Today in Gender and Technology we discussed how technology is shaped by society in a variety of ways. For example, (older) bridges in New York were purposely built too low for buses by the architect, who didn’t want poor people – who rely on public transportation – coming into the nicer, more upper class areas of the city. I think that any type of technology is likely shaped by a variety of factors, but I am interested more in how technology shapes us.
Technology has and always will drive the evolution of a society, in my opinion. Although we may create technologies as a result of our needs and desires, in a way, we have these needs and desires because of previous technologies. (Kinda sounds like a which-came-first question.) The use and existence of certain tools has allowed various populations of humans to “evolve”, in the societal sense, differently than others. In the developed world, our heads are down to our phones and laptops quite often, because we are always working. But we do not work because our iPhones give us the capability to work non-stop; rather, the fact that our devices are portable and accessible 24/7 practically forces us to work as a result. We cannot help but be connected.
To make the choice to not facebook, or not text, or not check email regularly, is a choice to stand out from the progression of the population. The vast majority of us who are “wired in” will continue to move along more and more quickly as technology progresses, and if you’re not connected, you just get left behind.
I guess the question of what shapes what (do we shape technology, or does it shape us) is more of a see-saw. We make technologies that suit us, and then as the rapidly progress we have no choice but to grad hold and get dragged along into whatever lifestyle comes along with it.
