, but I honestly don’t know what I would do without it. I am what they call ‘directionally challenged,’ and I’d forever be lost without my handy-dandy smartphone (and my backup portable charger of course). Living in New York City can be intimidating, and it’s quite easy to get lost. Without step-by-step GPS and my subway app, I definitely wouldn’t be able to explore the city, attend events, and try new things as much as I do. Playing devil’s advocate though, maybe without it, I’d be forced to actually learn and/or memorize the city, which would in turn expand that part of my brain and make me a more well-rounded person.”

Mark Richmond , an internet pioneer and systems engineer for the U.S. government, wrote, “Twenty years ago my daughter met a man 8,000 miles away. Yes, it was via internet. They married and she has lived there ever since. Despite the distance we are able to stay in regular contact, including routine video chatting. My other children and grandchildren use social media either very little, or sometimes way too much. It helps to keep up with what everyone is doing, the joys and pains in their lives, but it also exacerbates things, especially for the younger ones. Every minor disagreement seems to be a major production, lived out on a stage. I am hopeful that as they learn, they will also learn moderation.”

I love meeting many new people from across the world through digital mediums. But I have noticed culturally a decrease in actual face-to-face human interaction or even a voice phone call with emotion and true connection, accuracy and depth. John Senall

John Senall , founder of Mobile First Media Group, said, “Digital technology has offered additional career opportunities and advancement to me. However, the type of career opportunities for me and countless others usually involve sitting at a computer screen, working more hours and being stuck to a smartphone. All have made communication more seamless and constant, but have, in part, played a role in decreasing my health quality. I love meeting many new people from across the world through digital mediums. But I have noticed culturally a decrease in actual face-to-face human interaction or even a voice phone call with emotion and true connection, accuracy and depth. I ponder what it all may mean for my young children and their friends and classmates, down the road when there will be deeper technology and more communication changes. The benefits of a hyperconnected life are amazing and rewarding. Yet, I think many of us yearn, at least occasionally, for a simpler, less digital time.”

William J. Ward , president of DR4WARD, said, “After spending a lot of time on digital I found my physical and mental health declining. I now spend much less time on digital and much greater time doing physical activity like yoga to counteract the damage to the body that spending too much screen time inevitably causes. I also invest more time in face-to-face and social activities and finding a balance where digital is helpful but does not distract from relationships.”

Cliff Zukin , a professor and survey researcher at Rutgers University, commented, “The only way I can reach my children is by texting; this is disjointed asynchronous communication, not conversation. However, I can walk out of the house not knowing how to get where I’m going or needing a map, which I love.”

Christopher Wilkinson , internet pioneer, wrote, “I do not agree with the epithet ‘hyperconnected.’ We are far from it. Life-changing events: 1) Word processor spell/grammar checkers in several languages. 2) Sending SMS by Skype (disgracefully discontinued by Microsoft). 3) Negative: Demise of the handwritten letter.”

A selection of anonymous responses

An internet activist from Europe said, “Great for keeping in touch across oceans, but across the city people’s tendencies to substitute text for voice is not always good. It is great to be able to look things up instantly, but this may lead to shallow understanding of answers.”

An internet pioneer and social and digital marketing consultant commented, “On one hand, I can be in close communication with my 12-year-old daughter and not have to wonder where she is as she goes about her day, and can remind her to bring things home from school. I can also be in contact with friends through social media, which helps as I live in a city where I don’t have many social outlets. On the other hand, I’ve found that too much time spent online, particularly on Facebook, can make me feel depressed. Either I catch myself comparing my life to the posts that others make, or I get overwhelmed by the toxic political atmosphere currently playing out.”

A senior lecturer in media studies wrote, “There are both positive and negative consequences from being always-on. Being always-on means that I can be in constant contact with my family who live on the other side of the world, but it also means that I receive work emails all throughout the day.”

A senior lecturer based in Southeast Asia said, “Time wasted on social media is negatively affecting well-being; positively, social media helps to bring people close, so that it helps to make a lively environment with intimate people. In education, it has been a good platform as well as a resource.”

A chief of staff for a nonprofit organization wrote, “FOMO (fear of missing out) is a problem, but digital life is also useful for communicating with loved ones far away.”

A retired professor and research scientist said, “Good impacts of digital life: Immediate and extensive answers and how-to advice; quick, easy access to books and movies. Bad impacts: Reduced conversations with wife, especially at mealtime – just Google it.”

A vice president at a major entertainment company in the United States commented, “Clearly, collective action (good or bad) happens with much more ease and speed. I marvel at the ease of organizing things that result in greater connectivity with my family – from renting a house in a far-away place for vacation to helping my children.”

A research scientist said, “On the one hand, I can communicate with friends who decades ago I would not be able to stay in touch with. On the other hand, we have a white supremacist in the White House.”

A professor of English wrote, “What has been positive is the ability to follow along with positive facets of others’ lives – birthdays, anniversaries, etc. This has been positive. Yet, again, a birthday card, a phone call, a conversation would be more meaningful.”

A futurist based in North America wrote, “Generally, very positive is the access to information. It is easier to do research, find out about current events, etc. Among the negatives are kids immersed in digital devices; staring at a screen as an acceptable activity.”

A professor from North America said, “I’ve cut off from lots of digital media. I realized it was consuming lots of my time. It didn’t make me feel good – what I was seeing and reading made me mostly angry and depressed. It was feeding negativity. I am happier without it. However, a friend who has a child with a chronic medical condition has monitoring so that medical personnel are notified when parameters are exceeded so interventions can occur rapidly. The child gets fast feedback, too, so they can change behavior or take action in a way that would not have been possible five years ago.”

An entrepreneur based in North America wrote, “I feel like technology has made our life better (instant access to information) and worse (instant access to entertainment).”

A professor based in Europe wrote, “When I replaced my mobile I gave the used, but still quite powerful one to my granddaughter aged 10. She made nice pictures with it, which I appreciated. But she also got obsessed with certain internet games, leading to conflicts.”

An assistant professor of political science at an Ivy League university wrote, “As a parent this is easy. My kids (ages 4 and 7) are steeped in technology. They have iPads in their classrooms (which help with engaging them and I think are a net good), but they also want to be on iPads at home (which may not be as good). They think every screen is a touch screen. Even at 4 years old, my son’s first instinct when he doesn’t know something bit of information is to Google it or ask Siri. My kids love to read books on Kindle (and much prefer it to paper books) so even the educational activity of reading is now deeply intertwined with technology. In some ways that is good, on Kindle they can highlight the words they don’t know as they read and – something that has proven very important for my 7-year-old – they cannot see how thick the book is, so they tend to read more without lamenting about length. At the same time, they have little interest in libraries and miss out on books that are not available via Kindle. They can FaceTime family who live far away, but sometimes they see that as a substitute for actual visits. In short, there is good and bad but there is little doubt that technology structures our daily life in profound ways.”

An executive director of a tech innovation firm said, “Looking at my kids; they’re connected and informed. And they spend too much time online.”

A director of technology based in North America wrote, “In a positive way it has allowed me to keep in touch more easily with friends that live far away. In a negative sense it has provided a distraction to what is happening in the moment.”

A professor based in Europe wrote, “My working days are longer! I wake up and check email and I am habituated like one of Pavlov’s dogs to check my email regularly throughout the day and into the evening. Even though my boss has banned us from sending work emails after 6 p.m., I still check my email. As a result, I never truly feel disconnected from work – even during vacations.”

A professor from North America said, “For me (in my 50s) digital life has been positive – a way to keep up with old friends. However, for my teens, it can create sadness and feelings of being/having less than peers.”

An associate professor at a U.S. university said, “My ability to stay connected to family and friends brings me great joy. And I’m able to connect to other academics when I am not on campus, which is more often than not. However my husband feels that I am too connected! In this regard it may be hurting our relationship. At times using technology can border on addiction. For me that is.”

A North American researcher wrote, “Technology has changed my life because I now work for a company in a different state. My contributions are made at my home, via telecommuting. This is both good and bad – on the good side, I’m able to help take care of my disabled son and to help my wife through a battle with cancer. But, on the down side – there’s no opportunity for the water cooler discussions that can speed up development work. There’s no opportunity for facetime with managers and VPs to get that all-important rapport with senior management. In other words, there are no opportunities to exercise and grow the ‘soft skills’ necessary to progress in the organization.”

An anonymous respondent wrote, “It has made work communication easier but often less thoughtful since constant connectivity fuels the expectation of an immediate response. It also has diminished the opportunities to disconnect from work for a proper break, but it does give me flexibility to not be tied to my office.”

A college student said, “I am not too proud to admit that I also suffer from the FOMO (fear of missing out) that comes from living a hyperconnected lifestyle. I hold lengthy Snapchat streaks with friends to bond with them, I check my social media accounts for approximately three to four hours daily. Daily I catch myself peering at my phone the moment I awake to learn about the events I may have missed while I slept. While my Snap streaks do provide a satisfying, quick dopamine hit each time I respond, overall, I cannot say that living a hyperconnected lifestyle has enhanced my life in any way. But I would also argue that it has not hurt my mental well-being either. While I am willing to admit I struggle in certain areas to balance my digital distractions with the important things in life; overall, I don’t think that it has had a negative effect on my life. I do think that some people are negatively impacted, but most will work to find a balance after some trial and error as new tools for digital life continue to appear and we adjust.”

A clinical assistant professor at a major U.S. university wrote, “I am old enough to see the effects that cellphones have had on family dinners. In a positive light, some arguments are resolved more quickly – Wikipedia can often provide resolution to many debatable points and repair faulty recollection, leading to much more productive conversations. More negatively, the interruptions caused by text messaging and email often divide the attention of those dining together and can sometimes diminish the quality of time spent together.”

In the negative, the ‘always-on’ capabilities are big triggers for my anxiety around perfectionism and performance. In the positive, when working with my therapist on ways to bring myself more forward in relationships, social media was a key tool. A teen library specialist

A teen library specialist wrote, “I have had both positive and negative impacts in my personal mental health courtesy of hyperconnection of digital connectivity. In the negative, the ‘always-on’ capabilities are big triggers for my anxiety around perfectionism and performance. In the positive, when working with my therapist on ways to bring myself more forward in relationships, social media was a key tool. She described Facebook (at the time that was the dominant tool) as disastrous for her work with narcissists but a dream for working with folks like me. I have grown more comfortable with expressing myself and I feel more visible in this format than in others within my communities. And I don’t mean that I have more friends online than I have in the real world. I mean my ‘real-world’ relationships are richer because I share with the people in my workplace or family or church via social media in a way I never before did and still rarely do face to face.”

An anonymous respondent commented, “We are able to keep in touch with family all around the globe. On the other hand, our family wouldn’t have been so spread out in the first place without the internet.”

An academic leader based in Australia wrote, “Digital technology has provided unthinkable access to information. Systems for doing business have enabled us to perform tasks and obtain and share information like never before. At the same time, digital transformation has meant each individual spends a lot more time navigating systems and doing work that previously would have been performed by other experts.”

[The good:]

There is so much pressure to publish research even when it’s greatly flawed… Moreover, in many ways our techniques and standards of rigor have improved over time, so I don’t want to sound completely hopeless about scientific progress in my field. A research scientist based in North America

A research scientist based in North America commented, “I’m 26, so the internet changed pretty much everything, right? It grew up with me, more or less. In fifth grade, I remember writing a research report about the gray whale. We had to go through all these crazy steps – finding books, writing down facts on notecards, putting them in those little clicky boxes that held notecards. Now, when was the last time you saw one of those? We were allowed to have internet sources, I think, but there were all these requirements about what constituted an appropriate source, as well as strict limits on how many internet sources could be used. The assumption was that somehow, finding information on the internet did not constitute real research, and this was our teacher’s way of preparing us for the research we would be doing in the future. Fast forward to now, where I’m finishing up my Ph.D., and I do research practically every day. Do you know how often I have to seek out resources that I can’t find online? It’s never. Literally never. My dissertation uses about two, neither of which I sought out – just some books my advisor just unceremoniously handed me one day. Admittedly, my academic field is quite young comparatively, and there may be fields with more emphasis on works that cannot be found online, but still, this is mostly a good thing for my well-being, as well as for the productivity of my field. However, there are also more insidious consequences of the increased volume and availability of research. The most prominent consequence I observe is that there is simply more research than we as a field are able to deal with. There is so much research that is redundant or contradictory, and our field doesn’t currently have the structure in place to reconcile it all. Hundreds of papers are published every day, and most of these will never be read, let alone cited (and that’s assuming people are actually reading what they cite – ha!). There is so much pressure to publish research even when it’s greatly flawed, as well as to frame every finding with a theoretical impact it cannot actually have. Instead of a gradual forward trajectory, we’re sitting on an unmanageable mound of contradictions. This research machine I live in is so unimaginably wasteful, with such deeply entrenched and utterly misguided incentives that I do not know how we will ever overcome it. This is not to suggest that this is entirely the fault of digital technology, although it certainly has enabled this trend. Moreover, in many ways our techniques and standards of rigor have improved over time, so I don’t want to sound completely hopeless about scientific progress in my field. I think to an outside observer my field is flourishing, and we have much to offer the world. However, if we do not find ways to restructure and rethink what progress looks like, we will be crushed by our own weight.”

A solutions consultant based in North America wrote, “Hyperconnection via text messaging has helped in a world where physical proximity and time constraints make it more difficult to connect. For me, a quick text, letting my husband know that I’m thinking about him or giving him a heads-up on something important – is amazingly positive, and helpful. And it does so without detracting from my day. Same when I communicate with my son, who spends 50% of his time at his father’s house, and 50% with me. It helps us stay in touch and positively connected. But we also do not overuse it – perhaps we are not as ‘hyperconnected’ as other users of technology, although, my mother, who is 80, says that the text messaging is ‘just too much!’ She believes that is hyperconnectivity.”

[Advanced Research Projects Agency Network]

An anonymous respondent wrote, “Twitter is the greatest time-sink ever but a great source of interesting news and entertainment. However, I waste too much time on it when I could be reading the newspaper or a book.”

A post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University commented, “My family and I use our smartphones to send photos, video chat and send text messages on a daily basis, allowing us to stay in contact more frequently we did back when letter writing and telephone calls were our ways to stay in touch. On the negative side, I look at headlines way too much as a form of stimulus any time I have a second to spare – even when I’m with my children. I’d say I’m less present, less able to focus on reading long form text, than I was before my smartphone came into my life.”

A series of scenarios tied to potential future concerns of digital life

Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, owner-operators of Pathfinding Smarter Futures and participants in this canvassing, submitted in response to the request for anecdotes the following series of scenarios they wrote in 2005 in order to spark discussions of potential issues.

Auto Angel I: Your commute co-pilot

You’re yawning as you slowly merge into the through lane on the long ride home. Your comfy biofueled hybrid-electric car is programmed to keep you alert and relaxed. The new ATM (autonomous traffic management system) keeps everything flowing smoothly without slow-downs or jam-ups, but you still have miles to go before you sleep. The music seems to keep pace with the flow of traffic, and you slip into a kind of driving flow state. The ATM is intelligent, but not smart enough to have autonomous lanes to do the driving for humans, nor do most people want that. Crack! The burst of sound and light, and the gentle spray on your face, with the aroma of peppermint, eucalyptus, and rosemary, brings you back to full alertness. Damn! You’d nodded off again. Fortunately, it was only a second, thanks to Auto Angel, your co-pilot on the two-hour commute from the agile economy enterprise zone to the only affordable housing in the tri-county area. Too bad your insurance doesn’t cover that latest wakefulness drug that’s all the rage.Auto Angel advises you to pull over as soon as possible and take a short power nap. You can set Angel’s alarm so you won’t sleep longer than 20 minutes and get groggy. You start looking for a safe place to stop and rest.

Auto Angel II: The high price of Drowsiness

The e-alert from your doctor’s office is surprising.“We’re concerned. Please come in at your earliest convenience. Press star for an immediate appointment.” What could possibly be the matter? What do they know that you don’t?At the clinic, you’re confronted with a stark, unforgiving choice. Auto Angel has reported one too many instances of drowsiness for your automobile insurance company to allow you to continue to drive under your existing policy. Either you must get the much more expensive hazardous driver rider or be treated immediately for “driving drowsiness” (suspected narcolepsy or sleep apnea, now on your medical and insurance e-records).If you’re actually diagnosed with narcolepsy, your doctor must report it to the department of motor vehicles. You’ll be subject to random monitoring for treatment compliance.Your health insurance doesn’t fully cover this treatment because driving is now considered an elective activity. There are drugs available, but they’re not on your formulary list. You’re advised to take public transportation.Of course, some can still afford fully private transportation, just they can afford health care and higher insurance premiums. You’re not one of them. And the public transit system doesn’t extend all the way out to your community yet.

HealthGuardian

You’re in Mexico City on your way to your next business appointment. “Señor, amigo, come with us — NOW! You’re at risk for a heart attack. We’re from HealthGuardian. We’ll get you to the hospital pronto.” Your HealthGuardian biosensors are supposed to provide alerts of impending medical emergencies.Uniformed men with insistent voices grab you by both arms and hustle you toward an official-looking van. Are they really from your HealthGuardian monitoring service, or are they kidnappers? How can you verify their identity? Are you really in danger?!?Your heart races and your head spins. You feel pressure in your chest, and it’s hard to breathe. What’s going on?!?

Alexi, ever-faithful e-valet

Soft chimes announce his voice. “Sir?” Alexi, your e-valet, continues close to your ear. “May I suggest that you eat something soon? You’re moving into your danger zone.” His interruption irritates you as you walk briskly along the crowded sidewalk. “Sir, the bistro four doors up on the right fits your dining profile and has two very nice specials today. Or I can recommend the Thai restaurant around the next corner.” Your blood sugar level is dropping precipitously close to where even deciding to eat, let alone where, is becoming a chore. “Sir?” “OK, OK, Alexi,” you say to yourself. Your gait slows, you check the bistro menu in the window, and go inside. What ever would you do without Alexi’s constant and respectful attentiveness?

Your privacy – priceless!

[radio-frequency identification]

Scrambling your identity

At WuMart’s self-service checkout, you’re fuming. You’ve ducked into the store on your lunch hour to pick up a few essentials for this afternoon’s flight, and you’re in a real hurry. Nothing is scanning right. The dental care travel kit scans as reading glasses, vitamin C as laxatives, and deodorant as antacid. You call loudly for a supervisor. The young man sighs. “Yeah, it looks like somebody in the store hacked our RFID tags again and scrambled the data. It’ll get straightened out when the machines go through their data consistency and reliability power cycle in about 10 minutes. Sorry about that.” He puts an obviously used, dog-eared “Out of order – please try again later” sign on the scanner. “If you’ll just step through the electronic gate over there, we’ll have you on your way in no time.” You stride through the metal archway with your goods, and the human checker enters the products numbers to ring up your purchases. The finger touch system debits your account. Finally! You have just enough time to get back to the office. Later, when you try to enter the restricted area to get the data reports you need for your trip, you’re stopped cold. Your implanted VeriChip doesn’t properly authenticate your identify, and security forces are there in moments. Missing your flight will be the least of your problems.

The mall knows you better than you do

As you stroll through the environmentally controlled mall, your mobile flashes a steady stream of personalized messages from nearby merchants. “Jeans tops – 30% instant discount!” “Free skin-care consultation!” “Shakira CDs all on sale!”The automated ads have no way of knowing that the RFID-tagged jeans, derma-repair cream, and pop diva CD in your shopping bag are purchases for other members of your extended family. You’re not interested in more purchases like them or to go with them. You’re done.Nearby, the animated window display of dancing cookware catches your eye, and you linger a few moments, watching with great amusement. Flying frying pans? Flipping spatulas? Spinning plates? What were they thinking?!? The mall looks more like an amusement park every time you come here.But now the stream of messages is all for cookware, tableware, stemware, cooking schools, and related products and services. You’re beginning to feel you’re being stalked instead of enticed with great offers. How did they know what you were looking at? What else do they know about you? And how do they know it?!?This is creepy.

Who is responsible?

The distinctive ring on your mobile is your daughter’s. “Waaah! The bus didn’t come, and it’s our last practice before Saturday’s big match! You’ve gotta drive me NOW. Plueeease???” Just then the mobile beeps twice. “Just a sec, sweetie.” It’s an automated request for you to approve entry of your new drug prescription into the GVS Registry database. You’ll deal with that later. “OK, I’m back. I’ll try to get someone to cover for me. Pick you up in 15 minutes, OK?”The next evening in a heavy rainstorm, a drunk driver ploughs into your Viridian hybrid. As they stabilize you on the way to the Trauma Center, the EMTs read your implanted VeriChip to get your updated medical information.In the ER, your condition suddenly worsens in a most peculiar way, and the doctors suspect a bad drug interaction. But how could that have happened? Did the EMTs make a mistake? Were you taking something they didn’t know about?Right now they’ll save your life. What happened and who’s responsible will come later.

Shopper’s Revenge

“Undecided shopper’s discount! Pick up prod, put back 2x, RFID shelf reader -> instant 25% off coupon.” Intrigued by this alert from Shopper’s Revenge (“Don’t get mad – get bargains!”) on your mobile screen, you check for something you actually want, walk over to the right shelf, pick it up, and put it back. Rinse, repeat. Voila! This is too easy. … A month later, the store catches on and raises the bar. You still get the coupon if you pick up the product, wait for over a minute, and put it back three times. A little tedious, but worth it for some pricier items. That works for three more weeks. A few days later, your Shopper’s Revenge e-coach tells you to vary the pattern so you’ll look more “natural” – to fit the store’s learning agent’s evolving model of an undecided shopper. Thanks to Shopper’s Revenge, you’re saving money, outwitting the technology, and looking more and more like a very hesitant shopper every day.

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• Speech on Technology

Technology in This Generation

We are in a generation, where technology has surrounded us from all sides. Our everyday life runs on the use of technology, be it in the form of an alarm clock or a table lamp. Technology has been an important part of our daily lives. Therefore, it is important for the students to be familiar with the term technology. Therefore, we have provided a long speech on technology for students of all age groups. There is also a short speech and a 10 lines speech given in this article.

Long Speech on Technology

A warm welcome to everyone gathered here today. I am here to deliver a speech on technology which has taken a tremendous role in our day to day life. We all are in a generation where everything is dependent on technology. Let’s understand what technology is through the lens of Science. 

Technology comes in the form of tangible and intangible properties by exerting physical and mental force to achieve something that adds value. For example, a mobile phone is tangible, and the network connection used by the phone is intangible. Technology has taken its place as indispensable, wherein it has resulted in economic benefits, better health care, time-saving, and better lifestyle.

Due to technology, we have a significant amount of knowledge to improve our lives and solve problems. We can get our work done efficiently and effectively. As long as you know how to access technology, it can be used and proves to benefit people of all ages greatly. Technology is constantly being modified and upgraded every passing year. 

The evolution of technology has made it possible to achieve lots in less time. Technology has given tools and machines to be used to solve problems around the world. There has been a complete transformation in the way we do things because of contributions from scientific technology. We can achieve more tasks while saving our time and hence in a better place than our previous generation. 

Right from the ringing of the morning alarm to switching off the fan, everything runs behind the technology. Even the microphone that I am using is an innovation of technology and thus the list continues. With several inventions of hi-tech products, our daily needs are available on a screen at our fingertips. These innovations and technologies have made our lives a lot easier. Everything can be done at the comfort of your home within a couple of hours or so. These technologies have not only helped us in the digital platform but have also given us innovations in the field of medical, educational, industrial as well as in agricultural sectors. If we go back to the older generations, it would take days to get any things solved, even if there were not many treatments for several diseases. 

But today with the innovations of technology, many diseases can be treated and diagnosed within a shorter period of time. The relationship between humans and technology has continued for ages and has given rise to many innovations. It has made it easier for us to handle our daily chores starting from home, office, schools and kitchen needs. It has made available basic necessities and safer living spaces. We can sit at home comfortably and make transactions through the use of online banking. Online shopping, video calling, and attending video lectures on the phone have all been possible due to the invention of the internet. 

People in the past would write letters to communicate with one another, and today due to technology, traditional letters have been replaced by emails and mobile phones. These features are the essential gifts of technology. Everything is just at our fingertips, right from turning on the lights to doing our laundry. The whole world runs on technology and hence, we are solely dependent on it. But everything has its pros and cons. While the benefits of technology are immense, it also comes with some negative effects and possibly irreversible damages to humanity and our planet. 

We have become so dependent on technology that we often avoid doing things on our own. It as a result makes us lazy and physically inactive. This has also led to several health issues such as obesity and heart diseases. We prefer booking a cab online rather than walking a few kilometres. Technology has increased screen time, and thus, children are no longer used to playing in the playgrounds but are rather found spending hours on their phones playing video games. This has eroded children’s creativity, intelligence, and memory. No doubt, technology is a very essential part of our life, but we should not be totally dependent on it. We should practise being more fit and do regular activities on our own to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The other aspects that have been badly affected us are that since technology replaced human interference, is unemployment. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., were meant to connect people and increase our community circle. Still, it has made people all the more lonely, with cases of depression on the rise amongst the youth. 

There are several controversies around the way world leaders have used technology in defence and industrialisation under the banner of development and advancements. The side effects of technology have resulted in pollution, climate change, forest fires, extreme storms, cyclones, impure air, global warming, land area getting reduced and natural resources getting extinct. It’s time we change our outlook towards selfish technology and bring about responsible technology. Every nation needs to set aside budgets to come up with sustainable technological developments. 

As students, we should develop creative problem solving using critical thinking to bring clean technology into our world. As we improve our nation, we must think of our future for a greener and cleaner tomorrow. You would be glad to know that several initiatives have been initiated to bring awareness amongst children and youth to invent cleaner technology. 

For example, 15-year-old Vinisha Umashankar invented a solar ironing cart and has been awarded the Earth Shot Prize by the Royal Foundation of the duke and duchess of Cambridge and honoured to speak at the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Her invention should be an inspiration to each one of us to pursue clean technology.

The top five technologically advanced countries are Japan, America, Germany, China and South Korea. We Indians will make our mark on this list someday. Technology has a vital role in our lives but lets us be mindful that we control technology and that technology doesn’t control us. Technology is a tool to elevate humanity and is not meant to be a self-destroying mechanism under the pretext of economic development. Lastly, I would like to conclude my speech by saying that technology is a boon for our society but we should use it in a productive way. 

A Short Speech on Technology

A warm greeting to everyone present here. Today I am here to talk about technology and how it has gifted us with various innovations. Technology as we know it is the application of scientific ideas to develop a machine or a device for serving the needs of humans. We, human beings, are completely dependent on technology in our daily life. We have used technology in every aspect of our life starting from household needs, schools, offices, communication and entertainment. Our life has been more comfortable due to the use of technology. We are in a much better and comfortable position as compared to our older generation. This is possible because of various contributions and innovations made in the field of technology. Everything has been made easily accessible for us at our fingertips right from buying a thing online to making any banking transaction. It has also led to the invention of the internet which gave us access to search for any information on google. But there are also some disadvantages. Relying too much on technology has made us physically lazy and unhealthy due to the lack of any physical activity. Children have become more prone to video games and social media which have led to obesity and depression. Since they are no longer used to playing outside and socialising, they often feel isolated. Therefore, we must not totally be dependent on technology and should try using it in a productive way.

10 Lines Speech on Technology

Technology has taken an important place in our lives and is considered an asset for our daily needs.

The world around us is totally dependent on technology, thus, making our lives easier.

The innovation of phones, televisions and laptops has digitally served the purpose of entertainment today.

Technology has not only helped us digitally but has also led to various innovations in the field of medical science.

Earlier it took years to diagnose and treat any particular disease, but today with the help of technology it has led to the early diagnosis of several diseases.

We, in this generation, like to do things sitting at our own comfort within a short period of time. This thing has been made possible by technology.

All our daily activities such as banking, shopping, entertainment, learning and communication can be done on a digital platform just by a click on our phone screen.

Although all these gifts of technology are really making our lives faster and easier, it too has got several disadvantages.

Since we all are highly dependent on technology, it has reduced our daily physical activity. We no longer put effort to do anything on our own as everything is available at a minute's click.

Children nowadays are more addicted to online video games rather than playing outside in the playground. These habits make them more physically inactive.

FAQs on Speech on Technology

1. Which kind of technology is the most widely used nowadays?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the field of technology that is being used the most nowadays and is expected to grow even more even in the future. With AI being adopted in numerous sectors and industries and continuously more research being done on it, it will not be long before we see more forms of AI in our daily lives.

2. What is the biggest area of concern with using technology nowadays?

Protection of the data you have online is the biggest area of concern. With hacking and cyberattacks being so common, it is important for everyone to ensure they do not post sensitive data online and be cautious when sharing information with others.

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How Tech Has Changed Our Lives In The Last 10 Years

Several tech experts weigh in on the technologies of the past decade that had the greatest impact on society.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

5 Minute Speech on Impact of Technology in our Life in English for Students

Technology has played a significant role in all of our lives. It is undeniable that technology has made our lives so much simpler and more manageable.  But at the same time, it has immensely brought a lot of effect on our health. With the popularity of technology growing every year, it has become a part of our lives. Life as we see it, seems rather impossible to live without technology. A day without technology would be a day of hell for the majority of us. I think we can all admit that we would all get very restless without it. 

We must really learn to limit the use of technology and use them when only in need for the dake of our health. 

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Speech on Technology for Students and Children

3 minutes speech on technology.

We live in the 21st century, where we do all over work with the help of technology. We know technology as the name “technological know-how”. Read Speech on Technology.

Also, it implies the modern practical knowledge that we require to do things in an effective and efficient manner. Moreover, technological advancements have made life easier and convenient.

We use this technology on a daily basis to fulfill our interests and particular duties. From morning till evening we use this technology as it helps us numerous ways.

Also, it benefits all age groups, people, until and unless they know how to access the same. However, one must never forget that anything that comes to us has its share of pros and cons.

Benefits of Technology

In our day-to-day life technology is very useful and important. Furthermore, it has made communication much easier than ever before. The introduction of modified and advanced innovations of phones and its application has made connecting to people much easier.

Moreover, technology-not only transformed our professional world but also has changed the household life to a great extent. In addition, most of the technology that we today use is generally automatic in comparison to that our parents and grandparents had in their days.

Due to technology in the entertainment industry, they have more techniques to provide us with a more realistic real-time experience.

Get the Huge list of 100+ Speech Topics here

Drawbacks of Technology

On the one hand, technology provides users with benefits or advantages, while on the other hand, it has some drawbacks too. These drawbacks or disadvantages negatively affect the importance of technology. One of the biggest problems, which everyone can easily observe, is unemployment.

In so many sectors, due to the over practice and much involvement of technology the machines have replaced human labor leading to unemployment.

Moreover, certain physiological researches teams have also proved their disadvantages. Because of the presence of social media applications like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, etc. the actual isolation has increased manifold. And ultimately it leads to increased loneliness and depression cases amongst the youngsters.

Due to the dependence of humans on technology, it has deteriorated the intelligence and creativity of children. Moreover, in today’s world technology is very important but if the people use it negatively, then there arises the negativity of the technology.

However, one thing that we need to keep in mind is that innovations are made to help us not to make us a victim of this technology.

How to use Technology?

Today we have technology that can transform lives. We have quick and vast access to the reservoir of knowledge through the Internet. So, we should make good use of it to solve the problems that we have around the world.

In the past, people use to write a letter to people that take many days to reach the destination, like the money order, personal letter, or a greeting card, but now we can send them much easily within few minutes.

Nowadays, we can easily transfer money online through our mobile phone and can send greetings through e-mail within a matter of minutes.

Besides, we cannot simply sum up the advantages and usefulness of technology at our fingertips.

In conclusion, I would say that it depends on a person that to what degree she/he wants to be dependent on technology. Moreover, there is nothing in the world that comes easy and it’s up to our conscience to decide what we want to learn from the things that we are provided to us.

Technology is not just a boom but a curse too. On one hand, it can save lives, on the other hand, it can destroy them too.

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• Speech Writing /

Speech on The Impact of Technology on Society

• Updated on  
• Jan 12, 2024

Speech on the Impact of Technology on Society: Today we are all surrounded by technology, be it the internet, cell phones, or any electronic radiation. Technology is considered as our biggest ally to deal where future challenges like climate change, global warming, overpopulation, water scarcity, etc. But have you ever wondered what are the impacts of technology on society? How does technology affect our social relationships? 

Everything comes at a price and so does technology. With the help of technology, we can connect with a person sitting in another country, allowing us to make international friends. But making connections with strangers often turns out to be a nightmare. There have been so many cases where netizens fell prey to cyberbullying, job loss, technology addiction, etc. We will provide you with a speech on the impact of technology on society, where we will cover all the dimensions of this topic. Stay tuned!

Also Read: 5 Minutes Speech on Technology and Mental Health

Also Read: Short Speech on Technology for School Students

10 Lines on The Impact of Technology on Society

Here are 10 lines on the impact of technology on society. Feel free to use them in your academic and professional arenas.

• Technology allows us to connect and communicate with distant people.
• With the help of technology, we can bridge the gap between the digital divide.
• People with disabilities find technology very useful to communicate with others.
• Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, etc. allow us to share our thoughts with like-minded people.
• Medical professionals can use technology to share medical treatment ideas, diagnostic tools, and healthcare management systems, enhancing overall health outcomes.
• We can improve our work-life balance with the advent of remote working or work from home.
• There has been a significant transformation in the film industry, where movies and TV shows are now available on online streaming platforms, like Prime, Netflix, SonyLiv, etc.
• E-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. allow us to buy products online. 
• E-commerce platforms have also allowed businesses to expand their reach.
• We can share green technology ideas via online conferences, video calls, or vlogs.

Easy Speech on The Impact of Technology on Society

‘Hello and welcome to everyone present here. Today, I stand before you to present my speech on the impact of technology on society. Technological inventions like the steam engine, electricity, batteries, the internet, computers, etc. have changed the entire evolution cycle. When we talk about the social impacts of technology, there are two sides; positive and negative.

On one side, technology has improved our communication and connectivity, education and knowledge sharing, workplace productivity, social activism, etc. With tech, we can make global connections, regardless of any geographical barriers. A new concept of telemedicine has evolved, where people living in remote areas can connect with medical professionals and consult on healthcare issues. We can learn about geopolitical developments, international summits, etc.

On the other hand, there are negative impacts of technology on society. The most common ones are privacy concerns and cyberbullying. Widespread use of technology often involves the collection and storage of personal information. This is a big privacy concern for everyone, as our data in someone else’s hand makes us vulnerable to data breaches, surveillance, and unauthorized access to our details.

If you're interested in a career intersected between social innovation and responsible tech transformations then check out @AllTechIsHuman 's Responsible Tech Job Board! https://t.co/ozED8L7LS3 — The Centre for Social Impact Technology (@SocImpTecCTR) January 9, 2024

Another impact is job displacement and inequality. Studies have shown that automation and AI have the potential to certain jobs, leading to unemployment and economic instability for some individuals. Recently, a survey was conducted that showed that the most vulnerable jobs to AI were data entry, basic customer service roles, and bookkeeping.

 A lot of people have fallen prey to cyberbullying. Talking to anonymous people over the internet can raise the flag of cyberbullying and online harassment. Young girls and students often fall victim to online harassment, which leads to emotional distress and mental well-being.

The list of negative impacts of technology on society doesn’t end here. Other drawbacks include dependence and addiction to technology, loss of traditional skills, information overload, social isolation, etc. 

While using technology, we need to be aware of what information we are gaining and what is its source. Relying bluntly on technology can put us in the corner, as it will affect our cognitive skills. We should use technology but in a sustained way and it should not turn into an addiction.

Thank you.’

Also Read: How to Prepare for UPSC in 6 Months?

Ans: Technology is considered as our biggest ally to deal where future challenges like climate change, global warming, overpopulation, water scarcity, etc. Technology has improved our communication and connectivity, education and knowledge sharing, workplace productivity, social activism, etc. With tech, we can make global connections, regardless of any geographical barriers. A new concept of telemedicine has evolved, where people living in remote areas can connect with medical professionals and consult on healthcare issues. We can learn about geopolitical developments, international summits, etc.

Ans: The negative impacts of technology on society include privacy concerns, cyberbullying, online harassment, the spread of false information, overuse or addiction to technology, social isolation, etc.

Ans: Technology has improved our communication and connectivity system. With the help of technology, we can bridge the gap between the digital divide. People with disabilities find technology very useful to communicate with others. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, etc. allow us to share our thoughts with like-minded people. E-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. allow us to buy products online. We can improve our work-life balance with the advent of remote working or work from home.

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For more information on such interesting speech topics for your school, visit our speech writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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• Speech On Technology

Speech on Technology

Have you ever thought about the encroachment of technology in our lives? Can you imagine spending a day in your life without relying on technology? We live in a world where all major work is done with the assistance of technology. What are the benefits of technology, and what are its drawbacks? Read the article and develop a fine speech on technology.

Table of Contents

Top 10 quotes to use in a speech on technology, speech on the benefits of technology, speech on the disadvantages of technology, short speech on technology, frequently asked questions on technology.

• “Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg.
• “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Albert Einstein.
• “It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” – Clive James.
• “The Web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past.”- Tim Berners-Lee.
• “If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” – Frank Lloyd Wright.
• “If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.” – Lyndon B. Johnson.
• “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.” – Stewart Brand.
• “It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.” – Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple.
• “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” – Christian Lous Lange.
• “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.”- Bill Gates.

Sample Speeches on Technology

A few samples of speeches on technology are given below. Go through them and utilise the resource for your better understanding of the topic.

Just like a coin, technology also has two sides, one is its benefits, and the other is its disadvantages.

There are multiple ways by which technology is favouring the lives of human beings. In the modern world, people are making maximum use of it. Technology became a great boon for us when it marked its advancement in the field of medical science. Through continuous evolution and updation, technology has reached a level that enables us to treat and cure many health disorders, including cancer and other chronic disorders. It has helped to save the lives of many humans, and truly it can be called a ‘life saver’.

The coming of the internet, mobile phones, and computers have eased the process of communication. With the support of all these advanced technologies, communication has become a simpler, faster, and more effective process. Can you imagine spending days waiting for a reply from your beloved ones? How strange will that be, right?

Another main advantage brought by technology is increased productivity. The overall production rate has increased drastically. With the assistance of huge machines and other technologies, the quantity of products has marked a rise without compromising on the quality. Technologies are evolving every single day; new discoveries are made frequently with the help of existing technologies and types of machinery. In one way or another, we can say that technologies aid new discoveries.

Technologies are making our lives easier. Imagine a situation where there is no internet and the world wide web. How will you receive information from all around the world? How long will it take to provide you with the exact information that you need? Will that be an updated one once it reaches you? Technologies are helping us to lead a secure life. Progressive changes that have happened in banking and money management are exceptional as well. Innovations like webcams and surveillance cameras have aided visual communication and security.

The benefits of technology is a very vast topic. Every single aspect of human life has the influence of technology in it. So pointing out each and every benefit of technology is impossible. Even though technology has many advantages, keep in mind that nothing can replace human intelligence. Always try to manage the use of technology, do not let it manage your lives.

We proudly proclaim that humans are the masters of technology; by doing that, we are actually trying to cover the ultimate truth behind it. We are completely dependent on technology. Even if the term advancement is often linked with technology, there exists multiple disadvantages too. With the encroachment of technology, people have lost their social life. It’s the supremacy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over natural intelligence that is happening in the world right now. Humans are no longer social beings; they are just living beings with digital control.

Technological updates are happening in all sectors, and each and every new technological advancement offers us advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look at the disadvantages brought by digital technologies. Personal technologies like smartphones and laptops are isolating people from the larger physical community around them. More than getting engaged in public activities, what excites people more is their time on their personal gadgets.

Real lives and emotions are given very less value in the modern world. Even though technology is helping humans to save enough time, people are busy in their virtual realities. The world of social media is highly influencing the lives of people irrespective of age. People are getting dragged into that cyberspace. Let’s remember the words of Allison Burnett, “Only on Internet Technology can a person be lonely and popular at the same time.” How accurate these words are, right?

We always connect technology with something that is newly happening, right? But is that so? Technology is not a 21st century term. Technology is as old as civilisation. Every little change, even the use of primitive tools that were used for hunting in ancient times, can be connected with technology. Over the course of time, technology has undergone multiple changes, and such evolutions are clearly visible in all sectors of society. Do you know what the most precious thing on earth is? Is it the yacht History Supreme? Is it Antilla? Or is it ‘The Card Players’, a famous painting by French artist Paul Cezzane?

All these things may cost a lot, but not as much as time. Time is the most precious thing on earth, nothing can replace it, and it has to be valued. The assistance of modern technology has enabled us to save it. After the introduction of technologies, things that took hours and days for completion are now getting completed in seconds and minutes. Simultaneously, it is saving our money and bettering our lives, but never forget the words, “Too much of anything is good for nothing.”

Why is technology important?

There are multiple ways by which technology is favouring the lives of human beings. Technology became a great boon for us when it marked its advancement in the field of medical science. By continuous evolution and updation, technology has reached a level that enables us to treat and cure many health disorders, including cancer and other chronic disorders. It has helped to save the lives of many humans, and truly it can be called a ‘life saver’.

What are the top quotes to use in a speech on technology?

• “Technology is best when it brings people together.” – Matt Mullenweg.
• “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Albert Einstein.
• “It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” – Clive James.

How does technology affect our lives?

Even if the term advancement is linked with technology, there are multiple disadvantages. With the encroachment of technology, people have lost their social life. It’s the supremacy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over natural intelligence that is happening in the world right now. Humans are no longer social beings; they are just living beings with digital control.

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Speech on Technology in Simple and Easy Words

Table of Contents

The topic Technology is a very interesting subject to write on, especially when it is to be addressed in relation with the students. The need of technology arises everywhere – whether it’s in an educational institute, household, research centre or any multinational company. Moreover, teachers often ask their students to prepare speech on technology with its positive as well as negative effects on human beings. Here, on our portal we help you out with both short speech on technology as well as long speech on technology so that all learners can draw benefit out of these speeches. The content that we provide is easy to understand and can help students to learn all about technology and its wide-ranging uses.

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Long and Short Speeches on Technology

Speech on technology – 1.

Honourable Principal, Vice principal, Teachers and all my Fellow Classmates!

I stand here today to deliver a succinct speech on technology and how it has greatly affected our lives. In today’s world of rising competition, technology plays a very crucial role in making our lives easy and comfortable. There is no doubt that it is the most significant component of our survival in today’s era.

Presently, each and every day, a novel application or software is being introduced in the economy that serves to enhance and uplift the lifestyle of the people in innumerable ways; hence making our lives better and full of smart components.

We use technology every day and everywhere in order to fulfil particular duties or our specific interests. The technology helps us in numerous ways from morning till evening. People from all the age groups benefit from technology until and unless they know how to access the same. But one must never forget that anything that comes to us has its own share of pros and cons.

There are multifarious benefits of technology. Technology has made communication much easier than ever before by the introduction of advanced and modified innovations of phones and applications. Not only in the professional world, but also in the household sphere, technology has contributed a lot. Most of the technology that we have around us is automatic as compared to the ones our parents had in their days. In the entertainment sector, we have more techniques to provide the audience with a real time experience. There are more games, better musical instruments, better visual systems like smart TV’s. Great success has been achieved in social networking by connecting millions of people at one go with the help of codes. The advanced technology in clinics and hospitals has reduced the errors made by surgeons; hence evolving the patient’s treatment.

Despite all these advantages there are some disadvantages as well, which have negatively affected the importance of technology. The biggest problem that has been witnessed is unemployment. Due to the over practice and much involvement of technology, the machinery has replaced human labour leading to unemployment in so many sectors. Certain physiological research teams have also proved that due to the presence of social applications like Whatsapp , Facebook and Twitter , etc the actual social isolation has increased leading to depression and increased loneliness cases amongst the youngsters. The increased dependency of humans on technology has even deteriorated the intelligence and creativity of children.

Our nation is a developing nation in the context of technology and science. So, we must know how to make wise utilisation of technology without creating hindrance in the growth of an individual, mentally as well as physically. At last, I would only say that it depends on us how much we choose to be dependent on technology because there is nothing in the world which comes easy; it’s our conscience which decides what we learn from the things that are provided to us.

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Speech on Technology – 2

Respected Principal, Vice Principal, Teachers and Dear Fellow Students!

I am Namrata from Class 10, Section –A and your host for today’s event. I warmly welcome you all for assembling here. Before we begin the programme, I would like to speak on an extremely significant topic, i.e. “Technology”, as it has become a major part of our lives.

Advancement in Science and Technology in many spheres has without any doubt made our lives better than the earlier times. We cannot refute the fact that the life of each one of us is highly dependent on the scientific inventions and modern day technology.

It has bought an end to the wooden toys era and replaced the same with automatic cars. Its effect has been well observed in spheres like medicines, education, infrastructure, electricity, aviation, information, computer, metallurgy, physics, nuclear energy, space technology, defence research, biotechnology, household, sports, job, tourism, agriculture and numerous other fields as well.

Introduction of such technological strides, ideas and inventions to all these fields has brought a gigantic level of positive change in the current generation and thus, has provided them a variety of new and innovative opportunities. In India, technology has become the main source of the foundational and creative developments. It has improved and brought some huge developments in the Indian Economic status worldwide and has also created many new programmes for our new generation to grow in this technical world.

The maximum advantages have been seen in the educational sector. The more technological modifications, the better benefits it provides for students at several educational levels. For instance, since many students find the normal lectures boring and monotonous, the idea of smart classes makes them more engrossed in the same lectures that they earlier found boring.

There are also some people who are of the opinion that technology spoils a person by making him stoic and reducing his physical activities; thus increasing the chances of various health problems. This section of people supports the fact that the technological-based society offers a kind of silver spoon to people so much so that in the end they are unable to solve their problem on their own. This kind of dependency puts people in a horrifying condition where they are not at all self-reliant.

Other set of people who debate on this argument, believe that technology continues to be a very significant part of our society. They support the fact that it’s an indispensable part of our lives in the present scenario and will only help people for their betterment. It is immensely useful in providing the much needed knowledge to the students. All the great changes in varied arenas discussed above, have taken place due to the game changing contribution of technology. Further, this is a technical and cultural revolution.

But one thing we must not forget is that all the innovations are made to help us, not to make us the victim of the technological world. Now that we have a quick and easy access to the vast reservoir of knowledge through internet, we should make good use of it in order to solve the problems that we have around the world.

So students let us all take a pledge today to only make a fair use of technology for the realization of our goals and not making ourselves slaves of technology.

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Speech on Technology – 3

Good Evening Friends! I warmly welcome everyone to the speech ceremony of today.

I, Kartik Kaushik, am your host for today evening and would like to address the topic called technology. I am sure that we all can relate with technology without which we cannot imagine our lives. No matter wherever we go and whatever we do, technology has a sweeping influence over our lives. From the on and off of electric buttons to working in the kitchen with the appliances to going out in a car or any other vehicle – everything is governed by technology. Technology has gifted us so many things in life and thus we can safely say that it’s a boon for the mankind.

Technology plays a very significant role in satisfying our day to day needs. You just look around yourself and you will find everything from a small pen to a big airplane is borne out of technology. From sunrise until sunset, technology is what controls our lives. In fact, technological advancements have made our lives easier and we can perform tasks with a lot of ease and mush faster than ever before and hence can save our time.

It is not possible to do away with technology from our daily lives. Consider if the invention of airplane had not happened, then traveling from one place to the other or from one nation to the other would take considerably a long time. Take for instance, the field of medical science; the lives of many people have been saved due to technological advancements. In the absence of technology, our lives would have become powerless and regressive, so technology has improved our ways of living life.

However, some people believe that technology also brings disasters and its greatest example is war. War creates great bloodshed and takes away the lives of so many people using missiles and bombs. But the matter of fact is that when something goes wrong, we should not blame technology. For instance, when someone has used a knife to murder someone, we cannot put blame on the knife, but on the murderer who used that knife in order to kill someone. The other example can be based on the increasing rape cases. When teenagers sexually molest a girl, they do so after having watched a video on phone or a computer. It is not the fault of a cell phone or the internet, but it’s about the lack of moral principles in us and absence of strict regulation in our society which keeps a check on the downloading and uploading of such videos.

So when people don’t make wise use of technology, problem occurs and fault doesn’t lie with technology, but people who fail to observe morality. Solutions are required to fix these problems and there should be a proper surveillance system by the state and the government where wrong doers must be punished. Other than this, the concerned authority should keep a close watch on the unauthorized streaming of videos, which adversely impact our youth and leave a bad influence on them. Technology is a boon if used wisely and to the best interest of mankind.

This is all I have to say. Thank You!

Speech on Technology – 4

Respected Principal, Vice Principal, Teachers and My Dear Fellow Students – Warm Greetings to one and all!

First let me introduce myself. I, Anand Ahuja from Class-VI (B), would like to take this opportunity and deliver a speech on technology. Technology has completely transformed our lives in every way – the way we manage our day to day lives at home, office, school or anywhere, while we are traveling, talking to somebody over phone, etc. With the advent of technology, our lives have been gifted with a lot many things so much so that technology dominates our lives every second.

Robots are our most advanced form of technology now the only thing that is left is to get inside the human body and target emotions and human blood. To an extent, technology has even conquered that space as well. In corporate, the use of cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics, machine learning and business intelligence devices, etc., are helping find new avenues to manage, operate and conduct business.

The increase in cloud storage, cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence are such examples, which very soon will have a node to connect with our body and collect the data based on human activities in real time. Relentless development in technology has changed the lives of human both positively as well as negatively. The new inventions and boom in technology are due to our inherent curiosity, problem-solving skills and not to say the least creativity.

While giving birth to new technological inventions, we must also ensure that it should not only be human-friendly, but environmental friendly too. Technology should be like a flower for life and not a destroyer. Technology is present everywhere and deeply connected with our day to day lives. Technology can be called the king which rules over everything. But if human can cleverly manipulate the king, i.e. technology, through his knowledge and skills, then its bad effects can be controlled.

Technology is also greatly dominating the world of education and its learning methods as well. In the ancient times, it was not possible to get data, knowledge and information within fractions of seconds through internet. In fact, online schools have also emerged along with various online degree courses that help save people’s time from traveling to distant places. Now, people can gather information while sitting at one place through e-libraries and materials streaming online. It is indeed a positive move.

In fact, with the creation of machines and robots, the possibilities are such that they may even start giving training to people. Today, there are mobiles, computers, internet connection, video conferencing devices, social media and mobile applications in order to communicate with others from across the globe. It was not possible earlier. The advantage of change in communication is that it is easy, fast and quick way to communicate.

In the past where a letter used to take many days to reach a destination, like money order, personal letter or a greeting card, now they can be send within a few minutes time. Money can be transferred online through your mobile phone and greeting card can be mailed. This is what is called technology and its advantages cannot be simply summed up on finger tips.

So we should consider ourselves privileged that we are born during this time when technological advancements are flourishing and we are getting to enjoy the benefits and as far as its disadvantages are concerned it entirely depends on the human agency how the fruits of its benefits can be reaped and its use can be curtailed so that it doesn’t prove disastrous for the mankind.

Related Information:

• Paragraph on Technology
• Essay on Science and Technology
• Essay on Technology

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Global Citizen CEO taps into Generation Z's sense of urgency

NEW YORK (AP) — Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans says the sense of urgency that younger generations bring to solving international challenges needs to be nurtured in the rest of the world.

“So many of the world’s most prolific movements were started by people when they were young,” Hugh Evans said, noting that Martin Luther King Jr. was only 34 when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. “Can you imagine that? (Nelson) Mandela was 26 when he co-founded the ANC Youth League. Malala (Yousafzai) was 11 when she gave her first protest speech. And my hero (William) Wilberforce was 21 when he entered into politics. So we have to get our skates on.”

The Associated Press spoke with Evans shortly before Saturday’s Global Citizen Festival in New York, am event headlined by superstars like Post Malone and Doja Cat, as well as breakout artists like Benson Boone and Rauw Alejandro. The festival generated more than $1 billion in new commitments to fight extreme poverty, as well as a new partnership with FIFA in which Global Citizen supporters get tickets to matches by taking action on humanitarian issues.

The interview was edited for clarity and length.

Q: Can you talk about the Global Citizen Festival’s importance?

A: We’re operating against the backdrop of a world with constant shocks -- the ongoing shock of recovering from the pandemic and now the shocks of global conflicts. That has resulted in the first time in our lifetime where poverty for the last three years has been on the increase. We’re talking about 719 million people now living on less than $2.15 a day worldwide. The other big shock that the world hasn’t yet fully experienced is the shock of climate change, which has the potential to push another 100 million people into extreme poverty in the next ten years.

Q: You asked Global Citizen supporters to write their leaders about fully funding the World Bank’s International Development Association. You want them to encourage Colombia to stop providing licenses to companies seeking to drill in the Amazon. And you’re hoping to raise $250 million to provide education for 72 million kids currently out of school due to conflict.

A: Those are our big pushes this time. We want to address the reality that the world is confronting multiple crises at once.

Q: During United Nations General Assembly Week last week, many groups did outreach to Generation Z. Global Citizen has done that for years.

A: Based on our most recent data, over 70% of our members are Gen Z. We need to continue to double down on that. It’s fueled by the reality that I think we have a model of activism powered through the Global Citizen app that young people can relate to. And it gives them the power of putting activism and advocacy within their own hands. I think that our approach has always been to try to equip young people with the best, most thoughtful policy asks that are backed by incredible research and data and have the ability to have the most profound impact to bring an end to extreme poverty.

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy .

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Joe Burrow's pre-game speech gives Bengals a boost in first win of the season

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow isn’t one for pre-game speeches. But on this particular Sunday , he changed his mind.

Sitting at 0-3 facing a must-win game in Charlotte on Week 4, Burrow led his team with a pre-game speech before the team left the locker room. His message was short and sweet.

“He said what we are all thinking,” Bengals center Ted Karras said of Burrow’s pre-game speech. “We’re fighting for our lives out here; it was appropriate, and guys were ready to go.”

Embedded content: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2024/09/29/trey-hendrickson-wearing-sling-on-right-arm-after-bengals-week-4-win/75445282007/

Burrow didn’t want to divulge any details about his speech when asked about it following the game. He said he preferred to keep his message in-house and he was inspired to do so when he arrived at Bank of America Stadium.

After the disappointing loss to the Washington Commanders on national television in Week 3, Burrow hinted it might be time for him to take on more a vocal leadership role with his team.

“I just felt like I had something to say,” Burrow said of his pre-game speech. “I’m not going to go out of my way to be something I’m not but when I have something to say, I’ll definitely step up and say it.”

Burrow’s pre-game speech paid off as the Bengals got their first win over the Carolina Panthers. The Bengals take on the Baltimore Ravens (1-2) at Paycor Stadium next week and will need a similar performance from Burrow and Co. on offense with Cincinnati’s defense continuing to struggle.

In the 34-24 win over the Panthers, Burrow completed 22 of his 31 passes for 232 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bengals post game interview Joe Burrow pre-game speech

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Israel Tracked Nasrallah for Months Before Assassination, Officials Say

The Israeli military decided to strike at the Hezbollah leader because it believed there was only a short window before he disappeared to a different location, three senior Israeli officials said.

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By Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley

• Sept. 28, 2024

Israeli leaders had been aware of Hassan Nasrallah’s whereabouts for months and decided to strike him this past week because they believed they had only a short window of opportunity before the Hezbollah leader would disappear to a different location, according to three senior Israeli defense officials.

Two of the officials said that more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes to kill him. They did not confirm the weight or make of the bombs.

Hezbollah operatives found and identified Mr. Nasrallah’s body early Saturday, along with that of a top Hezbollah military commander, Ali Karaki, according to the officials, who cited intelligence obtained from inside Lebanon. All three officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that Mr. Nasrallah was killed in the Israeli strikes.

The operation had been planned since earlier in the week, as Israeli political leaders spoke with their American counterparts about the possibility of a cease-fire in Lebanon, and before Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, left Israel to give a speech at the United Nations, according to two of the officials.

All three officials said that Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Mr. Nasrallah who is a key player in the movement’s political and social work, was one of the few remaining senior Hezbollah leaders not present at the site of the strike. They said that Mr. Safieddine, who has long been considered a potential successor to Mr. Nasrallah, could be announced shortly as Hezbollah’s new secretary-general.

Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, based in Tel Aviv. His latest book is “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations,” published by Random House. More about Ronen Bergman

Patrick Kingsley is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. More about Patrick Kingsley