The Chicken or the Egg?

In Sweden it's estimated that 80 percent of the population is online. Technology has been built in to society and I can see it here where a lot of people meet and socialize online though networking sites. Sometimes that's where the relationship is begun rather than in real life. People starting Uni together meet online first then when they get on campus.

Our culture and society has been affected by technology. Its been incorporated into our everyday lives but does technology affect society or has society affected technology? I think society does help drive technology as we 'keep' what we like to use and ignore other technology that perhaps does not benefit us directly. The Internet has given us a new way to socialize, shop, and communicate. The gadgets that we buy however sometimes don't seem to really belong to us as mentioned previously, because we cannot modify them. Like 'jail breaking' and iPhone will void your warranty.

Technology can connect people all around the world and business’s too. Welcome to the age of globalization. As a third culture kid I have been lucky enough to travel a lot, but everywhere I go I can always find a McDonalds. I see people my age mostly wearing the same style clothes and in many cases the same brands. Branding has become the latest comercial trend. Globalization does come at a cost. Poorer nations are exploited to the benefit of the West and are feed lines about how corporations can aid them into a Western lifestyle.

It's important to remember that not everyone has access to the same technology we do, and though technology can do great things (like helping people organize protests) all technology comes at a cost. I don't want every nation in the world to become like a Western one, because I'm not sure we have the right balance between culture and technology. We already really so much on technology and are more interested in getting the latest gadget than learning about our own history and cultural heritage. I don't think technology should take over our lives but it does have the potential to improve them if used right. What is the right use of technology? I'm not going to lie: I have no idea and I have no idea if the chicken or the egg came first.