History and development of technology

Written by: Mohammed Jawarneh

Technology has gone through many developments over the ages, as technology has been present as long as humans have existed, and the most prominent technological developments in history were as follows:

Stone Age

The first forms of technology appeared in the Stone Age, and were by converting natural tools into useful tools used by humans such as sticks and stones.

Neolithic Age

Human work developed greatly in the period 3000-500 BC, and many craftsmen and experts appeared who developed tools to serve humans, and this is the first technological turning point in history.

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, which extended from 500-1500 BC, the population of the Earth increased greatly, and many crafts and businesses appeared, including simple technological tools and machines that served these works.

The Islamic Era

The Islamic world expanded militarily and in terms of area after the seventh century AD, and with this expansion, many technological and scientific inventions spread through trade and scientific missions, and Muslim scholars were the source of this technology. The Islamic world became a civilization with tremendous expansionary energy in the seventh century. From the point of view of technological diffusion, the importance of Islam lies in the Arab assimilation of the scientific and technological achievements of Greek civilization, which added important additions to it, and technology began to spread through trade contacts with the Levant and North Africa.

The Industrial Revolution

The actual technological renaissance was considered the Renaissance period, especially the invention of the steam engine in 1709 AD. With this invention, all machines developed and the automation system was gradually introduced into all industries and forms of trade. Then steam engines and fuel engines were invented, and electricity was invented to change the shape of the world technologically and militarily.

Modern Era

During modern times and in recent decades, a huge number of technological machines have been invented that are beneficial to humanity, most notably the Internet, space sciences, and nuclear technology. Technology has invaded the standard of living and way of life of many societies, and has become the main relationship in the development of any civilization or country expressed by technology.

Benefits of Technology

There are many benefits of technology in our lives, which benefit the individual and society, including the following:

Communication with others

The Internet and mobile devices have contributed to communicating with anyone in the world, and establishing relationships with people at long distances.

Increased job opportunities

Technology and computers have helped increase the opportunity to do many jobs remotely, as many people have become able to work from home at their preferred times.

Increased information wealth

It has become possible to access all types of knowledge easily and conveniently, as books are no longer the only means of knowledge.

Increased entertainment

People now have great options of movies, shows, games, music, and other options available at all times.

Saving time and effort

It has become possible to perform complex calculations very quickly, and medical, chemical, and astronomical achievements have been achieved due to computers. Not only that, technology has provided cars, washing machines, banking services, and many other devices that have helped save time and effort.

Technology Harms

There are many harms to technology if used incorrectly, including the following:

Pollution

The excessive use of technology has led to an increase in waste in the environment, which has led to pollution, as the increase in the number of vehicles and the resulting emissions is one of the main causes of air pollution, and the excessive use of agricultural pesticides has led to soil erosion.

Wasting time

Technology has contributed to wasting time and energy on unproductive activities. For example, technology has allowed people to browse the Internet to obtain the required information, but some people become addicted to the various activities available on the Internet, such as playing, browsing, and other time wasters.

Excessive dependence

Excessive reliance on technology in all tasks has contributed to a feeling of helplessness and inability to accomplish tasks in the absence of modern means.

Impact on health

Modern technologies contribute to affecting health, as the noise resulting from the sounds of vehicles and factories affects the human auditory senses, and excessive use of mobile phones leads to multiple health problems; such as stress, fatigue, and other problems.

Applications of Technology

Technology has developed greatly in recent years, and has relied on many tools, such as: the Internet, e-mail, processed calls, spreadsheets, electronic databases, and automation. This technology has become a thing that prevails in life and cannot be dispensed with in business and public life. Technology has also become many applications such as

Communication technologies

Long-distance communications are the most important applications of modern technology, and these communications have caused a major revolution in the fields of work. Companies in the past relied on faxes, regular mail, and telephone communications, but now they have been replaced by video communications, e-mail, text messages, and chat programs, which has reduced the material cost and time required to do the work.

Office work

Technology has affected the way of work, so that doing all work and calls has become available from the office, and its use has become a routine and normal matter for the majority of employees, which has led to a complete transformation in favor of fast office work over field work.

Record keeping and retrieval

With the spread of technology, the way files are kept has shifted for most companies to electronic databases, instead of paper files, so access to Accessing and storing information has become very easy, and dealing with employees and the work environment has become easy and fast.

Decentralized work and cloud computing

The spread of technology, laptops, tablets and smartphones has facilitated changing the idea of ​​the workplace, as work environments have become more flexible, and it is possible to complete a large part of the work at home, or move to freelance work, and this trend has benefited from the adoption of storing materials and applications on a single cloud server.

Analytics and new decision structures

Technology has helped create modern tools for all different business functions, for example, marketing requires specialists to use many tools routinely to analyze work and publish advertisements, and currently all of these features are available in one program that provides all the necessary tools, and there are programs for human resources employees that track job applications and employee performance automatically.

Information security

Protecting customer and business data is one of the most important things in different fields of work, and with the development of technology, cyber security attacks on companies have spread, but many software and applications have been provided to protect corporate information.

Automation and Robotics

Technology has evolved significantly, and automation has entered almost all businesses. In the modern industrial sector, robots work side by side with workers, and their presence has become increasing in numbers in warehouses, logistics, and even in the security and health fields.