Barbara Jarabik talking about culture and technology synergy these days : Technologies are similar around the world, but they have encountered a diversified cognitive world in different localities. The local culture acquires the modern technologies, makes them acceptable to the existing culture, then sends them back to the global level in a continuous exchange of intercultural influences and in constant transformation. Technology has become integral because it’s not merely the technology of lights and computers that are used in everyday life. But, also, our bodies are physically altered through vaccines and the medicine people take daily. Technology is incorporated into all aspects of culture, including travel, government, agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, education, and transportation. In addition to information processing, and communication platforms have drastically changed how people think and live.
The culture of a society is reflected in values, norms and practices. Culture observes itself through individuals to reflect their perception, practices, values and in transfer of technology. Technology has a crucial impact on fundamental aspects of all our cultures including language, art, mobility, education and religion. Culture of a community acts as a standard for perceiving, judging and evaluating the technology. As technology affects all the components of culture, it determines the direction of cultural development. To occupy the larger cultural dimension, technology should be in harmony with social and cultural conditions of community else there exists a friction between technological development and preservation of cultural values. A rational balance allows people to exercise freedom of expression in technical world which is beyond one’s ethnicity, age, or level of education. People use it for fulfilling their fantasies but a cultural downfall may occur due to lack of restrictions, regulation and/or consequences.
In case of mobile phones initially mobile phones were designed for an industrial purpose in a factory by Motorola, the main reason why mobile phones became famous was when Japanese companies were influenced and inspired by their own culture of talking and sharing knowledge with each other. Technology sometimes gets integrated with a culture and community, in cases when technology cannot integrate, technology adapts to the culture as seen in Kosher phone which was made to adapt to the Jewish culture (which prohibited cameras, text messaging service).
It’s important to stay updated about what’s going on in the world, but how do you get your news? My grandparents got their news from reading the newspaper, or by interaction with other people. While my parents were able to watch TV, and follow the news daily. Today, I get the news at any time on my smartphone and via the Internet. This evolution is all due to the advancements of technology that is gradually shaping our culture and society. See extra info on Barbara Jarabik.
The way technology advances is dependent on the way a culture or society wants it. This calls in for a continuous improvement of the technology by collectively improving the thoughts behind the technology, normally it is seen that such a technological change is beyond a cultural or social influence and is seen as “technological imperative” (Pacey, 2013), but these kind of models also then deny the possibility of directing technology, consequent to cultural or social change. “The main argument tends to be its inadequacy and its ideological function in mystifying and furthering the interests certain groups who benefit from technology could change” (Williams, 1996).
