Oxford Martin School logo

Technology over the long run: zoom out to see how dramatically the world can change within a lifetime

It is easy to underestimate how much the world can change within a lifetime. considering how dramatically the world has changed can help us see how different the world could be in a few years or decades..

Technology can change the world in ways that are unimaginable until they happen. Switching on an electric light would have been unimaginable for our medieval ancestors. In their childhood, our grandparents would have struggled to imagine a world connected by smartphones and the Internet.

Similarly, it is hard for us to imagine the arrival of all those technologies that will fundamentally change the world we are used to.

We can remind ourselves that our own future might look very different from the world today by looking back at how rapidly technology has changed our world in the past. That’s what this article is about.

One insight I take away from this long-term perspective is how unusual our time is. Technological change was extremely slow in the past – the technologies that our ancestors got used to in their childhood were still central to their lives in their old age. In stark contrast to those days, we live in a time of extraordinarily fast technological change. For recent generations, it was common for technologies that were unimaginable in their youth to become common later in life.

The long-run perspective on technological change

The big visualization offers a long-term perspective on the history of technology. 1

The timeline begins at the center of the spiral. The first use of stone tools, 3.4 million years ago, marks the beginning of this history of technology. 2 Each turn of the spiral represents 200,000 years of history. It took 2.4 million years – 12 turns of the spiral – for our ancestors to control fire and use it for cooking. 3

To be able to visualize the inventions in the more recent past – the last 12,000 years – I had to unroll the spiral. I needed more space to be able to show when agriculture, writing, and the wheel were invented. During this period, technological change was faster, but it was still relatively slow: several thousand years passed between each of these three inventions.

From 1800 onwards, I stretched out the timeline even further to show the many major inventions that rapidly followed one after the other.

The long-term perspective that this chart provides makes it clear just how unusually fast technological change is in our time.

You can use this visualization to see how technology developed in particular domains. Follow, for example, the history of communication: from writing to paper, to the printing press, to the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, all the way to the Internet and smartphones.

Or follow the rapid development of human flight. In 1903, the Wright brothers took the first flight in human history (they were in the air for less than a minute), and just 66 years later, we landed on the moon. Many people saw both within their lifetimes: the first plane and the moon landing.

This large visualization also highlights the wide range of technology’s impact on our lives. It includes extraordinarily beneficial innovations, such as the vaccine that allowed humanity to eradicate smallpox , and it includes terrible innovations, like the nuclear bombs that endanger the lives of all of us .

What will the next decades bring?

The red timeline reaches up to the present and then continues in green into the future. Many children born today, even without further increases in life expectancy, will live well into the 22nd century.

New vaccines, progress in clean, low-carbon energy, better cancer treatments – a range of future innovations could very much improve our living conditions and the environment around us. But, as I argue in a series of articles , there is one technology that could even more profoundly change our world: artificial intelligence (AI).

One reason why artificial intelligence is such an important innovation is that intelligence is the main driver of innovation itself. This fast-paced technological change could speed up even more if it’s driven not only by humanity’s intelligence but also by artificial intelligence. If this happens, the change currently stretched out over decades might happen within a very brief time span of just a year. Possibly even faster. 4

I think AI technology could have a fundamentally transformative impact on our world. In many ways, it is already changing our world, as I documented in this companion article . As this technology becomes more capable in the years and decades to come, it can give immense power to those who control it (and it poses the risk that it could escape our control entirely).

Such systems might seem hard to imagine today, but AI technology is advancing quickly. Many AI experts believe there is a real chance that human-level artificial intelligence will be developed within the next decades, as I documented in this article .

legacy-wordpress-upload

Technology will continue to change the world – we should all make sure that it changes it for the better

What is familiar to us today – photography, the radio, antibiotics, the Internet, or the International Space Station circling our planet – was unimaginable to our ancestors just a few generations ago. If your great-great-great grandparents could spend a week with you, they would be blown away by your everyday life.

What I take away from this history is that I will likely see technologies in my lifetime that appear unimaginable to me today.

In addition to this trend towards increasingly rapid innovation, there is a second long-run trend. Technology has become increasingly powerful. While our ancestors wielded stone tools, we are building globe-spanning AI systems and technologies that can edit our genes.

Because of the immense power that technology gives those who control it, there is little that is as important as the question of which technologies get developed during our lifetimes. Therefore, I think it is a mistake to leave the question about the future of technology to the technologists. Which technologies are controlled by whom is one of the most important political questions of our time because of the enormous power these technologies convey to those who control them.

We all should strive to gain the knowledge we need to contribute to an intelligent debate about the world we want to live in. To a large part, this means gaining knowledge and wisdom on the question of which technologies we want.

Acknowledgments: I would like to thank my colleagues Hannah Ritchie, Bastian Herre, Natasha Ahuja, Edouard Mathieu, Daniel Bachler, Charlie Giattino, and Pablo Rosado for their helpful comments on drafts of this essay and the visualization. Thanks also to Lizka Vaintrob and Ben Clifford for the conversation that initiated this visualization.

Appendix: About the choice of visualization in this article

The recent speed of technological change makes it difficult to picture the history of technology in one visualization. When you visualize this development on a linear timeline, then most of the timeline is almost empty, while all the action is crammed into the right corner:

Linear version of the spiral chart

In my large visualization here, I tried to avoid this problem and instead show the long history of technology in a way that lets you see when each technological breakthrough happened and how, within the last millennia, there was a continuous acceleration of technological change.

The recent speed of technological change makes it difficult to picture the history of technology in one visualization. In the appendix, I show how this would look if it were linear.

It is, of course, difficult to assess when exactly the first stone tools were used.

The research by McPherron et al. (2010) suggested that it was at least 3.39 million years ago. This is based on two fossilized bones found in Dikika in Ethiopia, which showed “stone-tool cut marks for flesh removal and percussion marks for marrow access”. These marks were interpreted as being caused by meat consumption and provide the first evidence that one of our ancestors, Australopithecus afarensis, used stone tools.

The research by Harmand et al. (2015) provided evidence for stone tool use in today’s Kenya 3.3 million years ago.

References:

McPherron et al. (2010) – Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia . Published in Nature.

Harmand et al. (2015) – 3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya . Published in Nature.

Evidence for controlled fire use approximately 1 million years ago is provided by Berna et al. (2012) Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa , published in PNAS.

The authors write: “The ability to control fire was a crucial turning point in human evolution, but the question of when hominins first developed this ability still remains. Here we show that micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mFTIR) analyses of intact sediments at the site of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa, provide unambiguous evidence—in the form of burned bone and ashed plant remains—that burning took place in the cave during the early Acheulean occupation, approximately 1.0 Ma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the earliest secure evidence for burning in an archaeological context.”

This is what authors like Holden Karnofsky called ‘Process for Automating Scientific and Technological Advancement’ or PASTA. Some recent developments go in this direction: DeepMind’s AlphaFold helped to make progress on one of the large problems in biology, and they have also developed an AI system that finds new algorithms that are relevant to building a more powerful AI.

Cite this work

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this article, please also cite the underlying data sources. This article can be cited as:

BibTeX citation

Reuse this work freely

All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license . You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution.

All of our charts can be embedded in any site.

Our World in Data is free and accessible for everyone.

Help us do this work by making a donation.

Issue Cover

  • Previous Article
  • Next Article

Promises and Pitfalls of Technology

Politics and privacy, private-sector influence and big tech, state competition and conflict, author biography, how is technology changing the world, and how should the world change technology.

[email protected]

  • Split-Screen
  • Article contents
  • Figures & tables
  • Supplementary Data
  • Peer Review
  • Open the PDF for in another window
  • Guest Access
  • Get Permissions
  • Cite Icon Cite
  • Search Site

Josephine Wolff; How Is Technology Changing the World, and How Should the World Change Technology?. Global Perspectives 1 February 2021; 2 (1): 27353. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2021.27353

Download citation file:

  • Ris (Zotero)
  • Reference Manager

Technologies are becoming increasingly complicated and increasingly interconnected. Cars, airplanes, medical devices, financial transactions, and electricity systems all rely on more computer software than they ever have before, making them seem both harder to understand and, in some cases, harder to control. Government and corporate surveillance of individuals and information processing relies largely on digital technologies and artificial intelligence, and therefore involves less human-to-human contact than ever before and more opportunities for biases to be embedded and codified in our technological systems in ways we may not even be able to identify or recognize. Bioengineering advances are opening up new terrain for challenging philosophical, political, and economic questions regarding human-natural relations. Additionally, the management of these large and small devices and systems is increasingly done through the cloud, so that control over them is both very remote and removed from direct human or social control. The study of how to make technologies like artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things “explainable” has become its own area of research because it is so difficult to understand how they work or what is at fault when something goes wrong (Gunning and Aha 2019) .

This growing complexity makes it more difficult than ever—and more imperative than ever—for scholars to probe how technological advancements are altering life around the world in both positive and negative ways and what social, political, and legal tools are needed to help shape the development and design of technology in beneficial directions. This can seem like an impossible task in light of the rapid pace of technological change and the sense that its continued advancement is inevitable, but many countries around the world are only just beginning to take significant steps toward regulating computer technologies and are still in the process of radically rethinking the rules governing global data flows and exchange of technology across borders.

These are exciting times not just for technological development but also for technology policy—our technologies may be more advanced and complicated than ever but so, too, are our understandings of how they can best be leveraged, protected, and even constrained. The structures of technological systems as determined largely by government and institutional policies and those structures have tremendous implications for social organization and agency, ranging from open source, open systems that are highly distributed and decentralized, to those that are tightly controlled and closed, structured according to stricter and more hierarchical models. And just as our understanding of the governance of technology is developing in new and interesting ways, so, too, is our understanding of the social, cultural, environmental, and political dimensions of emerging technologies. We are realizing both the challenges and the importance of mapping out the full range of ways that technology is changing our society, what we want those changes to look like, and what tools we have to try to influence and guide those shifts.

Technology can be a source of tremendous optimism. It can help overcome some of the greatest challenges our society faces, including climate change, famine, and disease. For those who believe in the power of innovation and the promise of creative destruction to advance economic development and lead to better quality of life, technology is a vital economic driver (Schumpeter 1942) . But it can also be a tool of tremendous fear and oppression, embedding biases in automated decision-making processes and information-processing algorithms, exacerbating economic and social inequalities within and between countries to a staggering degree, or creating new weapons and avenues for attack unlike any we have had to face in the past. Scholars have even contended that the emergence of the term technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries marked a shift from viewing individual pieces of machinery as a means to achieving political and social progress to the more dangerous, or hazardous, view that larger-scale, more complex technological systems were a semiautonomous form of progress in and of themselves (Marx 2010) . More recently, technologists have sharply criticized what they view as a wave of new Luddites, people intent on slowing the development of technology and turning back the clock on innovation as a means of mitigating the societal impacts of technological change (Marlowe 1970) .

At the heart of fights over new technologies and their resulting global changes are often two conflicting visions of technology: a fundamentally optimistic one that believes humans use it as a tool to achieve greater goals, and a fundamentally pessimistic one that holds that technological systems have reached a point beyond our control. Technology philosophers have argued that neither of these views is wholly accurate and that a purely optimistic or pessimistic view of technology is insufficient to capture the nuances and complexity of our relationship to technology (Oberdiek and Tiles 1995) . Understanding technology and how we can make better decisions about designing, deploying, and refining it requires capturing that nuance and complexity through in-depth analysis of the impacts of different technological advancements and the ways they have played out in all their complicated and controversial messiness across the world.

These impacts are often unpredictable as technologies are adopted in new contexts and come to be used in ways that sometimes diverge significantly from the use cases envisioned by their designers. The internet, designed to help transmit information between computer networks, became a crucial vehicle for commerce, introducing unexpected avenues for crime and financial fraud. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, designed to connect friends and families through sharing photographs and life updates, became focal points of election controversies and political influence. Cryptocurrencies, originally intended as a means of decentralized digital cash, have become a significant environmental hazard as more and more computing resources are devoted to mining these forms of virtual money. One of the crucial challenges in this area is therefore recognizing, documenting, and even anticipating some of these unexpected consequences and providing mechanisms to technologists for how to think through the impacts of their work, as well as possible other paths to different outcomes (Verbeek 2006) . And just as technological innovations can cause unexpected harm, they can also bring about extraordinary benefits—new vaccines and medicines to address global pandemics and save thousands of lives, new sources of energy that can drastically reduce emissions and help combat climate change, new modes of education that can reach people who would otherwise have no access to schooling. Regulating technology therefore requires a careful balance of mitigating risks without overly restricting potentially beneficial innovations.

Nations around the world have taken very different approaches to governing emerging technologies and have adopted a range of different technologies themselves in pursuit of more modern governance structures and processes (Braman 2009) . In Europe, the precautionary principle has guided much more anticipatory regulation aimed at addressing the risks presented by technologies even before they are fully realized. For instance, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation focuses on the responsibilities of data controllers and processors to provide individuals with access to their data and information about how that data is being used not just as a means of addressing existing security and privacy threats, such as data breaches, but also to protect against future developments and uses of that data for artificial intelligence and automated decision-making purposes. In Germany, Technische Überwachungsvereine, or TÜVs, perform regular tests and inspections of technological systems to assess and minimize risks over time, as the tech landscape evolves. In the United States, by contrast, there is much greater reliance on litigation and liability regimes to address safety and security failings after-the-fact. These different approaches reflect not just the different legal and regulatory mechanisms and philosophies of different nations but also the different ways those nations prioritize rapid development of the technology industry versus safety, security, and individual control. Typically, governance innovations move much more slowly than technological innovations, and regulations can lag years, or even decades, behind the technologies they aim to govern.

In addition to this varied set of national regulatory approaches, a variety of international and nongovernmental organizations also contribute to the process of developing standards, rules, and norms for new technologies, including the International Organization for Standardization­ and the International Telecommunication Union. These multilateral and NGO actors play an especially important role in trying to define appropriate boundaries for the use of new technologies by governments as instruments of control for the state.

At the same time that policymakers are under scrutiny both for their decisions about how to regulate technology as well as their decisions about how and when to adopt technologies like facial recognition themselves, technology firms and designers have also come under increasing criticism. Growing recognition that the design of technologies can have far-reaching social and political implications means that there is more pressure on technologists to take into consideration the consequences of their decisions early on in the design process (Vincenti 1993; Winner 1980) . The question of how technologists should incorporate these social dimensions into their design and development processes is an old one, and debate on these issues dates back to the 1970s, but it remains an urgent and often overlooked part of the puzzle because so many of the supposedly systematic mechanisms for assessing the impacts of new technologies in both the private and public sectors are primarily bureaucratic, symbolic processes rather than carrying any real weight or influence.

Technologists are often ill-equipped or unwilling to respond to the sorts of social problems that their creations have—often unwittingly—exacerbated, and instead point to governments and lawmakers to address those problems (Zuckerberg 2019) . But governments often have few incentives to engage in this area. This is because setting clear standards and rules for an ever-evolving technological landscape can be extremely challenging, because enforcement of those rules can be a significant undertaking requiring considerable expertise, and because the tech sector is a major source of jobs and revenue for many countries that may fear losing those benefits if they constrain companies too much. This indicates not just a need for clearer incentives and better policies for both private- and public-sector entities but also a need for new mechanisms whereby the technology development and design process can be influenced and assessed by people with a wider range of experiences and expertise. If we want technologies to be designed with an eye to their impacts, who is responsible for predicting, measuring, and mitigating those impacts throughout the design process? Involving policymakers in that process in a more meaningful way will also require training them to have the analytic and technical capacity to more fully engage with technologists and understand more fully the implications of their decisions.

At the same time that tech companies seem unwilling or unable to rein in their creations, many also fear they wield too much power, in some cases all but replacing governments and international organizations in their ability to make decisions that affect millions of people worldwide and control access to information, platforms, and audiences (Kilovaty 2020) . Regulators around the world have begun considering whether some of these companies have become so powerful that they violate the tenets of antitrust laws, but it can be difficult for governments to identify exactly what those violations are, especially in the context of an industry where the largest players often provide their customers with free services. And the platforms and services developed by tech companies are often wielded most powerfully and dangerously not directly by their private-sector creators and operators but instead by states themselves for widespread misinformation campaigns that serve political purposes (Nye 2018) .

Since the largest private entities in the tech sector operate in many countries, they are often better poised to implement global changes to the technological ecosystem than individual states or regulatory bodies, creating new challenges to existing governance structures and hierarchies. Just as it can be challenging to provide oversight for government use of technologies, so, too, oversight of the biggest tech companies, which have more resources, reach, and power than many nations, can prove to be a daunting task. The rise of network forms of organization and the growing gig economy have added to these challenges, making it even harder for regulators to fully address the breadth of these companies’ operations (Powell 1990) . The private-public partnerships that have emerged around energy, transportation, medical, and cyber technologies further complicate this picture, blurring the line between the public and private sectors and raising critical questions about the role of each in providing critical infrastructure, health care, and security. How can and should private tech companies operating in these different sectors be governed, and what types of influence do they exert over regulators? How feasible are different policy proposals aimed at technological innovation, and what potential unintended consequences might they have?

Conflict between countries has also spilled over significantly into the private sector in recent years, most notably in the case of tensions between the United States and China over which technologies developed in each country will be permitted by the other and which will be purchased by other customers, outside those two countries. Countries competing to develop the best technology is not a new phenomenon, but the current conflicts have major international ramifications and will influence the infrastructure that is installed and used around the world for years to come. Untangling the different factors that feed into these tussles as well as whom they benefit and whom they leave at a disadvantage is crucial for understanding how governments can most effectively foster technological innovation and invention domestically as well as the global consequences of those efforts. As much of the world is forced to choose between buying technology from the United States or from China, how should we understand the long-term impacts of those choices and the options available to people in countries without robust domestic tech industries? Does the global spread of technologies help fuel further innovation in countries with smaller tech markets, or does it reinforce the dominance of the states that are already most prominent in this sector? How can research universities maintain global collaborations and research communities in light of these national competitions, and what role does government research and development spending play in fostering innovation within its own borders and worldwide? How should intellectual property protections evolve to meet the demands of the technology industry, and how can those protections be enforced globally?

These conflicts between countries sometimes appear to challenge the feasibility of truly global technologies and networks that operate across all countries through standardized protocols and design features. Organizations like the International Organization for Standardization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and many others have tried to harmonize these policies and protocols across different countries for years, but have met with limited success when it comes to resolving the issues of greatest tension and disagreement among nations. For technology to operate in a global environment, there is a need for a much greater degree of coordination among countries and the development of common standards and norms, but governments continue to struggle to agree not just on those norms themselves but even the appropriate venue and processes for developing them. Without greater global cooperation, is it possible to maintain a global network like the internet or to promote the spread of new technologies around the world to address challenges of sustainability? What might help incentivize that cooperation moving forward, and what could new structures and process for governance of global technologies look like? Why has the tech industry’s self-regulation culture persisted? Do the same traditional drivers for public policy, such as politics of harmonization and path dependency in policy-making, still sufficiently explain policy outcomes in this space? As new technologies and their applications spread across the globe in uneven ways, how and when do they create forces of change from unexpected places?

These are some of the questions that we hope to address in the Technology and Global Change section through articles that tackle new dimensions of the global landscape of designing, developing, deploying, and assessing new technologies to address major challenges the world faces. Understanding these processes requires synthesizing knowledge from a range of different fields, including sociology, political science, economics, and history, as well as technical fields such as engineering, climate science, and computer science. A crucial part of understanding how technology has created global change and, in turn, how global changes have influenced the development of new technologies is understanding the technologies themselves in all their richness and complexity—how they work, the limits of what they can do, what they were designed to do, how they are actually used. Just as technologies themselves are becoming more complicated, so are their embeddings and relationships to the larger social, political, and legal contexts in which they exist. Scholars across all disciplines are encouraged to join us in untangling those complexities.

Josephine Wolff is an associate professor of cybersecurity policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Her book You’ll See This Message When It Is Too Late: The Legal and Economic Aftermath of Cybersecurity Breaches was published by MIT Press in 2018.

Recipient(s) will receive an email with a link to 'How Is Technology Changing the World, and How Should the World Change Technology?' and will not need an account to access the content.

Subject: How Is Technology Changing the World, and How Should the World Change Technology?

(Optional message may have a maximum of 1000 characters.)

Citing articles via

Email alerts, affiliations.

  • Special Collections
  • Review Symposia
  • Info for Authors
  • Info for Librarians
  • Editorial Team
  • Emerging Scholars Forum
  • Open Access
  • Online ISSN 2575-7350
  • Copyright © 2024 The Regents of the University of California. All Rights Reserved.

Stay Informed

Disciplines.

  • Ancient World
  • Anthropology
  • Communication
  • Criminology & Criminal Justice
  • Film & Media Studies
  • Food & Wine
  • Browse All Disciplines
  • Browse All Courses
  • Book Authors
  • Booksellers
  • Instructions
  • Journal Authors
  • Journal Editors
  • Media & Journalists
  • Planned Giving

About UC Press

  • Press Releases
  • Seasonal Catalog
  • Acquisitions Editors
  • Customer Service
  • Exam/Desk Requests
  • Media Inquiries
  • Print-Disability
  • Rights & Permissions
  • UC Press Foundation
  • © Copyright 2024 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Privacy policy    Accessibility

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Technology in the daily life

Ortega Aparicio, Ruben

Created on October 31, 2021

More creations to inspire you

Presentation

ENGLISH IRREGULAR VERBS

Visual communication and storytelling, growth mindset, blended learning, intro innovate, summer zine 2018.

Discover more incredible creations here

PRESENTATION

What is technology?

Technology can be defined as: Set of instruments used in a sector.All that man creates is technology

Digital technology

It is a system of interconnected networks using different protocols. 51 percent of the world's population can access the Internet.

Elon Musk is carrying out a space mission so that everyone has access to the internet

Elon Musk and the Starlink missions

In the future, there will be a lot of robots that will make our lives easier

What will be in the future?

This company creates robots to do tasks that humans cannot do. They are currently working with NASA to send an exploration robot to Mars to explore the caves.

Boston dynamics

Technology will stop advancing?

Rubén Ortega Aparicio

Technology In Our Life Today And How It Has Changed

AgingInPlace.org keeps our resources free by working as an affiliate partner with some companies mentioned on our site. These partnerships or the commission we may earn do not affect our opinions or evaluations of the products we mention. Our reviews are solely based on our research methodology and from input from our AgingInPlace.org Advisory Board. Learn more about our ad policies.

Technology In Our Life Today And How It Has ...

Over the years, technology has revolutionized our world and daily lives. Additionally, technology for seniors has created amazing tools and resources, putting useful information at our fingertips.

Modern technology has paved the way for multi-functional devices like the smartwatch and the smartphone. Computers are increasingly faster, more portable, and higher-powered than ever before. With all of these revolutions, technology has also made our lives easier, faster, better, and more fun.

group of colleagues using their smart phones

In this article, we’ll cover how technology has enhanced the quality of life for seniors lives in and out of the home. Technology’s advancements have provided quicker ways to communicate through instant messaging apps and social media platforms. Seniors are able to keep in touch with loved ones, while caregivers have new avenues to check in on aging parents or patients.

Technology has also given us brand new devices in recent decades, like smartwatches, tablets, and voice assistant devices. With these devices, we can do things like transfer money instantly and make purchases for everything from clothes, food delivery, groceries, furniture, and more. Technology has changed how we entertain ourselves, meet each other, and consume all types of media. It’s made fun advancements, but it’s also made important advancements in safety when it comes to home security and medical devices.

Those struggling with hearing loss can now benefit from  hearing aids , or  TV Listening Devices  that allow them to comfortably listen to their favorite programs with ease.

Especially for seniors, these devices are providing the freedom to age in place, to live independently, and to continue moving through everyday life with peace of mind. It opens up new opportunities by helping with safety, mobility and connectivity. Medical advancements have made it so you can stay proactive with conditions like diabetes and arthritis. With new medical alert devices, seniors can also get help at the push of a button and keep in touch with loved ones no matter where they are in the world.

Since there are so many new technologies to keep track of, it can seem overwhelming to adapt. However, all of these new technologies are designed to make your life easier. Even though it may not feel intuitive, learning how to use smart phones, smartwatches and voice assistants just takes a little bit of instruction and practice.

Four-in-ten seniors now own smartphones, more than double the share that did in 2013.

When it comes to the way we communicate overall, modern technology has had a powerful influence.

Digital technology has changed what people term as “media.” The influence of new technology on media is apparent since a media company isn’t necessarily a news platform anymore. A media company is now any company that helps pass information across the globe, including social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The amount of active web users globally is now near 3.2 billion people.  That is almost half of the world’s population. Every day, two million smartphones are sold around the world, and the amount of information we share shared on social media networks is phenomenal.

how technology has changed living for seniors

Social media isn’t the only big statement digital technology has made. Neither is social media the only way technology has had an impact in everyone’s life.

Modern technology has made it possible for the discovery of many multi-functional devices like the smartwatch and the smartphone.

Before mobile technology, you had to search through a dictionary to understand the meaning of a word. Now you can look words up in a dictionary app or quickly search the Internet. Beyond words, you can search for practically anything on the Internet using search engines like Google and Bing.

how technology has changed our world

There is no denying that the future of technology will continue to revolutionize our lives. In a few years, driverless cars may be the norm for everyone, and robots will be commonplace in factories. Future technology is sure to transform our lives in unbelievable ways, but here we  highlight the many common ways technology is changing our lives today.

Technology Has Changed How We Communicate

In addition to social media platforms, there are also many other applications specifically designed for communication.

How has technology helped communication? The advancement of technology has made communication unbelievably fast and convenient. It’s incredible to look back and see how much easier communication has gotten over the years. Communication tools offer one of the most significant examples of how quickly technology has evolved.

In the past, writing a letter, sending faxes, or finding a wired telephone was the best way to communicate remotely with someone. To connect with someone in society today, you have many more efficient options at your fingertips. You can send them a message on social media, text them, video chat, email, or put a call through.

These new methods can help you keep in touch with loved ones, especially if you’re aging in place or living alone. Video chat helps caregivers check on seniors who may not need continual check-ups in person. Social media is a great way to keep in touch in general, allowing you to see what your loved ones are doing through the photos and updates they post.

technology has changed how we communicate

Social Media

Who hasn’t heard of Facebook, Twitter, or Skype? They’ve become household names. Even if you don’t use these platforms, they’re a part of everyday life and not going away anytime soon. Regardless of your location, messages via social media get delivered on these platforms at the same rate and speed whether the recipient is right beside you or on the other side of the globe. You can also send voice messages through these platforms, and it is delivered in nanoseconds.

Messaging Apps

The way we use mobile phones has changed dramatically as well. In addition to social media platforms, there are numerous other applications specifically designed for communication. If social media isn’t for you, WhatsApp and other messaging apps enable you to quickly message family and friends and even make calls over Wi-Fi.

You can email through your phone or send SMS text messages through your mobile provider, but many smartphones have their own messaging platforms built directly into the phone. On Apple iPhones, iMessage allows you communicate with anyone else who has an iPhone for free using WiFi or cellular data. iMessage has gotten increasingly sophisticated over the years. Sending photos, videos and emojis are just the basics with what you can do, and the platform has now expanded to include gaming, voice notes, and various app integrations to send information more quickly.

Messaging Apps can be a great option if you have friends in other countries or if you don’t have a phone plan.

The Evolution Of  Medical Alert System Technology

Within the last decade, medical emergency response systems have seen some impressive advancements, both in terms of technology and in safety measures that have made seniors feel safer than ever before. One of the earliest and most important advancements has been the introduction of mobile medical alert systems. These systems allow users the freedom to leave their homes and live their normal lives, while still having the peace of mind that emergency help is available in case of an emergency. Several devices, such as the  Medical Guardian Mobile  2.0, allow users to set up a network of emergency contacts who can also view their whereabouts and be notified in case of an emergency.  

Recent advancements in medical alert technology also include a built-in fall detection feature. With this feature, special sensors in your medical alert pendant automatically detect when a fall occurs and send an alert to your monitoring call center. With new GPS and cellular technology, the operator can then determine where you fell, regardless of whether you can communicate your whereabouts or know the address. This technology allows the operators to then send emergency medical assistance to you more quickly, thus providing a great sense of security for yourself and your loved ones.

Hearing Aids Improve Quality Of Life 

The use of hearing aids allows people to maintain a happy, healthy life by reducing the strain caused by reduced hearing ability. According to a  study facilitated by the Better Hearing Institute , eight out of 10 hearing aid users report being satisfied with the changes that their hearing aids have made in their lives. Hearing aids allow users to engage in common daily activities that would otherwise be far more difficult – or even impossible– such as talking, watching TV and listening to music.  Hearing aids  can also help you have a better quality of life by assisting you in: 

  • Identifying speech and language in voices 
  • Being alert to what’s happening around you
  • Avoiding the need for assistance from others at all times
  • Having a sense of control over your life

Smartwatches

Communication has even evolved beyond mobile devices and personal computers. We can now send messages through tablets, voice assistants, smartwatches, and more. The smartwatch is a relatively new technology that captures almost all the capabilities of smartphones in a convenient touch-screen watch. You can receive notifications, track your activity, set alarms, and even call and text directly through these wearable devices.

Senior Man using MobileHelp Smart Watch Menu

Smartwatches can also serve as a way to communicate with emergency responders. Medical alert companies like  MobileHelp  and  Medical Guardian  have partnered with smartwatch developers or created proprietary technologies to provide seniors the safety of a medical alert right on their wrist. These watches include many of the same features as a typical smartwatch, such as activity tracking and personal messaging.

Even the makers of popular smartwatches on the market outside of the medical alert industry providing people the ability to communicate quickly in the case of an emergency. The Apple Watch Series 4 and its subsequent versions have built-in fall detection, which will automatically alert emergency assistance. In addition to its automatic response capabilities, Apple Watch technology also allows users to initiate an emergency call from any location worldwide manually. Apple’s Medical ID Health app can provide emergency responders access to your medical conditions and designated emergency contacts.

Technology allows us to communicate instantly with people in our neighborhoods or around the globe. This innovation not only keeps us connected but can help us live safer and healthier lives.

Make Sure Your Loved Ones Are Safe At Home

Updating your home is the first step toward aging in place comfortably. Professional home care services help seniors stay healthy at home.

Make Sure your Loved Ones are Safe at Home

Technology has changed how we pay bills and transfer money.

No more do you have to enter a bank to withdraw money or transfer it to someone. Many banks have already made transactions possible online and accessible to people everywhere. Companies like PayPal and Venmo have created platforms where people can send and receive money from any location using the Internet.

Paying bills has also become simplified thanks to technology. You can automatically schedule payments when they are due rather than having to remember to mail a check. With your cell phone and a banking app, you can manage all of your necessary bill payments online.

Setting up automated payments through a banking app is especially helpful for seniors who may have memory problems. Caregivers or loved ones can help set up recurring bill payments so there’s never a question if a bill will be paid on time or not.

Technology has changed money

It’s even simple to pay for things using only your smartphone. With Apple Pay and Google Wallet, you don’t need to carry cash when you go shopping. These apps securely link your bank account to your mobile phone. The same machines you use to swipe your credit card at the store now allow mobile payments from your phone.

Keeping up with all of these innovations may seem like a hassle, but these technologies can simplify your life to help you worry about fewer things. With all of the payment capabilities available these days, you could leave home without your wallet and be just fine.

Technology Has Changed How We Watch TV

Technology has changed how we watch television today. Cable companies are continuously rolling out new features allowing viewers to pause and rewind live TV and record their favorite programs to watch later.

Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, streaming media player – Previous Generation

Price not available

Features and Specifications

  • Our best-selling Fire TV Stick, with the 1st Gen Alexa Voice Remote.
  • Enjoy tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills with access to over 500,000 movies and TV episodes. Enjoy favorites from Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO, SHOWTIME, NBC, and more.
  • Access millions of websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit with browsers like Silk and Firefox.
  • Launch and control content with the included 1st Gen Alexa Voice Remote. Simply say, “Play Game of Thrones” or “Launch Netflix” and Alexa will respond instantly. Plus, play music, find movie show times, order a pizza, and more—just ask
  • No cable or satellite? No problem. Watch the best of live TV and sports from AMC, HGTV, ESPN, FOX, and others with a subscription to DIRECTV NOW, PlayStation Vue, or top-rated primetime shows with CBS All Access.

With your mobile devices, you can watch, or “stream” the tv shows you want, when you want, and how you want. Streaming services like  Netflix ,  Hulu , and  Amazon Prime   Video  all offer access to cable TV shows and original content for a low monthly price. Disney is also getting into the streaming game, with the recent announcement of their new streaming service  Disney+ . Streaming is just another way to watch your favorite shows, but it uses the Internet instead of cable. It can be a more cost-effective way to watch television. Unlike traditional cable tv packages, you don’t have to pay for large cable bundles with channels you don’t use. Streaming services offer movies and TV shows that are grouped by genre, making it easy to find your favorites.

With streaming, you can watch on the go – all you need is an Internet connection. Many of the streaming services we listed above have mobile applications that allow you to download content directly to your device. This option allows you to watch even if you go somewhere without Internet access.

TCL 32-inch 1080p Roku Smart LED TV – 32S327, 2019 Model

$189.00

  • Easy Voice Control: Works with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to help you find movie titles, launch or change channels, even switch inputs, using just your voice. Also available through the Roku mobile app
  • Smart Functionality offers access to over 5,000 streaming channels featuring more than 500,000 movies and TV episodes via Roku TV
  • 1080p Full HD Resolution excellent detail, color, and contrast. Wireless Connection: 802.11 2×2 Dual Band
  • Direct-lit LED produces great picture quality with 60Hz refresh rate for fast moving action scenes with virtually no motion blur. Screw Size : M4 x 8
  • Inputs: 3 HDMI, 1 USB, RF, Composite, Headphone Jack, optical audio out

tech has changed the way we watch tv

More and more TVs these days are even designed for streaming. “Smart TVs” have Wi-Fi capability, which allows them to connect to streaming services using the Internet. Smart TVs will enable you to access more programs and even save money. With a Smart TV, you can access both streaming services and cable channels. To save money, you can also opt-out of cable altogether. It all depends on your budget and what you enjoy watching.

New TVs are also capable of displaying picture quality far beyond what you’ve experienced in the past. A standard definition TV displays 720 horizontal pixels. Today, it’s more common for TVs to have 4k resolution, which is 4,000 horizontal pixels. That means TVs today show a picture with nearly 6x more definition than standard-definition TVs making for a much better viewing experience and can make your favorite shows and movies that much more enjoyable.

Seniors who suffer from hearing loss can benefit from using a  TV Listening Device  that provides superior sound quality, enhancing the overall TV viewing experience. 

How Has Technology Changed Other Forms Of Entertainment?

Paper books aren’t going anywhere. However, e-reader devices have made reading easier when you’re on the go. An e-reader device like a Kindle or Nook can hold thousands of books without taking up space in your home. It’s a great way to have multiple options on hand if you’re going on a trip or vacation.

Kindle Paperwhite E-reader (Previous generation – 2015 release) – Black, 6″ High-Resolution Display (300 ppi) with Built-in Light, Wi-Fi, Ad-Supported

  • Now available in black or white
  • Higher resolution display (300 ppi) – with twice as many pixels
  • Built-in adjustable light – read day and night
  • No screen glare, even in bright sunlight, unlike tablets
  • A single battery charge lasts weeks, not hours

Audio books are an especially great way to enjoy classic and new books alike. Though you’re not reading, you’re still able to consume a great story through an audiobook. For aging seniors, audio books are great when it becomes more challenging to read the small type in books.

technology has changed how we read

When it comes to music, technology has also helped consolidate the devices we use. We can access our music no matter where we are. In the same vein as books, vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, and other physical albums will always have their place. They serve a unique purpose in enjoying music. However, just as it’s possible to stream movies and TV shows, you can also stream your favorite songs and albums.

Platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have made it possible to access millions of artists all at a monthly fee. While it isn’t the same as owning your favorite album, streaming allows you the opportunity to listen to music easily. The number of devices with music streaming capabilities continues to grow. You can use your smartphone, computer, car, portable speakers, and even TVs to listen to your favorite songs.

Technology Has Changed How We Date

How has the Internet improved our lives? One way is through the ease of meeting new people.

With the proliferation of online dating sites, you can register on a website, find a match, and start to communicate at your own pace. Many people don’t meet face to face until they decide there is a connection. This vetting helps you prioritize your time and protect your privacy while still getting to know someone new.

With the proliferation of online dating sites, you can register on a website, find a match and start to communicate at your own pace.

For better or worse, technology has also made it possible for you to find other people’s personal information on the Internet through social media. You can gain access to the information you want to know about a particular person. Some people who aren’t used to social media may view this as an unnecessary new part of life. However, it’s helpful to get to know people and keep up with them through busy schedules. Especially for seniors, online dating is useful during a stage of life where it’s typically more challenging to meet new people.

Online dating platforms have millions of registered users and have received lots of good reviews from every part of the world. Dating platforms have helped people connect with their matches in a way where neither party has to waste the other person’s time. It is comfortable, straightforward, safe, and it works.

technology has changed how we date

Technology Has Changed How We Live In and Outside of Our Homes

The internet of things allows everyday objects to be synced to the internet through Wi-Fi.

How Does The Internet Of Things Work With Home Devices?

All of the technology mentioned above has been made possible because of the Internet. New websites, platforms, and applications will continue to revolutionize the way we live our lives. However, the latest Internet technology isn’t always accessible on screens, and it’s called the Internet of Things (IoT). The Internet of Things allows everyday objects to be synced up to the Internet through Wi-Fi. This synching makes their usual functions accessible remotely and automated through data available on the world wide web. It may sound complicated, but it’s the same technology we’ve been using for years, just now accessible through different objects.

The  Internet of Things  can help to significantly improve aging in place and at-home safety, especially for seniors living with conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and arthritis. IoT devices are designed to monitor health at home, aid with mobility, and provide continuous monitoring.

Some examples of objects that use IoT today include driverless cars, fitness trackers like Fitbit, thermostats, and doorbells. Objects that use IoT are also commonly referred to as smart objects (think of smart TVs).

We’ll use the example of a  smart thermostat  to describe how it works. By connecting to the Internet, you’re able to use a smart thermostat remotely through your computer or smartphone. These systems usually have their own applications that you can open and control no matter where you are. For example, what if you’d like to cool the house down while you’re away? All you would have to do is open the smart thermostat app to tell it what to do.

technology in daily life presentation

Because these devices are so “smart,” you usually don’t need to do much when using them. The sensors on these thermostats are specifically designed to optimize your home for energy efficiency. Once you set your desired temperature, the thermostat can work on its own to keep your home at the best temperature. The thermostat won’t waste energy by staying on longer than needed.

Using Technology For Shopping

When you’re too busy or don’t want to leave home, online shopping is an easy way to buy what you need. You’re only a couple clicks away from getting the things you need thanks to the many options for online retail. There is no hassle and no need to make several trips to different stores.

If you aren’t as mobile as you used to be, online shopping makes it so everything you need can be delivered directly to your doorstep. While we still encourage as much daily exercise as possible, it can be too hectic and even hazardous sometimes for seniors to be out running so many errands.

Your average yard sale is even now online. With websites like  Craigslist  and  Facebook Marketplace , you can browse listings from people in your area. These are people who are looking to get rid of their used furniture, clothes, appliances, and more. Using these websites, you can view items based on what you need and your budget. Just like the technologies we listed above, these online marketplaces use secure payment methods that don’t require cash.

Using Voice Assistants

If smart devices seem overwhelming to you, there may be an easy solution: voice assistants. These include Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri. With a voice assistant, you can control all of the smart devices in your home and access the Internet by speaking voice commands. It’s as easy to use as having a conversation.

When it comes to shopping, these devices allow you to create a shopping list out loud and then have it automatically transferred to your phone. This makes the whole process easier for seniors with mobility issues with writing or who would rather speak out loud than make a list on a phone. Many of these devices even integrate directly with online shops. With the  Amazon Alexa , you can immediately make Amazon purchases without ever having to go online.

To make everything in your home easier to access, you can integrate your voice assistant with any smart device to make it accessible via your voice. If your home needs temperature adjusting or you want to turn some lights off, you can do it all through a series of simple voice commands.

Voice recognition for the elderly

They’re also handy to have inside your home for one of the most basic uses of the Internet – finding information. All you need to do is ask your voice assistant a question, and it will give you an answer found online.

Most phones these days are also equipped with different versions of voice assistants. If you’re hesitant about purchasing a unique voice assistant device, try testing out the software that lives on your phone. You can ask it to set reminders and alerts through your phone without having to search through settings. For seniors,  voice recognition software  can significantly improve the ability to live independently by making everyday tasks easier, aiding with medication reminders, and simply providing a more accessible, intuitive way to use technology.

Using Technology For Food Delivery

A lot of the technology we’ve already described helps make our lives easier by saving time and effort. Another example of this type of technology is food delivery. We all lead busy lives that could use some extra time. The ability to have things brought to your home is especially helpful for seniors or those with disabilities or sickness. One aspect of our lives that we often take for granted is the ability to head over to the grocery store.

Grocery Delivery

Food delivery can come in many different forms. Currently, many mobile apps allow you to order delivery from your favorite restaurants. We’re not talking about your standard pizza delivery. These apps pay people just like you to pick up takeout almost anywhere. A few examples of these apps include  Postmates ,  Uber Eats , and  DoorDash .

Many of these same apps and others offer grocery delivery, such as Instacart and Shipt. A lot of grocery stores like Walmart, Target, and Kroger even offer delivery or pick-up options. The  best grocery delivery plans for seniors  are helpful if you love to cook but can’t make it to the grocery store that often. It can also help if you find it difficult to leave the house but still want to make home-cooked meals.

technology has changed how we eat

Meal Kit Delivery

Lastly, you can also use subscription-based food delivery companies to get meals sent to your doorstep every week. These come in different forms. For example, companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh deliver meal kits with all the ingredients for a set of recipes. It’s like getting customized groceries delivered with step-by-step instructions.  Meal kits can help seniors  by cutting out a lot of the preparation needed to make a meal. You still might need to do a little additional cutting and preparing, but it won’t be as intensive as going to the grocery store and starting from scratch.

Pre-Made Meal Delivery

If you don’t cook, some companies that deliver pre-made meals. Some examples of these companies include Magic Kitchen, Silver Cuisine, and The Good Kitchen. While frozen tends to mean less nutritious, these companies have put a lot of time and research into developing delicious recipes. They still taste great after being reheated yet also contain the nutritional value for different needs, including vegetarians, people with diabetes, and seniors. These options remove the need for time-consuming grocery shopping and cooking.

For seniors, it’s common to have particular nutritional needs as you age and start to live with deficiencies or conditions like diabetes.  Senior meal delivery companies  make it easy to stay healthy without sacrificing your mobility or personal time.

Using Technology In Transportation

Driverless cars.

Driverless cars have been in development for years, but this technology has yet to become commonplace. When it does, it will lead to fewer accidents on the road. It will also make transportation more accessible to everyone.  People will be able to use cars even if they have disabilities or live in areas without public transportation. Driverless cars will use sensors to understand when to brake, speed up, turn, and park.

Though this technology still has yet to be perfected, we’re already seeing examples of its early stages in most new cars today. Since the technology being used isn’t completely driverless yet, it’s called driver assist. Using cameras and sensors, this technology can help you park, detect blind spots, warn you if you’re merging into another lane, and even automate the entire parking process – even parallel parking. 

technology has changed how we travel

Ride Sharing

Until the development of technology for driverless cars is ready, people will still be using planes, trains, and regular automobiles to travel. Technology has made some of these options more accessible. One of the most popular types of apps used today is for ride sharing. Popular ride sharing apps companies like  Lyft  and  Uber . The technology in their apps allows people to hail a ride from anywhere, just like a taxi cab. The best part about these apps is that the driver is trackable from a GPS map. Rides are also accessible nearly everywhere, even in areas where there usually aren’t any taxis. The companies let everyday people with modern cars apply to become drivers. Once they pass a background test, they’re eligible to start giving rides through the app.

Some people are hesitant to take rides from strangers. For your security, the apps have rating systems in place to ensure the drivers are doing their jobs well. The companies also continually update their security measures to make sure riders are safe.

Using The Gig Economy

Transportation apps like these are also an excellent way for  seniors to make some extra money through the gig economy . What is the gig economy? When you’re on the other side of the app as a driver, you can set your schedule to fit your lifestyle and take as many or as few rides as you’d like. Aside from money, taking on a gig job can help keep you active through using technology, communicating daily with customers, and getting out around your town.

Technology Has Changed How We Stay Safe

For seniors or people with disabilities, IoT devices are some of the best technologies for keeping them safe at home.

One of the best ways technology has changed our lives is in keeping us safer. Through technology, we’re living longer than ever before. While there have been countless technology advances in hospitals and medicine, there are also new technologies we can use at home. These enhance our everyday lives with safety and protection.

technology has changed how we stay safe

Certified Refurbished Ring Video Doorbell 2

  • A Certified Refurbished Ring Video Doorbell 2 is refurbished, tested, and certified to look and work like new and comes with the same limited warranty as a new device
  • Connect your Ring doorbell with Alexa then enable announcements to be alerted when your doorbell is pressed or motion is detected. Talk to visitors through compatible Echo devices by saying “Alexa, talk to the front door”.
  • Lets you see, hear and speak to visitors from your phone, tablet and PC
  • Sends alerts as soon as motion is detected or when visitors press the Doorbell
  • Powered by the rechargeable battery pack or connects to doorbell wires for a constant charge

Vive Fall Mat – 72″ x 24″ Bedside Fall Safety Protection Mat for Elderly, Senior, Handicap – Prevention Pad Reduce Risk of Injury from Impact – Prevent Bed Falling – Anti Fatigue, Standing Non Slip

$119.99

  • REDUCES BEDSIDE INJURIES: Providing complete bedside coverage, the mat ensures bedside safety for loved ones or patients at risk of falling. Reduces head injuries and other bodily damage due to falling with the high absorption foam padding.
  • HIGH IMPACT ABSORPTION FOAM: Drop an egg from 6 feet and the egg will not break! Soft, high-density foam absorbs the impact of falls and provides safe and secure footing for patients, loved ones and caregivers. The bedside fall mat is waterproof for…
  • BEVELED EDGES FOR EASY ACCESS: Designed to provide easy access for wheelchairs and other mobility aids, the outer edges of the bedside mat are beveled. This also minimizes tripping hazards.
  • SLIP RESISTANT MAT: A durable, slip-resistant rubber backing secures the mat in place on any floor surface including wood, tile or carpet. The soft mat has a non-slip, textured cover for additional safety.
  • VIVE GUARANTEE: 60 day unconditional guarantee so you can purchase now with confidence.

Ring Video Doorbell (1st Gen) – 720p HD video, motion activated alerts, easy installation – Satin Nickel

  • 720p HD video doorbell that lets you see, hear and speak to people from your phone, tablet, or select Echo device.
  • Get notifications whenever motion is detected by adjusting your motion zones.
  • With Live View, you can check in on your home any time through the Ring app.
  • Easily setup your Ring Video Doorbell by connecting to wifi via the Ring app and mounting in your desired location.
  • Powered by a built-in rechargeable battery or connects to existing doorbell wiring. With a Ring Protect Plan (subscription sold separately), record all your videos, review what you missed for up to 60 days, and share videos and photos.

IoT Safety Devices

For seniors or people with disabilities, IoT devices are some of the best technologies for keeping them safe at home. One great example is  fall detection technology . Through wearables or floor and bed sensors, small devices are capable of knowing when someone falls. Once these sensors go off, caregivers are alerted through intercoms or mobile alerts.

Medical Alert Systems

Outside of IoT devices, simple medical alerts can keep the elderly or disabled safe. At its most basic level, a medical alert is usually a base station that comes with a wearable emergency button. The user presses the button when they need assistance, and a caregiver or loved one nearby is alerted to check on them.

Medical alert systems come as either monitored or non-monitored devices. A non-monitored device works as we described above, and a series of numbers are pre-programmed as emergency contacts. With non-monitored devices, you won’t be put in touch with 911 responders unless your emergency contacts call them for you.

Companies like  MobileHelp  and  Medical Guardian  provide monitored medical alert systems. These companies provide the medical alert equipment while also hosting a staff of remote monitoring operators (either outsourced or in-house). Typically, you don’t have to pay for the equipment, but the companies require a monthly fee to be able to provide the monitoring service.

Medical Guardian Medical Alert System

Monitored alert devices are a huge benefit to older adults or seniors staying home by themselves. The devices allow help to be only the click of a button away should family members or caregivers be too far or unable to assist. The monitored devices also sometimes come with connectivity apps so that family caregivers can stay up to date with senior care. The apps will show when emergency buttons are pressed and can also provide activity monitoring through home or wristband sensors.

Home Security Systems

Smart security systems at home can also keep you safe from intruders. When these alarms go off, they can begin recording with a camera around your home and will also alert security professionals. These systems also connect to an app that you can access on your phone. You can view live footage of what’s going on in your home or disable alarms remotely.

If you aren’t interested in a full security system, you can also make a one-time purchase on a security camera or security doorbell like Ring Doorbell and Nest Camera. These require easy installation to your front door and work by providing direct notifications to your home when it senses someone’s there. There’s even an intercom built in so you can communicate with visitors and see them through the camera without having to open the door.

For seniors who live alone, these simple devices offer much-needed security and can be especially helpful for seniors who aren’t always able to frequently get up and open the door.

Home or office security

How Technology Continues to Change

Technology is rapidly evolving to help seniors age in place as well as to help improve productivity and wellbeing for all. Some of the latest innovations for seniors include medical alert smartwatches, touch-screen systems, and wearable activity trackers.

Companies like MobileHelp and Medical Guardian offer  smartwatch medical alerts  for on-the-go safety and touch-screen alert systems to use in the home. These new technologies are designed to provide quick assistance and complete connectivity to keep seniors and their loved ones well-informed.

While these technologies are currently still reactive, innovations continually help them to be even more proactive. Some smartwatch companies have already incorporated  ECGs into their products  to monitor heart rate and detect abnormalities, which can help get people to the doctor well before it’s too late.

Medical technology alone is beginning to give more and more patients hope with  customizable medicine  and new non-invasive procedures to help with diagnosis.

When it comes to technology designed for the greater good, we also see vast improvements and innovations. Although already used in factories and militaries, Robots are beginning to work more efficiently and human-like than ever before.  Robots are being built to have impressive dexterity  allowing them to move objects and themselves faster and smoother. 

There are many more ways in which technology has changed the way we live. These are just some of the fundamental ways technology is influencing and transforming our world.

The revolutions that will surface in years to come will continue to make profound changes in our everyday lives. The continual changes can be hard to keep up with, especially for seniors. Luckily, there is a lot of new technology for seniors that is specifically designed to be helpful and easy to use. Rather than being overwhelmed, embrace technology to discover how it can enhance and become an essential part of your daily life. Learning how to  become a tech-savvy senior can be done in as little as ten days . All you need is some persistence, help, and knowledge of the basics.

  • Was this Article Helpful ?
  • How has technology changed our lives?
  • 9 Ways Technology Changed Our Lives

Do you want to cite this page? Use our ready-made cite template.

PowerShow.com - The best place to view and share online presentations

  • Preferences

Free template

Information Technology In Daily Life PowerPoint PPT Presentations

The Role of Information Technology in our Daily Lives PowerPoint PPT Presentation

  • International
  • Education Jobs
  • Schools directory
  • Resources Education Jobs Schools directory News Search

Technology in everyday life

Technology in everyday life

Subject: French

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

wylamuk's shop

Last updated

31 March 2018

  • Share through email
  • Share through twitter
  • Share through linkedin
  • Share through facebook
  • Share through pinterest

ppt, 431.5 KB

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 35%

A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.

G.C.S.E. Technology in everyday life

In this bundle, you will find everything you need to thoroughly cover the topic of technology. I made this resource for my middle to higher ability students and it helped them to improve their knowledge, understanding and ability to use a wide range of vocabulary, verbs and structures relating to the topic. All skill areas are covered and the materials are well structured and differentiated.

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource:

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

USAGE OF ICT IN OUR DAILY LIFE

Profile image of Ahmed Aweis

Related Papers

Md. Faruque Rashid

technology in daily life presentation

Helio Chitamba

This article will illustrate how technology has long been beneficial to our lives, Businesses and our society, Advances in technology or Technology development furthers the growth of our economy, technology plays a great role in the creation of new jobs, untapped Markets and new capital. The application of technology can bring about cost reduction and optimization to many manufacturing industries. Implementing technology in industries today can help improve product/service quality and increase productivity. Technologies such as CAD (rapid prototyping) and automation has helped manufacturing come a long way and will be discussed in this article.

Leena Jenefa

In the present-day business atmosphere that is characterized by the ever-growing competition among local and international firms, the rise of more expectant customers and great technological advances has resulted in a complex market in the retail chain business. In this complex market field, the marketing strategy of the organisation could be to gain a competitive advantage over other firms provided that they deliver product and services to meet and exceed customer demands. Therefore, the organisations’ strategies should feature a proactive work ethic, based on co-operative relations within the organisation and with external players such as customers, suppliers and competitors.

An Introduction to Work and Organizational Psychology

Fred R.H. Zijlstra

Louise Cooke

Peter Ingwersen

Dyah Puspitasari

With the rapid development of Information Technology and an awareness of the importance of the role of IT, our country, Malaysia has taken the opportunity to make the industry of Information Technology as the engine of economic country growth. Thus on August 11, 1996 during inaugurated of the Multimedia Asia 96 trial in PWTC Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has announced Multimedia Super Corridor Project (or simply the Multimedia Super Corridor MSC) which is the Malaysian agenda to achieve the vision 2020 and the main strategies to achieve competitive advantage in the knowledge-based economy. This announcement demonstrates that Malaysia was heading towards the world of multimedia and at the same time providing the country to faced the IT era. MSC involves three giant projects, namely Putra Jaya, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), and Kuala Lumpur's National Airport (KLIA). MSC will be an area that has the perfect infrastructure for multimedia applications electronically. Along with the technological advances, it is brings the influence in all aspects of life, both in the field of Education, Manufacturing, Telecommunication, Banking. Based on explanation above, here I will discuss more about Malaysia's use of IT in some of these aspects as well as how the challenges and future direction in the context of IT.

EMMANUEL OSEI

Petar Hrastić

Animesh Choudhary

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Kimson Nosmik

SIGCHI bulletin

Sharon Traweek

Thomas Beauvisage

Will Prince

Supriya Singh

Sanjeeb Mahato

Robin Mansell

BAMUKUNDA HILLARY

Camilla Grane , Johan Stahre

Fast Track Publications

vishnu jadhav

jane oviawe

Open and Interdisciplinary Journal of Technology Culture and Education

Cristina Zucchermaglio

KLEOPHAS MTENGA

David Hulegaard

Liudmyla Ilich

International Journal Of engineering and Computer Science (IJECS)

Martin ngare

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)

ibrahim alameer

Journal of Computer …

Sara Dexter

Tajudeen kehinde

iaeme iaeme

Williams E Obiozor, EdD., Associate Professor

Kamal Ibrahim

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024

impact of new technology on daily life

Impact of New Technology on daily life

Aug 13, 2014

610 likes | 2.29k Views

Impact of New Technology on daily life. Importance Life become very fast with the growing technology and population which make the whole world in one family People are connected to each other even they are miles away Anti social

Share Presentation

  • whole world
  • personal attention
  • professor sussan greenfield
  • anti social

thy

Presentation Transcript

Impact of New Technology on daily life Importance Life become very fast with the growing technology and population which make the whole world in one family People are connected to each other even they are miles away Anti social I am not against the new technology But this made a large impact of people life such as,

Tv • Games • Mobile phones • Social net working(anti social) • Ignoring people sitting next to you

most sensitive of organs, is under threat from the modern world.( Professor sussan Greenfield)

Life balance • More attention to games, video, music, and on mobile phones instead of personal attention to family look after things

Why we need new technology • No one have power to stop The development of modern technology, • The question is • Were the peoples of thousands years ago happier than the present age ? • The answer is Yes. • Those people were mentally calmed, healthy, satisfied, and had good sleep(without any of these modern technology Such as Electricity, TV, phones, computer, aeroplanes and trains etc. etc.) • The human being at the old ages did not have much burden on mind because of all these development.

Anti social • Family units destroyed • Lack of communication • Health issues • Mental health • Environmental disorder • unemployment

  • More by User

Impact of Technology on Education

Impact of Technology on Education

5th grade students enrolled in Basic Skills/Computer Education earned higher reading, writing & math scores on Stanford 9. 1:1Laptop research results ...

1.08k views • 25 slides

Impact of Technology on Education

Background. Growing trend toward globalizationIncreasing importance of technology in societyStudents need to develop 21st century skills Students of today have grown up with digital technology. Technology in US schools. Over $10 Billion spent since 1996 on educational technologyStudents to compu

571 views • 25 slides

Impact of Research on Middleware Technology

Impact of Research on Middleware Technology

Impact of Research on Middleware Technology. Wolfgang Emmerich, Mikio Aoyama & Joe Sventek. About the Impact Project. http://www.acm.org/sigsoft/impact History of Science project funded by Aim: document impact that research has had on practice Areas of investigation:

339 views • 20 slides

Daily Life

Daily Life. Maddy Jenkins Tiffany Looney Jared Smith Laura Pritts Jacob Robertson James Mayhall 6 th Period. Different Societies. New technology was being developed, changing the different levels. The new technology was even making the higher class wealthier.

494 views • 30 slides

The Impact of Technology on Learning

The Impact of Technology on Learning

The Impact of Technology on Learning. The Impact of Educational Technology on Student Achievement What Most Current Research Say. Students who used computer-based instruction score 14% higher on achievement tests when compared to students in a controlled group who did not use computers.

2.46k views • 10 slides

IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON our DAILY LIFE

IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON our DAILY LIFE

IMPACT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON our DAILY LIFE. Y yote 2014 . Achievements of the EU. A SINGLE CURRENCY. Achievements of the EU. PEACE AND STABILITY. Achievements of the EU. COMMON MARKET FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE, GOODS, SERVICES AND CAPITAL. Achievements of the EU.

459 views • 29 slides

DAILY LIFE

DAILY LIFE. This is my brother, a clever boy, He is playing with a toy. This is my sister, a pretty girl, She is dancing with her doll. This is my cat, a funny pet, It is looking for a rat. exercises, homework. do ... go ... come ... have ... help ... go ... wash ... watch ...

464 views • 19 slides

Competency 026:Impact on Daily life/Environment

Competency 026:Impact on Daily life/Environment

Competency 026:Impact on Daily life/Environment. The Teacher understands how science impacts the daily lives of students and interacts with and influences personal and societal decisions.

216 views • 1 slides

The Clinical Impact of New LTOT Technology

The Clinical Impact of New LTOT Technology

The Clinical Impact of New LTOT Technology. Patrick J. Dunne, MEd, RRT, FAARC HealthCare Productions, Inc. Fullerton, CA [email protected]. Disclosure. This presentation is sponsored by SeQual Technologies, Inc. GOLD Guidelines. IV: Very Severe. III: Severe. FEV 1 /FVC < 0.70

485 views • 35 slides

The Impact of Technology on Families

The Impact of Technology on Families

The Impact of Technology on Families. Objective 2.02. Personal Computers “the good things” Advantages. Software and games help people learn about academic subjects and develop computer skills needed in the workplace. Internet.

639 views • 18 slides

Impact of Technology on Materials Engineering

Impact of Technology on Materials Engineering

Impact of Technology on Materials Engineering. IET 600 Individual Project 1 Joseph Barker September 20, 2004. What is Materials Engineering?. Materials engineers are involved in the extraction, development, processing, and testing of the materials used to

357 views • 17 slides

Warm-up Debrief: Impact of Government on Daily Life

Warm-up Debrief: Impact of Government on Daily Life

Warm-up Debrief: Impact of Government on Daily Life. School funding Environmental and land control/funding Food stamps Child labor laws War in Iraq Civil rights Home loans Mortgage rates Taxes. Notes: Intro to LSN. Why is this course called LSN Government?

419 views • 12 slides

The Impact of Technology on Communication

The Impact of Technology on Communication

The Impact of Technology on Communication. William DeCotiis February 17, 2012. A Brief History of Communication. A Modern History of Communication. 1900 – 1920s Telephone - 1876 Radio - 1902 Talking Motion Pictures - 1910 Television - 1923 1930 – 1950s

6.67k views • 11 slides

Daily Life of Romans

Daily Life of Romans

Daily Life of Romans. Now you will learn: The daily lives of Romans revolved around family, religion, and social class, as well as sports and public entertainment. Essential Questions: How were the family and society organized? What were the religious beliefs of the Romans?

293 views • 6 slides

HOW Tunes CAN Impact Your daily life

HOW Tunes CAN Impact Your daily life

When you've got your usual listening to method, just one issue we know obviously: you do not go daily with no listening to songs, no matter whether you want it when you place your playlist on Youtube, or these that do not sort once your neighbor begins hearing loud music in the sound of your car.

21 views • 1 slides

Impact of Technology on Small Businesses

Impact of Technology on Small Businesses

Within a short span of time, social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) have completely changed the way small businesses promote and sell their products or services. The widely used cloud models enable enterprises to avail on-demand computing resources over the internet without setting up expensive IT infrastructure.

1.73k views • 6 slides

The Impact of Emotional Equilibrium over the Daily Life

The Impact of Emotional Equilibrium over the Daily Life

Let's consider yourself as an emotional person, countdown whether emotions often get the best of you! Have you ever experienced, why you have difficulties to deal with situations that happen day in and day out? It is enigmatic that emotional equilibrium is the essence of our daily routine, which affects our life style. By joining DorisNLP, you can learn about the states of mind that how to control over your emotions to achieve your much-coveted success.

106 views • 7 slides

Impact of Weekly Horoscopes in our Daily Life

Impact of Weekly Horoscopes in our Daily Life

People who believed in horoscopes are more likely to make the right decisions because of their positive energy. Humans are affected by their birth time and place and the accuracy of horoscope directly depend on the time and place of birth. Horoscopes can offer guidance to many people when time comes to take decisions.

105 views • 7 slides

Impact of Research on  Middleware Technology

220 views • 20 slides

Impact of Technology on Moving Industry

Impact of Technology on Moving Industry

ChoreRelief is an innovative house cleaning app that helps in finding the most professional cleaning services in Chicago. You can even find more household help, such as a handyman, with the help of this app. For more information about the ChoreRelief app. https://chorereliefonline.blogspot.com/2020/03/Six-Overlooked-Parts-of-Home-for-Cleaning-A-Sneak-Peek.html .

133 views • 8 slides

impact of technology on daily life

impact of technology on daily life

Tech companies have generally fixated on increasing productivity and profits by automating work, and thus eliminating jobs. The gig economy is merely positive branding for the same impulse - to reduce the complexity and costs of managing real, live human employees. Fundamentally, in most cases (there are exceptions), itu2019s a way for companies to keep a lion's share of the profits. While the digital revolution has undeniably created new jobs, the jury is still out there when it comes to whether tech, long-term, is going to be net positive or net negative in terms of total job creation. Beyond this u201cnumbers questionu201d, there is another one about the general impact on the nature of work.

98 views • 1 slides

June 2024 - NASA in Your Home: How Space-Based Technology Improves Our Daily Lives

technology in daily life presentation

The Eyegaze System enables this boy to communicate using only the movement of his eyes. A video camera focuses on the pupil of the user's eye, tracking its movement. To "press" a key on the screen, the user looks at the key for a specified time, prompting the computer to take the appropriate action.

NASA in Your Home: How Space-Based Technology Improves Our Daily Lives

Time: 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT; 0100 UTC)

Did you know that the microchip in your cell phone’s camera was first developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use on spacecraft? 

The cell phone camera is one of many “spinoffs,” or commercialized products that incorporate NASA technology or expertise that benefit the general public. Spinoffs have been part of our lives for decades: improved GPS, assistive eyesight technology, advanced dental imaging, and even sophisticated videogame landscapes were all originally developed at JPL to study Earth and the universe.

Join us for a live talk as we explore how space-based technology becomes a spinoff, including a deep dive on the NASA-designed and -built instrument at the heart of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first two satellites. Called Tanager-1 and Tanager-2, the satellites will pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide sources in communities around the world from low-Earth orbit.

Speaker(s): Daniel Broderick, Manager of the Office of Technology Transfer at JPL Andrew Thorpe, Research Technologist, NASA/JPL

Host: Gregory Smith, Communications and Education Directorate, NASA JPL

Co-host: Rachel Zimmerman Brachman, Public Outreach Specialist, NASA JPL

Webcast: Click here to watch the event live on YouTube

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

  • Publications
  • Our Methods
  • Short Reads
  • Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

Table of Contents

Which social media platforms are most common, who uses each social media platform, find out more, social media fact sheet.

Many Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves. Explore the patterns and trends shaping the social media landscape.

To better understand Americans’ social media use, Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 U.S. adults from May 19 to Sept. 5, 2023. Ipsos conducted this National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for the Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol that included both web and mail. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race and ethnicity, education and other categories.

Polls from 2000 to 2021 were conducted via phone. For more on this mode shift, read our Q&A.

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and  its methodology ­­­.

A note on terminology: Our May-September 2023 survey was already in the field when Twitter changed its name to “X.” The terms  Twitter  and  X  are both used in this report to refer to the same platform.

technology in daily life presentation

YouTube and Facebook are the most-widely used online platforms. About half of U.S. adults say they use Instagram, and smaller shares use sites or apps such as TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter (X) and BeReal.

YearYouTubeFacebookInstagramPinterestTikTokLinkedInWhatsAppSnapchatTwitter (X)RedditBeRealNextdoor
8/5/201254%9%10%16%13%
8/7/201214%
12/9/201211%13%13%
12/16/201257%
5/19/201315%
7/14/201316%
9/16/201357%14%17%17%14%
9/30/201316%
1/26/201416%
9/21/201458%21%22%23%19%
4/12/201562%24%26%22%20%
4/4/201668%28%26%25%21%
1/10/201873%68%35%29%25%22%27%24%
2/7/201973%69%37%28%27%20%24%22%11%
2/8/202181%69%40%31%21%28%23%25%23%18%13%
9/5/202383%68%47%35%33%30%29%27%22%22%3%

Note: The vertical line indicates a change in mode. Polls from 2012-2021 were conducted via phone. In 2023, the poll was conducted via web and mail. For more details on this shift, please read our Q&A . Refer to the topline for more information on how question wording varied over the years. Pre-2018 data is not available for YouTube, Snapchat or WhatsApp; pre-2019 data is not available for Reddit; pre-2021 data is not available for TikTok; pre-2023 data is not available for BeReal. Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown.

Source: Surveys of U.S. adults conducted 2012-2023.

technology in daily life presentation

Usage of the major online platforms varies by factors such as age, gender and level of formal education.

% of U.S. adults who say they ever use __ by …

  • RACE & ETHNICITY
  • POLITICAL AFFILIATION
Ages 18-2930-4950-6465+
Facebook67756958
Instagram78593515
LinkedIn32403112
Twitter (X)4227176
Pinterest45403321
Snapchat6530134
YouTube93928360
WhatsApp32382916
Reddit4431113
TikTok62392410
BeReal1231<1
MenWomen
Facebook5976
Instagram3954
LinkedIn3129
Twitter (X)2619
Pinterest1950
Snapchat2132
YouTube8283
WhatsApp2731
Reddit2717
TikTok2540
BeReal25
WhiteBlackHispanicAsian*
Facebook69646667
Instagram43465857
LinkedIn30292345
Twitter (X)20232537
Pinterest36283230
Snapchat25253525
YouTube81828693
WhatsApp20315451
Reddit21142336
TikTok28394929
BeReal3149
Less than $30,000$30,000- $69,999$70,000- $99,999$100,000+
Facebook63707468
Instagram37464954
LinkedIn13193453
Twitter (X)18212029
Pinterest27343541
Snapchat27302625
YouTube73838689
WhatsApp26263334
Reddit12232230
TikTok36373427
BeReal3335
High school or lessSome collegeCollege graduate+
Facebook637170
Instagram375055
LinkedIn102853
Twitter (X)152429
Pinterest264238
Snapchat263223
YouTube748589
WhatsApp252339
Reddit142330
TikTok353826
BeReal344
UrbanSuburbanRural
Facebook666870
Instagram534938
LinkedIn313618
Twitter (X)252613
Pinterest313636
Snapchat292627
YouTube858577
WhatsApp383020
Reddit292414
TikTok363133
BeReal442
Rep/Lean RepDem/Lean Dem
Facebook7067
Instagram4353
LinkedIn2934
Twitter (X)2026
Pinterest3535
Snapchat2728
YouTube8284
WhatsApp2533
Reddit2025
TikTok3036
BeReal44

technology in daily life presentation

This fact sheet was compiled by Research Assistant  Olivia Sidoti , with help from Research Analyst  Risa Gelles-Watnick , Research Analyst  Michelle Faverio , Digital Producer  Sara Atske , Associate Information Graphics Designer Kaitlyn Radde and Temporary Researcher  Eugenie Park .

Follow these links for more in-depth analysis of the impact of social media on American life.

  • Americans’ Social Media Use  Jan. 31, 2024
  • Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband  Jan. 31 2024
  • Q&A: How and why we’re changing the way we study tech adoption  Jan. 31, 2024

Find more reports and blog posts related to  internet and technology .

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

  • Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

© 2024 Pew Research Center

technology in daily life presentation

Police in Burlington, Vermont apologize to students for mock shooting demonstration

Police in Burlington, Vermont have apologized to a group of high school students who were shaken up by a role-playing presentation that involved a mock shooting .

The presentation took place Wednesday when about 20 students from Burlington High School's Year End Studies forensics class visited the Burlington Police Department's headquarters for a field trip, according to a statement from Russ Elek, spokesperson for the Burlington School District, to the VTDigger .

The news outlet, citing an email school officials sent parents and families of the students involved, reports that police reenacted a crime and students unexpectedly heard screaming and fake gunshots behind where they were seated.

The purpose of the presentation "was to make a point about how witness statements can be unreliable, and detectives wanted the event to be as realistic as possible," the VTDigger reports, citing an email written by interim principal Sabrina Westdijk and two teachers in attendance.

"First and foremost, the Burlington Police Department apologizes to any students in attendance who were upset by the specific scenario and crime scene portion of the presentation," the department said in a news release Thursday.

'About as real-life as you can get'

The department stated that the role-playing scenario involved "three department personnel simulating a robbery scenario" and was not directed toward any students or faculty. Police also said the district contacted them in April about conducting the presentation after a "previous successful presentation" between the programs in the fall of 2023.

According to Elek, school officials "didn't realize the presentation would happen without warning," a claim the Burlington Police Department disputes, according to the VTDigger.

The Burlington Police Department said it communicated details of the scenarios to the school program's staff in May, including saying that the training incident would involve "using fake firearms in a mock shooting." The department said it told program staff the presentation "is about as real life as you can get, and is certainly exactly the sort of thing we deal with most frequently."

'A reflective growth opportunity'

Police said the program staff responded, "I think these students will be fine with the simulation. We will give a heads up to parents and students."

The police department said in the statement it will meet with students and staff Friday to discuss the presentation and its impact.

"We hope that this can be a reflective growth opportunity for all parties," the department said in the statement.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X  @GabeHauari  or email him at [email protected]

IMAGES

  1. PPT

    technology in daily life presentation

  2. Information technology in our daily lives

    technology in daily life presentation

  3. The Importance of Technology in Our Daily Life

    technology in daily life presentation

  4. Usage of ict in daily life

    technology in daily life presentation

  5. PPT

    technology in daily life presentation

  6. Technology in Everyday Life by Demerus Darville on Prezi

    technology in daily life presentation

VIDEO

  1. Computer Concepts Intro (technology daily life)

  2. Technology

  3. Fishing Technology Daily Life: Use Large Excavator Catch Big Fish At Stream

  4. These NEW Technologies Are Changing the World!!

  5. Top 10 Tech Gadgets That Will Change Your Daily Life

COMMENTS

  1. 8 ways technology will impact our lives in the future

    1. Technology is boosting productivity. Businesses are increasingly looking to digitally transform their operations amid an incredible demand for things to be more intelligent and connected, says Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "I think technology right now, probably more than ever - especially when we talk about ...

  2. Technology in our lives ppt

    EstefaniCedeo1. Technology is an interesting thing that scientis create to complete our necesity and wants. We use technology in everything that we in this moment for example: study, work or clean. Read more. Education. Technology in our lives ppt. Technology in our lives By: How technology was created. Technology is.

  3. Technology and it's impact on our life

    Technology brings with it both shades: positive and negative. Society seems to have a cyclical dependence on technology. We use technology inadvertently in all walks of our life; depend on technology in our daily life and our needs and demands for technology keep on rising. In a way, so as to say, are now shackled in the chains of the same.

  4. How technology impacts our lives ( finished)

    Technology has greatly impacted our lives in many ways. Basic home technologies like TV, computers, and phones allow people to stay informed about news and events and communicate with others. Without these technologies, people would be isolated from world events and unable to contact others in emergencies. Portable devices owned by most teens ...

  5. How Technology Can Be Part of a Happy Life

    Connect in meaningful ways with others. Enjoy strong relationships online and offline. Build healthy physical and digital practices. Embrace mindfulness and self-care through intentional technology use. Understand how to manage your digital data and privacy. Contribute to a positive digital community in your networks.

  6. PPT

    Technology in our life. Our life is critical. To make our life easy we use technology. ... 1.1 Applications of Information Technology in Our Daily Life. 522 views • 24 slides. ... Sport in our life. Sport in our life. The presentation was made by the pupil of 7B Yurova Juliya . Sport. 1. Sport helps us to keep fit. 2. Sport improves your outlook.

  7. 1. The positives of digital life

    July 3, 2018. Stories From Experts About the Impact of Digital Life. 1. The positives of digital life. By Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie. The greatest share of participants in this canvassing said their own experience and their observed experience among friends is that digital life improves many of the dimensions of their work, play and home lives.

  8. Technology over the long run: zoom out to see how dramatically the

    Because of the immense power that technology gives those who control it, there is little that is as important as the question of which technologies get developed during our lifetimes. Therefore, I think it is a mistake to leave the question about the future of technology to the technologists. Which technologies are controlled by whom is one of ...

  9. How Is Technology Changing the World, and How Should the World Change

    It can help overcome some of the greatest challenges our society faces, including climate change, famine, and disease. For those who believe in the power of innovation and the promise of creative destruction to advance economic development and lead to better quality of life, technology is a vital economic driver (Schumpeter 1942). But it can ...

  10. Technologies in Our Daily Lives

    Technologies in Our Daily Lives - Free download as Powerpoint Presentation (.ppt / .pptx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online. Technologies are widely used in schools, homes, and workplaces to make tasks more efficient and accessible. In schools, technologies like the internet, computers, and projectors are used to create engaging lessons and allow easy access ...

  11. Top 15 Importance of Technology In Our Daily Life [Types ...

    Learn how technology has transformed various aspects of our lives, such as communication, education, healthcare, and entertainment. Explore the types of technological innovations, their uses, and the roles in the field of technology.

  12. Technology in the daily life

    Technology in the daily life. PRESENTATION. What is technology? Technology can be defined as: Set of instruments used in a sector.All that man creates is technology. Digital technology. Internet. It is a system of interconnected networks using different protocols. 51 percent of the world's population can access the Internet. 51%

  13. Technology In Our Life Today And How It Has Changed

    Learn how technology has revolutionized communication, entertainment, and safety for seniors and caregivers. Explore the benefits and challenges of modern devices like smartphones, smartwatches, and voice assistants.

  14. Information Technology In Daily Life PowerPoint PPT Presentations

    People in the digital era use various gadgets on a daily basis and reap the benefits of digital life. According to United Nations statistics, approximately 86 percent of us have home internet access. Information can be easily stored, processed, and transferred to wherever we want with the help of digital technology.

  15. Application of information technology in everyday life

    Information technology is the application of computers and telecommunications to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate various forms of data. It is used in many aspects of daily life like paying bills, entertainment, education, research, and school administration. At home, people use IT to pay bills by phone or online. At school, students ...

  16. Technology in everyday life

    Technology in everyday life. Subject: French. Age range: 16+. Resource type: Worksheet/Activity. File previews. ppt, 431.5 KB. doc, 206 KB. I made this ppt. and crossword puzzle to help my average to higher level G.C.S.E. students meet, use and understand more complex vocabulary and structures relating to the topic of technology. Discuss and ...

  17. (PPT) USAGE OF ICT IN OUR DAILY LIFE

    This article will illustrate how technology has long been beneficial to our lives, Businesses and our society, Advances in technology or Technology development furthers the growth of our economy, technology plays a great role in the creation of new jobs, untapped Markets and new capital. The application of technology can bring about cost ...

  18. Impact of New Technology on daily life

    Presentation Transcript. Impact of New Technology on daily life Importance Life become very fast with the growing technology and population which make the whole world in one family People are connected to each other even they are miles away Anti social I am not against the new technology But this made a large impact of people life such as, Tv ...

  19. (PDF) INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE

    The survival. rate has increased up to 80%. Thus lowering the. mortality rate. Technology has made things. much simple, and efficient. For instance, people. take a lot of photos to do a lot of bro ...

  20. What Is Artificial Intelligence? Definition, Uses, and Types

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is the theory and development of computer systems capable of performing tasks that historically required human intelligence, such as recognizing speech, making decisions, and identifying patterns. AI is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of technologies, including machine learning, deep learning, and ...

  21. June 2024

    NASA in Your Home: How Space-Based Technology Improves Our Daily Lives. June 20. Time: 5 p.m. PDT (8 p.m. EDT; 0100 UTC) Did you know that the microchip in your cell phone's camera was first developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use on spacecraft? The cell phone camera is one of many "spinoffs," or commercialized products ...

  22. Social Media Fact Sheet

    Follow these links for more in-depth analysis of the impact of social media on American life. Americans' Social Media Use Jan. 31, 2024; Americans' Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband Jan. 31 2024; Q&A: How and why we're changing the way we study tech adoption Jan. 31, 2024

  23. Apple Stock: Spotlight On Big AI Reveal At WWDC 2024 (Live Coverage)

    Technology. Apple AI Event Ends. Stock Down Nearly 2%. (Live Coverage) Licensing. PATRICK SEITZ. 06:05 PM ET 06/10/2024. The AI spotlight turns to Apple ( AAPL) Monday as the tech giant kicks off ...

  24. THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN OUR LIFE

    8. • Information technology is vital to the operation of modern business, it offers many employment opportunities. • Many well-paid jobs exist in areas such as the Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce), mobile commerce, network security, telecommunications, and multimedia design. • The information systems field includes the people ...

  25. Burlington police apologizes to students for mock shooting

    USA TODAY. Police in Burlington, Vermont have apologized to a group of high school students who were shaken up by a role-playing presentation that involved a mock shooting. The presentation took ...