Impacts of Technology on the Mature Generation
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Impacts of Technology on the Mature Generation
Introduction
Technology refers to the sum of processes, methods, skills, and techniques used to accomplish various objectives or in the production of goods and services. There are various types of technology. They include information technology. These technologies provide a wide range of resources and knowledge on a wide range of topics. Medical technology is another type of technology. The advances that are continuously being made in the medical field significantly impact the field (“The different types…”, 2019: 2024 – Online Assignment Homework Writing Help Service By Expert Research Writers). Technology is, therefore, significant for the success of numerous medical procedures. Another form of technology is assistive technology. This form of technology incorporates several devices and services that are aimed at assisting individuals living with disabilities to function effectively in society (“The different types…” 2019: 2024 – Online Assignment Homework Writing Help Service By Expert Research Writers). They include strategies, services, specialized instructional materials, non-mechanical and non-electronic aids, micro-processor-based equipment, electronic, and mechanical equipment that the disabled use to help them in a number of ways. These ways include improving their quality of life, enhancing their independence, enabling them to compete in the workplace, making the environment more accessible, and assisting them in learning. Other types of technologies are instructional and assistive technologies. Technology impacts various groups of people, including the mature generation, in various ways. In recent years, the available theoretical and contextual literature support that there is an impact on the silent generation brought about by the advancement in technology. The silent or mature generation is defined as a group of people born between 1928 and 1945.
Theoretical Literature
To explain the effects of technology on older people, various theories have been put up, including the following. There are several of them, one of them being technological determinism. It first appeared in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as a result of the development of social and biological sciences of the time. According to the thesis, social and human elements are just a minor mediator of technological progress (Horgas & Abowd, 2020). Obviously, these events are unavoidable. Contemporary varieties of technical determinism have mellowed this excessively deterministic outlook to the point where it is now widely accepted. In the case of such changes, human or social factors may have an impact on or even affect the time of their occurrence. The computerization of manufacturing and production processes, for example, is a good illustration. A specific example is how trade unions representing employees in a wide range of industries in numerous countries across the developed world took action to prevent many manual activities from being computerized during the 1980s and 1990s (Horgas & Abowd, 2020). The car industry was a particularly high-profile example of this, despite the fact that printing, shipping, and postal services were also severely affected. In certain places, fierce and even violent opposition to computerization slowed the rate of computerization and may have had an impact on the timing of its adoption in other places. But many parts of society believed that resisting a technological development that appeared to symbolize progress and without which it was asserted that economies would cease to be competitive was pointless, and that computerization was an unavoidable fact of life.
The socio-technical perspective hypothesis is the second of these theories. However, despite the fact that the discussion of alternatives to technological determinism is rather brief, it is no less important because they offer different and, in two cases, substantially different perspectives on the relationship between technology and society than does the discussion of technological determinism (Kadylak et al., 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). This bias is fed by theories and models about how a certain technology, project, or program is expected to function and what the likely consequences are for that technology, project, or program The socio-technical perspective began to gain traction in the 1960s and was initially based on technology studies in the workplace, but has now expanded to include other fields (Poscia et al., 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). It has some similarities with technological determinism in that it was based on a strong confidence in the transformational capabilities of technology, which was shared by both movements. In spite of this, proponents of a socio-technical approach recognized the significance of variations in context for the development and application of technology, and they began to take into consideration the human and social dimensions of society in the design of technologies and technical systems (Poscia et al., 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). It became a popular half-way house for academics and evaluators of technology because of the recognition of technology’s transformative character, and it continues to be popular today.
Additionally, the perspectives of social construction and social shaping theory are used to describe the influence of technology on the silent generation. As opposed to the socio-technical approach, social construction and social shaping perspectives pose a more formidable challenge to technological determinism-inspired theories and perspectives than the latter (Silva, Cochrane & Farrell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). First and foremost, they go beyond technology and its components and processes to investigate the social processes that affect the form and content of technical knowledge as well as technological transformation. To try to explain this link, they acknowledge the union of the’social’ and ‘technical’ phases of technological evolution, stating that nothing is entirely technological in its nature. This allows both methods to challenge a wide range of assumptions about the relationships and limits between technological and social components in a variety of ways (Silva, Cochrane & Farrell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, technological growth is not considered as an inexorable process. It is the goal of both approaches to understand why’certain technologies, whether they are bicycles, washing machines, or computer systems, develop and are adapted at specific points in time. It should come as no surprise that the nature of power relations in society, as well as how they impact and control the creation and usage of certain technologies, is a particular topic of interest for academics and evaluators whose work fits with these perspectives (Silva, Cochrane & Farrell, 2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Although social shaping is more broad-based in its approach and, as a result, better adapted to recognizing the cultural and socio-political variables that influence the design and use of technology, its primary focus is unmistakably on the interests of social groups. This suggests that social determinism has a tendency to be subject to the same kinds of critiques that can be levied at technological determinism.
Contextual literature
Technology affects the way individuals communicate, learn, and think. It helps society in determining how people interact with each other on a daily basis. The society today has seen technological advances that were not available previously. These advancements comprise of cell phones and the internet, among others. In this regard, technology has both positive and negative effects on the mature generation (Wong, 2020). It impacts their daily lives in various ways, some of which are beneficial to them, others degrade their values, and what they stand for.
One aspect of technology that has had a great impact on society is how it affects learning. It has made learning more interactive and collaborative, and this helps older people better engage with the material they are learning and have trouble with (Wong, 2020). Also, it gets them better access to resources. The creation of the internet gives the older generation access to information at a twenty-four-hour rate, and you have access to almost anything online (Wong, 2020). In addition, it allows them to get work done easier. It also expands the boundaries of the classroom, encouraging self-paced learning. People can access learning through YouTube and social media.
Another way technology has impacted the silent generation is through communication with one another worldwide. Technology brought many new methods of electronic communication. For example, there are emails and social networking. People can communicate with others who live in a different location. Also, video conferencing enables them to have conferences electronically (Yuan, Hussain, Hales & Cotten, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). Lastly, the technological advancements that were made within the health industry have helped keep people safe and healthy. There are many innovative applications on phones that allow people to watch their weight, how many calories they intake, heart rate and other health properties any time of the day. There is the increased accessibility of treatment available, and there is the change in healthcare that adds benefits for the elderly. Also, there are hospitals using advanced technology within their surgical rooms.
According to research, social isolation and loneliness negatively affect health and well-being among older people. Various technology-based interventions have been offered to reduce social isolation; however, research demonstrating the role of various types of technologies and their effectiveness in dealing with seniors’ social isolation is scarce (Yuan, Hussain, Hales & Cotten, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). Eight different technologies that have been applied to alleviate social isolation. They include general ICT, video game, robotics, personal reminder information and social management system, asynchronous peer support chat room, social network sites, Telecare and 3D virtual environment. We further evaluated the effectiveness of the technologies with social isolation among seniors. Findings show that technologies can be used to reduce social isolation among seniors. However, more studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of new technologies.
However, studies also show that mobile communication affects people in a negative way when it comes to being sociable and making face-to-face contact. Mobile technology can decrease communication and relations between people (Yuan, Hussain, Hales & Cotten, 2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). There is less personal time, where you find that you don’t enough time for yourself because you’re always in contact with someone. Also, it can be distracting from your schoolwork. There is also a loss of privacy because anyone can find you anywhere, at any time of the day.
In conclusion, all of these things impact how humans act today. Without technological advancements, our way of life would not be as complex. Technological influences shape the way humans act today.
Conceptual Framework
Technology leads to a subjective health status among older people in society. Over connection, especially for the silent generation, can lead to depression, expectations for instant gratification, narcissism and distraction (Matsuura, 2020). Besides affecting individuals’ mental health, people who overuse technology can have various physical complications such as neck strain, hearing loss, and vision problems.
Additionally, technology impacts the privacy and security of the older generation. The mature generation values privacy and the protection of their personal life (Matsuura, 2020). The recent advancements in information technology have threatened their privacy and led to the reduction in the control over personal data. Also, technology has led to the possibility of a wide variety of negative impacts due to personal data access.
Moreover, technology has affected self-efficacy among the silent generation. Self-efficacy refers to the ability of an individual to take certain courses of action when faced with particular challenges. There is a positive relationship between self-efficacy and the ease of use and usage (Matsuura, 2020). The technology acceptance model argues that technology-related behaviors and behavioral intentions among the older generation are affected by the perceived use and usefulness.
Technology also affects the older generation’s performance expectancy. There is a need for policymakers to integrate into daily activities, open data use. They also need to carry out the incorporation of social strategies that advocate for open data use (Matsuura, 2020). Therefore, to ensure high levels of adoption, there is a need to increase effort expectancy and user performance expectancy.
On the positive side, technology contributes significantly to the improvement of the old generation’s quality of life. Technology improves certain parameters that the elderly use on a daily basis. These parameters include participation in social life, communication, and transportation facilitation. Evidently, technology makes their life easier.
Additionally, technology has been seen to improve brain activity among the older adults. Technology enhances the silent generation’s daily lives by helping them function for a longer time and increasing their effectiveness. It has been proven that the older people’s neural activity increases whenever they carry out research online. Through research, it has also been proven that a higher increase in neural activity is experienced by the silent generation compared to the young one whenever they use the internet or other forms of technology.
In addition, technology has enabled the older generation to maintain contact with their friends and family members. Through the internet and social media, technology has positively impacted the older adults by enabling them to maintain closeness with family and friends. The connection assures these individuals of their continued relevance in society. It also makes them aware that they are loved and valued in society, which translates to their improved health.
Conclusion
In summary, Technology refers to the sum of processes, methods, skills, and techniques used in the accomplishment of various objectives or in the production of goods and services. The various types of technology include information technology. These technologies provide a wide range of resources and knowledge on a wide range of topics. Medical technology is another type of technology. Advances in the medical field are made possible by the existence of technology the used in coming up with and developing the said advances. Assistive technology is another form of technology. It incorporates several devices and services that are aimed at assisting individuals living with disabilities function effectively in society. Other kinds of technologies include instructional technologies and technologies of teaching. These technologies the mature generation in various ways. These ways are elaborated by both theoretical and contexture literature. One of the theories of the impacts of technology is the technological determinism theory. The theory argues that social and human factors slightly mediate technological developments. Another theory is the socio-technical perspective theory. Although the discussion of alternatives to technological determinism rather brief, they are no less important as they offer different and, in two cases, substantially different positions from which to view the relationship between technology and society. The third theory is the social construction and social shaping perspective theory. It describes the effects of technology on the silent generation. On the other hand, the contextual literature provides for the exact impacts technology has on the silent generation. These effects comprise of health effects, effects on their privacy and security, self-efficacy, and performance expectancy issues.
References
Horgas, A., & Abowd, G. (2020). The Impact of Technology on Living Environments for Older Adults. Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK97336/
Kadylak, T., Makki, T., Francis, J., Cotten, S., Rikard, R., & Sah, Y. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Disrupted copresence: Older adults’ views on mobile phone use during face-to-face interactions. Mobile Media & Communication, 6(3), 331-349. doi: 10.1177/2050157918758129
Matsuura, A. (2020). How social media and technology are changing the lives of the elderly. Deseret News. Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://www.deseret.com/2017/7/23/20616274/how-social-media-and-technology-are-changing-the-lives-of-the-elderly.
Poscia, A., Stojanovic, J., La Milia, D., Duplaga, M., Grysztar, M., & Moscato, U. et al. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). Interventions targeting loneliness and social isolation among the older people: An update systematic review. Experimental Gerontology, 102, 133-144. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2017.11.017
Silva, P., Cochrane, A., & Farrell, H. (2018: 2024 – Write My Essay For Me | Essay Writing Service For Your Papers Online). The Effectiveness of Technology-Mediated Dance Interventions and Their Impact on Psychosocial Factors in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Games For Health Journal, 7(6), 347-361. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2017.0197
The different types of technology. (2019: 2024 – Online Assignment Homework Writing Help Service By Expert Research Writers). Retrieved 14 July 2020, from https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/the-different-types-of-technology/
wong, J. (2020). Put Down The Phone! Does Technology Really Enhance Older Adults Well-Being? | American Society on Aging. Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://www.asaging.org/blog/put-down-phone-does-technology-really-enhance-older-adults-well-being
Yuan, S., Hussain, S., Hales, K., & Cotten, S. (2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service). What do they like? Communication preferences and patterns of older adults in the United States: The role of technology. Educational Gerontology, 42(3), 163-174. doi: 10.1080/03601277.2015 – Research Paper Writing Help Service.1083392
