The notion of progress

THE NOTION OF PROGRESS

To illustrate the notion of progress, I will talk about new technologies ( that is the technologies about information and communication ), and the impact they have on our society.

So, we can wonder if the technological progress have only positive aspects on our society

To start with, let’s deal with the positive aspects of new technologies on our society

Indeed, high-tech devices have permitted to facilitate communication between people. For example the computer, the internet or the mobile phone are good inventions which make it easier for people communicate or get in touch with friends or family.

There are more exchanges in the economic field as well, because new technologies make it possible to do everything faster and simpler. Thanks to computers and the internet trades are more numerous and easier today. For example the networks or banks on-line have simplified the exchanges all around the world.

Moreover, technological progress facilitate the lives of a lot of workers today, thanks to teleworking. In class for example we studied a document about this phenomenon : the article said that in 2008 there were 34 million people who occasionally worked from home whereas they were only 17 million in 2001. The internet has made it possible to double the number of teleworkers in 7 years, which is quite a progress !

= Therefore, new technologies have a positive impact on society : they facilitate people’s lives from a global point of view : more communication, easier trades, better work organization.

Yet, there are also negative aspects, which I will talk about in a second part

Indeed, there is today a lot of means of exchanges and communication yet many people are very lonely. This is a growing phenomenon in our modern society. It seems that the more the virtual world develops, the less people tend to meet for real !

The difference is huge between having a relationship though social networks and having a relationship in real life : you can’t be the same in front of a screen and in front of a real person ( relationships are biased and artificial ).

Moreover, as I said the new technologies permit to work from home, which can be a good solution for people with children for example, but then the danger is that some teleworkers work no limit. A person can work during all the day or all the night non stop, with no specific time for a personal life. There must be a time for work and a time for off hours !

We can also mention the health problems due to new technologies. Indeed, more and more people suffer from eyes problems, heart diseases or back problems because of the high number of hours they spend in front of a screen. To this we can add the high number of car accidents caused by the use of a mobile while driving.

= Therefore, new technologies have also a negative on people.

To conclude, the new technologies are really innovating and quite positive of the progress of modern societies but there are also lots of negatives aspects, like the virtualisation of relationships, and diseases for example.

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