The 8 Main Ways Technology Impacts Your Daily Life in 2024 (2024)

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Technology affects almost every aspect of life in 2024, from transport efficiency and safety to access to food and healthcare, socialization, and productivity. It's made learning more convenient, information easier to access, and has enabled global communities to form organically on the internet.

Even though technology has impacted our lives positively and allowed ideas and resources to be shared more easily, the overuse of some technology has been linked to a decline in mental health, increased social division, and privacy concerns. The rapid rise of AI tools like ChatGPT has raised even more questions about the role technology plays in our lives.

We take technology for granted every day – even when it’s delivering us the latest news in an instant, making our cappuccino, or connecting us with loved ones halfway across the country (or even the world).

So, to remind ourselves of just how much technology has changed society, we've taken a look at the eight most important ways that tech has impacted our lives in recent years.

Ways Technology Impacts Our Lives:

1. Improved Communication
2. AI Changing The Way We Work
3. Decreased Privacy
4. Accessible Shopping
5. Better Information Access
6. Virtual Social Lives
7. Remote Working
8. 4-Day Workweek

1. Improved Communication

“Come here Watson, I need to see you.” These were the first words that Alexander Graham Bell uttered over his revolutionary invention back in 1876, and it's fair to say that the trusty telephone has had a good run. Bell originally dreamed that there would be ‘one in every town’. He was right of course — in fact, these days, there’s one in every person’s pocket. However, technology has seen the traditional audio call being edged out in favor of messaging and social media as a way of touching base.

Another medium that has seen a boom in the last few years is video calling. It’s nothing particularly new – the concept has been around for about as long as Bell’s telephone – but the revolution of high-speed broadband at affordable prices means that it’s now easy to send and receive the amounts of data needed for a video call.

While video calling has spent the last decade slowly creeping into daily life, it’s the ongoing pandemic that has pushed it over the edge and secured its future as an everyday way to stay in touch.

Thanks to lockdowns and social distancing, families and friends are meeting up and socializing via video call more than ever before.

If you hadn’t heard of Zoom before 2020, you will have certainly become aware of it by now, and while there are plenty of other video conferencing apps out there, it’s Zoom that has emerged as the poster child for video chat in the public consciousness. In 2023, it was estimated that Zoom had well over 800 million unique global visitors a month.

In the post-pandemic world, more of us are working from home than ever. Many in-person meetings have been replaced with video conferencing as office staff swapping the boardroom for the bedroom (or wherever else they can find space to work at home) in droves. Now, based on data from mid-2022, Mckinsey estimates 35% of Americans can work from home full time.

While Zoom is a great tool for catching up with buddies, can it do the job of supporting your business through the pandemic? We’ve evaluated several high-profile video conferencing systems and can help you find the right one for your company in minutes.

2. AI Changing The Way We Work

If someone had told you just a few years ago that very soon, you'd have access to a free AI tool that could help you with all of your tasks, you might not have believed them. Millions of people now use ChatGPT, Bard, and other generative AI tools for all sorts of tasks in their personal and work lives.

Although it was only launched back in November 2022, ChatGPT has already had a transformative impact on the lives of students and businesspeople alike, making their lives easier by quickly and accurately answering questions relating to their work. According to our own research, 65% of companies are using ChatGPT already.

The AI revolution really is here. ChatGPT has been helping people with jobs like writing recipes, creating job resumes, crafting essays and poems, summarizing historical events, composing emails, creating spreadsheets, and even filing their tax returns. Others have used it to get free legal advice or plan their holiday.

The ChatGPT website is currently generating around 1.8 billion visits a month, and a Tech.co survey found that almost half (47%) of business leaders are considering using AI instead of hiring new members of staff. Some experts even say that soon, large companies will have “50 different AI tools” in operation.

Be mindful that although ChatGPT is useful and has already had a significant impact on the lives of millions of people, you can't – and shouldn't – use it for every single essay, report, or task in your day-to-day life.

Although using ChatGPT isn't technically plagiarism – after all, you're not copying someone else's work – many universities and schools now consider it to be cheating. Some teachers have said their students can use it, while others have banned it completely. It's also not perfect, and it's certainly not a geniue – AI tools often get things wrong, and you should always double-check the responses you receive from them.

3. Decreased Privacy

We’re spending more of our lives online than ever before. According to one report, the “typical” global internet user spent seven hours a day online in 2022.

Shopping? It’s done on Amazon. Catching up with friends? It’s FaceTime, Snapchat, or email. Want to be entertained? Netflix, or online gaming. Research? Hit up Google. Almost every facet of our daily routines can be catered for online today, so it seems inevitable that our time spent online will only increase. In fact, 37% of consumers said in a 2022 survey that they'd switched companies in an attempt to protect their own privacy.

While access to everything online gives us an unparalleled level of convenience, it has also made us vulnerable. Every move we make online is recorded, and we leave digital footprints wherever we visit. Hackers and scammers know this, and work hard to exploit it for financial gain.

Of course, as with everything else, technology has also given us the tools to protect ourselves and ensure that we are safe as our lives migrate online. In the last few years, this has become even more key – many of us are not only browsing for personal reasons, but accessing shared work networks from our own homes, and we can’t rely on the closed off security of the physical office.

One piece of technology that will help keep your data safe is the password manager. A password manager will protect your existing passwords, suggest new and secure ones, and in some cases, even monitor the web to ensure that your details aren’t compromised. Not only that, but it will do away with that ever-present fear we all have of forgetting one of our many, many passwords. If you don’t have one, there’s never been a better time to invest –plus, with some of the best apps only costing a few dollars a month, it’s a great low-cost solution for added security.

Another great security advancement is the Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN will bypass your internet service provider and mask your digital footprints. Nobody will be able to see the content you are accessing, and it makes you a lot less susceptible to hackers. You can also use public Wi-Fi accounts with more confidence. Many businesses have adopted them recently, as well as home users. Our recommendation? Surfshark. It's packed with features, but is also simple to use, which is why it rated so highly in our VPN head-to-head review.

There's also anti-virus software, providing a great shield from all the nasties out there on the internet looking to catch us out. This includes ransomware and malware, which is usually designed with the intent of extracting money from victims. From individuals to government, nobody is immune, and good antivirus software is a great way to capture and quarantine such efforts before they can wreak havoc.

Lastly, there are different ways to remove your personal information from Google that, in a world of decreased privacy, are definitely worth knowing about. Knowing how to kick off Google's official removal request process will come in handy, for example, if you find content on a website that includes sensitive data about you.

4. Accessible Shopping

As we’ve mentioned, shopping has found a convenient and popular home online, but that’s not to say the high street is to be ignored – after all, you can’t really beat seeing a product in the flesh before you buy it, and you can’t eat out online just yet (you can order a delivery, but that’s not quite the same).

Technology hasn’t bypassed physical shopping either. Thanks to contactless cards and phone payments, we don’t need to worry about handing over cash or keying in a pin number – just tap to pay, and you’re done.

If you’re a business, then a Point of Sale (POS) system is a huge boon, regardless of your size. With a POS, not only can you take payments electronically, but you can also automatically manage stock levels, create electronic receipts, manage loyalty schemes, manage sales and so on. It doesn’t need to be costly, either – POS systems start at around $30 a month, and some even offer free hardware. To find out more, take a look at our POS system reviews, and compare POS systems today.

Of course, you don’t need to leave the house to shop. With the vast majority of us owning a tablet, laptop or smartphone, we’ve all got easy access to a virtual shop front right in front of us, where we can buy pretty much anything we want.

Technology has also democratized retail. It used to be the case that you needed a physical presence to start your own shop – now all you need is a computer and an idea.

Sharing your wares with the world is easier than ever. This is thanks to the simplicity of website builders – tools that can help you create professional-looking websites in minutes, then sell your products or services.

5. Better Information Access

Today, if you want to find something out, it’s no more strenuous than a couple of clicks. For many of us, we don’t even need to move from the spot – simply pull out your phone and get Googling, or even ask your smart home assistant.

It may seem like a distant memory, but it wasn’t so long ago that you’d have to take a trip to the library to find out more in-depth information about a subject if it was available at all. Now, due to these advances in technology, you can find hundreds of thousands of web pages dedicated to pretty much anything you can dream of, from “crochet patterns” (Google gives 129,000,000 results) to “Roman history” (1,360,000,000 results).

It’s something of a cliche, but there is literally an app for anything, and they’ve rendered a lot of other mediums all but obsolete for many of us. Take GPS, for example – if you want to know how to get somewhere, it’s simply a case of pulling up an app like Google Maps and choosing the best route, which will come complete with directions, as well as satellite imaging. There are even apps for businesses that automatically route vehicles alongside traffic, weather, safety and legal information. App technology has also made learning, dating, dining, and almost anything else you can think of a lot easier for us.

Not to be overlooked either are the actual devices that all these apps run on. The rise of the smartphone has been exponential over the last decade, and daily web searches on mobile devicesnow outnumber those on laptop or desktop computers. Improvements continue to be made to handheld devices, each and every year, without fail.

The mobile phone is now considered an essential device for almost everyone, vastly superseding its original use as a telephone (to actually talk to people) and becoming our pocket-sized portal to an online world.

6. Virtual Social Lives

Another seismic change in our lives over the past decade has been the widespread usage of social media. This industry has progressed fast, and the early days of the likes of MySpace and the original version of Facebook – which first went live in 2006 – seem like a bygone age already.

Now, services such as Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and others give us an insight into the waking lives of others in real-time, whether they’re friends with a few followers or celebrities with millions. New platforms are still coming out this year. Just recently, Meta – the company that owns WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram – brought out a new social media platform called Threads, which is a little bit like Twitter.

Now, these very same companies want us to spend even more time online, in a digital space they call “the Metaverse”, a virtual reality where users can interact in a computer-generated environment. Facebook's chief Mark Zuckerberg says he wants one billion people to exist within it one day, and a variety of metaverse companies now exist. In the past year, some businesses even managed to sell virtual land in the metaverse.

Businesses have got in on the act too, and a savvy social media manager is considered essential in most companies, with their ability to make or break a brand's reputation.

Social media's course over the last few years has been somewhat bumpy, but as a society, or many societies, we’ve never seen global communication on such a scale. It has enabled the rise of social commentary and movements, such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, as well as leaving us vulnerable, with the likes of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal serving to manipulate voters and skew democracy.

Social media can be fun, but studies have also shown that it can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. It’s so bad, in fact, that some governments are calling for social media companies to be more responsible – especially when it comes to younger users.

A recent study in the UK found that 46% of young girls reported that social media had a negative impact on their self-esteem, so there’s clearly a lot to fix. Lots of other recent studies have found links between social media use and mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and even Smartphone addiction.

Ultimately, social media is only as positive as the hands of the people it’s in – but it looks like it’s here to stay, whether you like it or not.

As a consumer, you can choose to opt out, but businesses yet to get in on the action will soon fall behind the competition. Digital marketing is a hugely important aspect of any company with an online presence, and an essential one to get right.

7. Remote Working

2020 will be remembered for a lot of negative reasons, but one of its most defining positives has been the widespread acceptance of working from home. With the pandemic in full swing, many had to abandon their offices and log on from their own residences.

At its peak, 42% of Americans were working from home, according to one study. The trend has continued longer after the pandemic too, with large companies such as Twitter and Microsoft already stating that their staff can work from home indefinitely.

The CIPD's 2023 report on flexible working found that 40% of organizations reported an increase in requests for flexible working arrangements in 2023. Two-thirds (66%) of organizations said it was important to them to offer this perk when advertising for new roles, up from 56% in 2021.

For many, working from home has been something of a revelation – no commuting, more flexible hours, a lessened environmental impact, and being able to choose where they work. All this is made possible thanks to technological advancements, yet again – as well as a whole host of companies offering remote work.

8. 4-Day Workweek

Classic cartoon The Jetsons gave us a glimpse into the future of work, with the main character lamenting the fact he had to work ‘three hours a day, three days a week'.

The Jetsons was set in 2062, so there's still a chance we could end up with a nine hour week, but until then, the focus is on the 4-day workweek.

It's a movement that has seen a huge push in the last couple of years, with many companies starting to offer employees longer weekends. Some US States are also pushing a 4-day workweek, too.

The reason for the 4-day workweek becoming viable is, you guessed it, technology, specifically, AI. With the ability for tech to do a lot of the heavy lifting, many are arguing, including the likes of Bernie Sanders, that workers should reap the benefits and be rewarded with more leisure time.

We have seen some landmark studies carried out on the reduced workweek over the last year, and they proved overwhelmingly positive for the most part.

And why not? As we mention above, remote working, once seen as a luxury, is now more common than ever. The 4-day workweek could well be next.

Conclusion: The Impact of Technology

So, there we have it — eight dramatic ways that technology has impacted our daily lives for good. Of course, technology never takes a rest, and you can bet that it won’t be long before some of the devices and services we’ve covered here are superseded — in many cases, their next iteration is already being worked on in a lab somewhere.

Regardless, there’s no denying that technology has, and will continue to, have a huge impact on our lives, in one way or another.

More on this topic:

• Flirt, Fake, Make Them Wait— How Technology Has Changed the Way We Interact
• Top 6 Social Media Trends
• 10 Ways Businesses Are Using ChatGPT Right Now
• How to Remove Your Personal Information From Google
• What is a Digital Footprint, and How Do You Minimize It?

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