Technology and Well-Being- An Evocative Essay

Understanding Technology
 The word technology comes
from the two Greek words, transliterated ‘techne’ and ‘logos’. Techne means art, skills, craft or the manner by which a thing can be achieved and Logos means a word, a saying or an expression by which inward
thought is expressed. Thus, literally, technology means skill to convey an
idea in order to reach the goal. But nowadays the term technology mainly
signifies the knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, in order to solve a problem. Today,
technological advancement has provided to human race with an ability to
control and adapt to their natural environment.
According to Merriam-Webster, dictionary technology is an
“application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to
changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology
includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to
make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas
science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology
focuses on making things happen”.
A broad definition of technology can be illustrated in three
aspects: Cultural aspect consisting of goals, value ethical codes, belief in
progress, awareness and creativity; Organizational aspect consisting of
economic and industrial activity, professional activity, users, consumers
and trade unions and Technical aspect consisting of knowledge, skills,
technique, tools, machines, chemicals, resources, products, wastes etc.
This definition of technology is referred to as the “Technology Triangle”
which has three interdependent and interacting components namely:
People, Technical Knowledge and Physical Tools. The effectiveness of
the technology utilization depends largely on interaction between these
three components. For instance the language of knowledge being used
by the country might differ from one another in terms of CD ROM
drives with internet updates versus stores with records on papers and
confusing registries. People involved also play an important role in terms
of their level of education, technological skill to utilise the technology.
Lastly the physical tools are referred to as physical machinery or
hardware is the important component of technology as it directly affects
the technology (University of Pretoria).
Understanding Well-Being: Well-being is a stable state of
being well, feeling satisfied and contented. It’s a state, consisting of
positive happenings in an individual’s life in relation to his social,spiritual, economic, psychological and physiological sphere. Thus, well- being is not just the absence of disease or illness. It is a complex
combination of a person’s life that is ‘how we feel out ourselves and our
lives’. Well-being is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction and
therefore researchers have found that there are various factors enhancing
an individual’s well-being as: Network of closed friends, Enjoyable and
fulfilling career, Enough money, Regular exercise, Nutritional diet,
sufficient sleep, Happy self –esteem, Optimistic outlook, Realistic and
achievable goal, Ability to adapt change, etc. Thus, Wellbeing is can
simply defined as feeling good and functioning well. This includes
having a fair share of material resources, influence and control, a sense
of meaning, belonging and connection with people and place and the
capability to manage problems and change. There is abundant evidence
to demonstrate that the skills and attributes associated with wellbeing are
a core asset, protecting and enhancing the lives of individuals and
communities.
The concept of well-being covers a vast area and which is
difficult to define. This is because how people understand well-being is
very different in different context. At the intuitive level the well-being
can be defined as “Doing Well, Feeling Good-Doing Good, Feeling
Well”, doing well and feeling food is a fairly common formulation for
well-being which captures the dual aspect of well-being as defined.
‘Doing well’ conveys the material aspect or the standard of living
whereas, ‘Feeling good’ refers to the subjective aspect that is the personal
perception or level of satisfaction as supported by New Economic
Foundation (nef). From the other end ‘Doing good-Feeling Well’
revealing the research domain of well-being in developing countries
(White, 2008).
Growing evidence from the new science of well-being suggest
that, the meaning attach to well-being mainly refers to the derivation of
enjoyment and fulfilment from number of different factors. Leading a
satisfying life involving steady and adequate income is not the only factor
leading to well-being rather; the scope of well-being includes health,
social connections (relatives and friends) and the ability to contribute to
the wider community. Thus, people gain pleasure form doing a good job
and having it recognised by others. They enjoy grappling with, mastering
and then using new skills and knowledge. All in all, they value freedom
(Field, 2009)
Well-being is about children being confident, happy and healthy.
It has two elements psychological well-being (includes feeling and
thinking) and physical well-being. Children’s relationships and
interactions with families and communities contribute significantly to
their sense of well-being. Children need to feel respected, valued and
empowered. Expressing themselves creatively and experiencing a
spiritual dimension in life enhances children’s sense of well-being.
Physical well-being is important for learning and development as this
enables children to explore, to investigate, and to challenge themselves in
the environment. A growing awareness of their bodies and abilities is
also part of this. Here, adult’s can supports children’s psychological and
physical well-being by helping them to make healthy choices about
nutrition, hygiene and exercise (Aistear, 2014). For many centuries the pursuit of happiness become the basic
need to survive on the one hand and pressure to confirm to social
conventions and morality on the other. Thus, from the above discussion,
it can be concluded that the well-being is a broad concept which
embrace the entire human race and therefore understanding well-being
will provide base to explore the various domains of human life. The
importance of well-being comes to play when Humans change over time
through the influence of life events and shifting priorities. With change
comes natural alterations in the needs and desires necessary to feel ‘well’.
How Technology Shapes Well-Being? The innovation and
development in the field of technology has changed our lives in many
ways. It has given us the power to transform our environment, extend
our life span, create vast, interconnected societies and even explore the
universe. Today, we use technology from dawn to dusk from the
simplest wooden hammer to personal computers. Technology has
touched our lives in almost all respect, say it the use of mobile phones,
kitchen micro-wave, electric cooker, kettle, television, remote control,
water heaters, air-conditioners and other larger communication system as
internet facilities, air-routes, railways and so on. Therefore, technology
plays an important role in our lives and we face a number of key issues
surrounding through the technology: - Bridging the Gap: As significant part of the world still does not
have essential sources to continue a proper life as safe drinking
water, adequate electricity, road constructions, communication
huddles, quality health care units, technology can improve these
Each of the technology discussed above are used either in
isolation or in combination and each technology has its own
complexities and significant implication upon the society and towards
scientific development. But from the other point of view with bless of
scientific development the society also suffers with various negative side
effects with each forwarded steps of technology, which, are leading to
decreasing status of well-being.
Technological Afflictions versus Well-Being: Today with the
proliferation of the more and more advance technologies we are able to
overcome various obstacles of time and space. Technology has provided
number of tools and machines which can be used to gain an
understanding of many unknown entities, meeting people over the
world, maintain and strengthening family relation, effective
communication and also help us to speed up the socialization process.
But, if the impact of technology are to be examined from other point of
view, technological advancement has cause people distracted, overly
stressed and increasingly isolated. Today, technological affliction has
challenged the real meaning of well-being. It has its impact on all the
spheres of human existence. On the negative sight technological
advancement leads to:
Social isolation- as people are now characterised by lack of
normal day-to-day communication as most of them busy listing songs
from the iPods and staring at the screens of latest mobile devices even if
we are surrounded by the people.
Depression- which comes due to lack of human contact,
overeating and lack of exercise and seating hour-to hour and getting
involved with the internet surfing and not at all bothering about the
family relation and friends, ultimately leading to conflict and anxiety
giving pathway to depression.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial intelligence is the branch
of computer science which is develops machines and software
with human like intelligence. The term was coined in 1956 by
John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Artificial intelligence includes the following areas of
specialization: games playing: programming computers to play
games against human opponents, expert systems: programming
computers to make decisions in real-life situations (for example,
some expert systems help doctors diagnose diseases based on
symptoms) natural language: programming computers to
understand natural human languages, neural networks: Systems
that simulate intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of
physical connections that occur in animal brains and
robotics: programming computers to see and hear and react to
other sensory stimuli. Hence, AI is one of the newest fields in
science and engineering. It tries to understand how we think, that is
how a mere handful of matter can perceive, understand, predict,
and manipulate a world far larger and more complicated than
itself. The field of artificial intelligence, or Al, goes further still: it
attempts not just to understand but also to build intelligent
entities (Russell & Norvig,2010). - Administrative Technology: administrative technology
basically refers to the tools and machines used to support
everyday task within the office and academic institutes and helps
in organising, planning and controlling the business activities.
This machine includes Printers, Scanners, Desktop, laptop etc..