Technology is the collection of processes and knowledge that people use to extend their abilities in order to satisfy their needs. Today, the society has become over-dependent on technology. Almost each and every task performed within the society is technology dependent. The advancement in technology has led to the change in the lifestyles of many in the society. Technology has been in existence for a long time in the history of humankind. However, the recent dependence on technology is alarming. Every aspect of the human life is being left on technology. Today, the society has become technology dependent because of the increase in the use of technology in almost all tasks, changing of the lifestyles, and advancement in communication as a result of technology. However, this is not a clear indication of the society over-dependence on technology, because there are many benefits resulting from the use of technology. Consequently, the use of technology to the fullest cannot be interpreted as over-dependence.

The first indication of the overdependence on technology of the society is the changing of the lifestyles with the technology advancement. Not only has technology changed the lifestyles of many, but has also affected other sectors that are very important to human lives. For instance, the use of technology has been observed to be on the rise in the field of medicine. The overdependence on technology in the field of medicine is a leading factor in determining the differences between the past and present societies. The application of technology in medicine has its benefits such as faster treatment of a person. However, the overdependence on technology has led to the abuse of medicine. This is because of the fact that ailments that used to be treated naturally in the past are now treated using drugs manufactured from chemicals. Speaking about medicine, the society’s over-dependence on technology has shifted the focus from the ways in which the ailments can be avoided or prevented to treatment.

The second indicator of overdependence on technology in changing lifestyles is the use of technology in education. Education has been changed by technology in many ways. For instance, today, students can learn from their homes as they listen to their lecturers through the internet. With the use of modern software, it is possible to write a paper free of grammatical and spelling errors. The internet has also changed the education sector in terms of availability of research materials. People, therefore, turn to the internet to learn on the unfamiliar topics. The overdependence on the internet has a negative impact on the students. This is because there are no mechanisms of determining the quality of the research work that is available on the internet. Therefore, the overdependence on the internet as a learning tool has deprived the students of the skill of identifying relevant and quality information.

Another factor that shows that the society is over-dependent on technology is the control of important human activities by technology. Beidel, Erwin, and Magnuson noted that the military has applied technology in order to gain a competitive edge over the enemy. The overdependence on technology in the defense sector has led to credible and accurate intelligence. For this reason, robots are useful in conflict zones in order to deliver important cargo to the military. By the use of technology in these areas, human casualties are minimized. Such technologies that perform tasks meant for humans are found not only within the military. Other organizations and manufacturing companies have adopted such technologies as a result of their effectiveness and high productivity. These technologies are very common in large manufacturing companies particularly the electronics and car industry. Despite their importance in terms of their effectiveness and productivity, the overdependence of these technologies even in secure areas has led to a decline in job opportunities and huge losses as a result of their breakdown.

The fourth factor that emphasis the over-dependence on technology by the society in today’s world is the use of technology in communication. The reliance of the society on technology has immensely improved the way humans communicate. The communication process has become more effective and informative as a result of the ever-changing technology. For instance, family members living abroad can use the webcam technology to communicate with their families at home. Despite the importance of technology in communication, some place too much dependence on technology and become addicted in the process. This has negative effects to the user of technology in communication. For instance, it has been observed that some employees spend over 40 minutes in a week on the social network sites. This results in loss of revenues by the employers. Although communicating on the social networks sites results in reduced productivity, their use is becoming increasingly important to human resource managers, because they can retrieve information about potential and current employees from their profiles on such sites. Despite the improvement in communication noted as a result of technological advancements, these advancements have also led to reduced human-to-human interactions. This has, in turn, reduced interpersonal skills which are very important in communicating. Some forms of communication have been abused and, in the process, have caused many accidents. For example, many accidents have been provoked by the use of mobile phones while driving and texting while walking .

Given the importance of technology in the day-to -day activities of the society, it is hard to ascertain whether the society is over-dependent on technology or not. The activities today are not the same they used to be in the past. They are more complex and require a faster way to finish them on time. Another factor that indicates that the society does not depend much on technology is the use of human labor in areas that technology can take over. There are concerns that the application of technology in certain areas might result in massive loss of employment. To prevent such occurrences, measures have been developed to ensure that the rights of the people in the society are protected. Technology makes work easier for the society at large. Therefore, its use in almost every aspect of the human life should not be taken as over-dependence as this is just the desire of the humans to make their work easier.

The dependence on technology in many fields has led to reduced rates of errors as a result of people perfecting on the use of the technology. For instance, the application of modern technologies in the hospitals has led to the reduction in medical errors, promotions of medical standards, and improvement in care provision to the patients. Campbell et al noted that over-dependence on the use of technology is actually the cause of these benefits. This can also be identified as the proper use of technology rather than over-dependence on technology by the society. The question whether the society is over-dependent on technology can be answered by the many benefits that have resulted from the full utilization of technology by the society.

Lastly, today’s society is not over-dependent on technology, because it is not possible for any society to over-depend on technology. From the beginning, every society has worked hard to create new technology. This shows that the society does not depend on technology as technology is the one that depends on the society for its improvement. Therefore, because technology has been a part of the society since the beginning, it is thus impossible for the society to be over-dependent on the technology.

In conclusion, based on the current use of technology, it can be observed that today, the society has placed much dependence on technology. This is because tasks that used to be performed by humans are now left to the machines. There are reasons for this change. One of these reasons is the safety of humans. For instance, the use of technology has been applied and is being relied on in the military in order to minimize human casualties. Another example is the use of technology in mining areas that are considered unsafe for humans. Although the use of technology has been utilized in these risky situations, there are some issues that have led people to conclude that the society is over-dependent on technology. For example, many industries have adapted some technologies to work in place of man simply because these technologies result in efficiency and high productivity as compared to human beings. The importance of technology in many human activities leaves many wondering whether the society has become over-dependent on technology or is the current use of technology the required limit. This is because unlike in the the past, today, the benefits of technology are well-known to the society. Therefore, it can be argued that the society is not over-dependent on technology but has utilized the available technology to the maximum.

Author's Bio:

Amanda Parkinson, the writer at https://qualitycustomessays.com/ and a passionate series movie watcher. She used to lifestyle blogging and solo traveling.