Technology has been steadily progressing and slowly changing the way humans interact, until recently. Now, with all the computer and internet technology that has been being developed and improved technology has been reshaping human interactions at an incredibly rapid speed.
Huge numbers of people all over the world have computers at home and most all of them now have internet access. Just this one thing has changed so much on its own and helped lead to many more changes in interaction. With their internet access people can communicate so easily and fast. You can send a letter to your friend a couple towns away and it will get there in a couple days, or you send an email and it gets there in a second. Because of computers allowing you to digitalize information and the internet allowing you to send it around, people can connect with each other faster and easier.
Businesses have taken advantage of this to expand, or find cheaper or easier ways of doing things. Because of just how easy it is to be in touch with people at far distances, many businesses have taken advantage of the fact that you can hire people cheaper in other places than where your business is located. This is called outsourcing...you can hire some one in another state, or maybe some one from India to do the job for you cheaper, and maybe more efficiently too. Businesses no longer have to rely only on people in the towns close by or even the people in the country of the business. If you don't want to outsource, you could always offshore your business, move the whole thing to another country, maybe China, hire workers from there and still sell your products in America, and if you want to have a web site, you can sell to people all over the world. Businesses like Wal-Mart supply chain their stores. They place their stores all over the country and world, then set up distribution centers around that work 24/7 supplying all their stores. Technology enables them to track when their individual products run through the scanner as you buy them to know when, what, and how much to restock.
Computer and internet technology that enables people to upload has changed interaction dramatically. Any average person who has internet access can upload. And you can upload practically anything. As I sit here blogging I am uploading my thoughts about uploading. Thousands of people blog and upload onto the internet their thoughts, views, ideas and information. People upload news, information, photos, videos...and just like anyone who has internet access can upload, anyone with internet access can access the uploads. It is a fast, easy, and generally free way to share with most of the world, basically anything you want to, and anyone who wants to can see. Think of youtube...everything is uploaded. The internet is full of uploads...the internet is uploads.
With all the uploading, there is information about almost anything you could be looking for on the internet, and with more being added every day, someday maybe everything will be. So, when people are looking for information on a subject, where do they look? More often than not, the internet. It is very convenient, and with search engines, relatively easy. The internet is a number one resource. You can read newspaper articles on the internet, find a recipe, look for a job. You can research online, and if you see words you don't know, there are dictionaries on the internet. Why get up from your computer when it is all there?
Businesses can market to places and people across the globe now. Whether it is a huge business or a small one, with technology today, any of them can go across country or international. From the UPS synchronizing global supply chains for any size business, to having your business online, it is becoming very common and not too hard to expand and/or go global with your business. This means your business can market to people every where. It also means your business has competition from every where. If you sell internationally, you will have to compete that way too. But it doesn't just mean competition, it can also be help. Your co-worker might be from another country, or some parts that your business needs cheaper you might get from a business in another country or state.
Cell phones allow you to be mobile. People can talk to others from practically anywhere. And pretty soon (if there isn't already...I think there might be...) there will be international calling with your cell phone. You can take pictures with your phone, listen to music, and recently, be able to go all over the internet on your phone. You can pay bills on your phone, not by talking to someone, but by pressing some buttons. Pretty soon all your information will be on your cell phone, and you'll pay for everything with it too.
All this seems to me to be good in the obvious ways, convenience and such, but I am a little bit sceptical of if it will be mostly good. For one thing, if people all over the world can buy and sell and working like they aren't distant from each other, will they lose their unique cultures? And is that already happening?
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