Technology Vs. Society: The Role Of Technology And Society

From my experience of technology, both here in UL and also from my time spent in post primary and primary school , especially technology associated with society, the relationship which exists between the two factors is highly complex, perhaps too complex to even separate one from the other. Once I was in a few weeks in this module I began to question the relationship that exists and that without technology, society would be utterly fragile and would collapse eventually. We must also question that without a society like the one we live in today, would the technologies be able to thrive the way they are? Does the demand in society for technology drive its growth or is it technology influence the society and what it will become? We must consider all of these variable factors when questioning the role of technology and society as it could be said that they are interdependent on each other.

As we now see that Technology and Society are interdependent on each other to an extent, we must ask ourselves what is technology exactly. According to the syllabus, ”Technology can be represented as one means by which society meets its needs and solves many of its problems” Syllabus. Black and Harrison in their 1994 publication seemed to agree, stating that “Technology has been called upon, when practical solutions to problems have been called for.” (Black and Harrison, 1994, p.13) Both of these references suggest that technology is there to help us, helping us to solve problems in our everyday lives. However, we must question these practical solutions on the basis as to what the problems are? And also, who creates these problems? It could be said that it is society as a whole creates these problems which then creates a niche for these new techn...

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... experiential learning rather than the method of just recalling information which was a method used in the past. Numeracy and Literacy in this country is also at a very low, and there is major need for improvement in society for this. Society at the moment demands the need for this. What also struck me about the new framework is the quality of assessment. The framework states that students will be more responsible than currently by generating ad presenting evidence of their own learning. Here technology and society is constantly being integrated as reports suggest that students leave schools too dependent on teachers and are not very used to thinking for themselves. Society demands that creating understanding for themselves should be fostered in them from a very early age such that the graduates produced will be of a higher standard filled with independent thinking.