Five Ways Mobile Technology is Changing Our Lives

Technology is all around us, and there is very little that we can do to avoid interaction with various gadgets and software.

Whether you are an ardent user of smartphones, computers, tablets, and other devices, or you try to avoid them as much as possible, they do have a direct impact on your life.

Rather than avoiding gadgets, playing safe should be the goal; technology has extremely positive impacts on our lives. There is so much information available at our fingertips, thanks to tech; between using smartphones to communicate with others, playing online games, receiving medical care, to learning about the past,

Below are five ways that mobile technology is changing our lives.

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1. Better Communication

There was a time when talking to a person living in another part of the world was an arduous process. Calling them required a lot of effort and money while writing letters was the only other alternative.

Smartphones have made it so that we can communicate with each other with great ease. All you have to do is send a text message to a person, and they can receive it instantly whether they are in the same city, state, country, or in an entirely different continent.

Between social media, work applications, online chat rooms, forums, and other avenues, there are so many ways to talk with different people. You can make friends based on common interests, goals, and experiences as well.

An online world can seem a little cold and scary, but we are closer together as a society than ever before. People from all corners of the globe can unite around common issues, pursue altruistic goals, and attempt to make the world a better place.

2. More Efficient Healthcare

The idea of digitally seeing a doctor was absurd even a few years ago. Doctors demanded that patients come to see them in person, even if they only needed to go through a regular checkup to get a medication refill.

Visiting a doctor may be a standard errand for most people, but not for everyone. There are people who have disabilities, minimal income, and/or no access to reliable transportation. Such individuals would have a very hard time visiting their primary care doctor, which is why access to online visits is so crucial.

Now you can open up your smartphone, download an application, and connect with your healthcare provider within seconds. Such video visits are not the same as in-person appointments, which means they cannot replace all interactions with your doctor, but they are a huge help to a lot of people.

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3. Learn Anything You Want, Anytime You Want

Millennials often display signs of confusion when they hear people from previous generations talking about how difficult it was to get access to reliable and accurate information in the past.

If you wanted to research a particular topic, you had very few options. You could visit the public library, check a local bookstore, see if your school or college had the relevant resources, or ask friends or family for details on the topic.

Now you can learn about anything on your smartphone, anytime you want. That is the beauty of having reliable and fast access to the internet on a device that is a mini-computer in terms of raw power.

Whether you want to learn about gardening, plumbing, engineering, writing, music, or other topics, you can find how-to guides, reputable dissertations and publications, popular news stories, and a great deal of other information.

4. Lack of Privacy

Not every change that results from mobile technology is a positive one. The lack of privacy compared to twenty or thirty years ago is extremely significant for nearly everyone.

A lot of people assume that if you are not using social media, or you do not even own a smartphone, your information is private. The truth is that companies and governments have more data on us than ever before. Between your location, what you are buying, how much money you are spending each week, who is in your close circle of friends or family, and other information, everything about our lives is in the digital space.

There are precautions you can take to stay safe online, but those only go so far. Even limiting your smartphone use is not a viable option to remain private, as companies will still gather and sell your data.

5. Convenient Shopping

Even a decade ago, shopping seemed a much more significant ordeal than it is today. Say you wanted to buy groceries and supplies for the house. That meant a trip to one or two large stores, where you were likely to buy many huge bags worth of items and take them home.

Those without a car would have a lot of trouble with such trips, even if they lived in big cities with access to convenient public transportation. That is why being able to shop online is such a blessing.

Having a car did not always make shopping any easier, as people who lived in suburbs or rural areas may have needed to drive a long way to the nearest grocery store, convenience store, or department store. Now you can get so many items online, which means you can reserve in-person trips for fresh groceries and items you want to see before you purchase.

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Our Lives Will Never Be The Same Again

People often seek a return to a way of life that does not revolve as much around technology as our lives do today. While such reminiscing is admirable, there is very little we can do to stop the advancements of humankind.

Whether you own a smartphone or not, use a computer once a week or all the time, or own a gaming console, your life is impacted by technology. Some impacts are direct, while others are happening in the background.

The above ways that mobile tech has changed our lives are the most significant benefits and drawbacks to the rapid rate of technological advancement.

(Devdiscourse’s journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)