New media and devices

Technology

Humans are “tools’ builders”, which means that men don’t just satisfy themselves with their own body. Indeed, they need to create tools to be more efficient. Therefore technology is as old as human. Technology is the study of tools, techniques, skills and processes used in the production of goods and services or in the accomplishment of objectives. The term refers to all tools and know-how coming from the various historical periods. It includes art, crafts, trades, applied sciences and knowledge. To summarize it : everything that amplifies men’s capacities is called a “technology”.

Etymology

The word technology comes from the Greek technologia (τεχνολογία) : technē (τέχνη) which means "art", "skill", or "craftsmanship" and -logía (-λογία) which refers to the study of a branch of knowledge.

Origins

The first technologies were created during the prehistoric period, when humans started to turn natural resources (wood, stone,…) into simple tools that could help them to hunt (first weapons), cook (discovery of how to control fire), face the cold (clothes), etc… Later, during the Neolithic Revolution, humans created the first machines with wheels that enabled them to travel, discover the world and control their environment. Today, technology is not only progress, it became a way of life and it is in humans’ culture.

Consequences

Technologies amplify human’s power. According to McLuhan, “technologies are an extension of our own bodies and our faculties”. For instance, wheels are an extension of humans’ feet (with wheels people move faster) and computers are the bicycles of their mind. So people can do more things than without any technologies.

This extension has consequences on humans’ environment. Indeed, thanks to technologies, humans have an ability that they don’t naturally have and the technologies that humans developed transform the natural environment in which they live. Actually this environment isn’t natural anymore. The world is full of all technologies created by humans. For example, clothes are an extension of the skin and glasses of the eyes. So the natural world was modified at the advantage of humans.

Humans’ bodies adapt to the technologies and to their environment. Humans became dependent to their technologies. Therefore they adapt themselves to it. For instance, when a girl starts riding horse really young, her legs take the form of the horse. Her body adapts to the technology.

Nevertheless no technology is natural. Technologies also have bad effects on people. For example, TV is an extension of our nervous system. But the worst problem is flashing light, which affects our nervous system. That intensive light is bad because it stimulates our brain too much. Moreover, watching TV at night can be very dangerous because it’s not natural : there’s no light at midnight… It also can have bad impacts on the earth. For instance, cars emit CO2, which not only pollutes the earth but also destroys the ozone layer...

New Technologies

"New technologies" refer to highly evolving and diverse fields of technology, which may as well cover : - in the broad sense, all "high technology"; - in the narrow sense, the new information and communication techniques (NICT) (Internet, Smartphone, Bluetooth, 3D printing,...).

NICTs gather innovations in storage volume, speed of information processing and the information transport thanks to digital and new ways of telecommunication (fiber optics, cable, satellites, wireless technologies). Their impact extends across multiple domains, including our way of life and our economy. The sectors of production and use of these new technologies acquire an increasing share of the GDP of developed and emerging economies, hence the concept of "new economy" or "knowledge economy". This does not eliminate the traditional economy, but makes knowledge and know-how, the key elements of economic competitiveness.

New technologies also include all technological advances in various fields, including medical (such as intelligent defibrillators), school (interactive whiteboards), computer (voice recognition or facial recognition), etc.

With new technologies, the world is becoming smaller. Indeed, today, everywhere is our neighbourhood. For example, on TV you can see people from all over the world. And through new media (Facebook, Twitter), people can communicate and share information with other people miles away from them and all around the world.

“The world is a global village”. Marshall McLuhan uses this expression to describe the phenomenon of the world’s culture shrinking and expanding at the same time due to pervasive technological advances that allow for instantaneous sharing of culture. The symbol of the age was telephone, TV and all the media which create a connection between the world and humans. We call all these technologies the “New Technologies” Before the TV and Internet people had books and newspapers that contained information. Books are humans’ first teaching machine. But “the book is no longer King but subject”. Nowadays, people learn a lot from pictures and sounds of new technologies.

Humans are becoming more social. Thanks to all these technologies, the global mind is not individualism. People are no longer concerned about self-definitions. On the contrary, they are concerned about what concerns the group. For instance, not only a person can write on the website Wikipedia, it belongs to everybody.