HOW HAS MODERN TECHNOLOGY HELP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION IN NIGERIA?

The development of any nation is usually barometered by the degree and extent of the sociocultural, socioeconomic, and political improvement that are brought to bear through the enterprises of science, technology and mathematics. According to Bajah and Fariwantan in Olorundare (2007). Sustainable development leads to fulfillment of societal ideals considered relevant to the needs and aspirations of the society. Factors, which influence such developments, are based on human ability to explore, invent, and utilize. 

Satisfaction of spiritual, physical and material needs and the mastery of the environment are parameters of development when applied to the human society. It has been stated by several authors and scholars that the development of any nation depends very much on the advancement and application of science and technology. The role of science in the development of modern societies is not in dispute more so now that the influence of modern technological innovations is far reaching in every sphere of man’s life. If Nigeria is to build an organized, self-reliant, and technologically compliant society, much emphasis has to be continually made on science and technology.

 

Communication is an essential part of the human experience. However, as humanity evolves, technology is evolving with it, and impacting the way the communicative aspect of our lives functions. The effects of modern technology on how we communicate with one another are vast and varied, with both negative and positive impacts for our business and personal lives.

1. Speed
• Modern technology is drastically altering the speed at which we communicate. An email is delivered in a matter of minutes. Text messaging allows us to send short messages to each other's phones in seconds. We can reach anyone by telephone almost anywhere with the continued development of network coverage. Instant messaging and video conferencing allow groups of people to speak in real time from all over the country and world.

Accessibility

• Modern technology is increasing accessibility for communication. Expanding telephone and internet coverage is allowing individuals from the most remote and rural areas to interact with one another. This is not only expanding experience bases, but it is allowing people work from nearly anywhere. This technology is creating possibilities for communication that never existed before.

Interpersonal Relationships

• Whether it's family, friends or a significant other, distance makes life very difficult and complicated. Phone conversations can only do so much and take place so frequently, which is why modern technology is helping communication so much. Technologies such as video conferencing, text messaging and social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can help keep friends and family updated on your life.

Freedom of Information

• With the ever expanding Internet and increased amount of easy to use web writing platforms, people are increasingly posting information online of their own volition. Sometimes, this communicates things about their personal lives via blogging. Other times, private citizens will report on the news themselves. This has led to a couple communicative impacts. First, we know more about each other than we ever have, and are communicating with one another on a much more frank basis. Second, the way we communicate about the news has changed dramatically, increasing transparency in some ways and obfuscating the real issues in others.

Market Saturation

• Communication doesn't just take place on an interpersonal level, and communication between businesses and their target demographics have been directly impacted by evolving modern technology. Businesses have been able to better communicate with their potential consumers via directed marketing on social networking sites like Facebook. They've also been able to communicate via company run blogs that keep consumers and shareholders up to date with the direction that the company is headed.

The Advantages of Modern Technology in development of  Communication in Nigeria

Modern technology ties humanity together like a nervous system ties the parts of an organism together. Today we are connected with every other human being on the planet in a way people never have been before. This has profound implications for friends, family, lovers, employers and civil authorities.

1.       Personal

o    People can converse almost as well as if they were in the same room no matter where they are. All the little tasks that were hard to coordinate before the advent of electronic communications now become every day. This makes you more efficient and more productive.

Business

o    A lot of businesses would be impossible or much less efficient without modern communications technology. Service businesses are the most obvious. The pizza or lomein is much more likely to arrive hot if customer, dispatcher and customer can easily communicate. Plumbers and electricians can not only get to the right place quickly but can order new supplies and ask technical questions easily. Communication improves every business that is information intensive and time critical.

Civil

o    The days when criminals can outrun the law are over. Broadcast technology makes it possible to inform citizens about disasters and emergencies. The number of lives saved by satellite reconnaissance and TV technology in hurricane regions is enormous. Similar results in tornado regions come from two other communication marvels: radio and Doppler radar. A wired society can function more smoothly.

Modern technology has become so entrenched in the idea of a modern society that the two are nearly inseparable. Developing countries try to get better utilities, more vehicles, faster computers, as well as Internet and cell phone providers because that's what makes a modern society. Modern technology must be implemented in order to accomplish the feats required of a modern society.

1. Health
• One of the biggest benefits of modern technology is that human longevity and health have improved because of its application. As understanding of the body and its functions improves, and as new tools to help heal it (lasers, sonograms, enhanced medication, and nonintrusive surgical tools, just to name a few) are created, life lasts longer. Not only does life extend, but people can live more comfortably, and recover from wounds and diseases that even a half a century ago would have been fatal. In many cases these people live full, productive lives.

Communication

• Modern technology has revolutionized how people communicate. Since World War II, telecommunications and mass media have been growing by leaps and bounds. Radio, telephone, satellite communication, cellular technology, wireless Internet ... in the modern day two people can chat via a computer when they're on opposite sides of the planet. Communication has shrunk the world, bringing people from all cultures and backgrounds into contact with each other.

Resources

• Modern technology allows resources to be expanded and for previously unused ones to be tapped into. If electricity is the lifeblood of a modern society, for instance, modern technology allows it to be harnessed in new ways. Coal-fired plants and gas-driven turbines are old, but serviceable. Wind and tidal generators use modern technology to harness forces on a scale that our ancestors would have thought impossible. Modern technology has also provided ways to grow more food, transport more people and make more products for a growing society.

Knowledge

• What modern technology really represents is an increase in knowledge and how people can use it. Modern technology is usually the direct result of discovery and experimentation. Technology is defined as the scientific method being used to achieve a commercial or industrial goal. So to create technology, a bigger base of knowledge and understanding must be created from which to draw on. As improvements are made to technology, so too are improvements made to the pool of knowledge.

The Big Picture

• Technology is also the application of knowledge, science and tools in ways that accomplish tasks more effectively. A simple look at how technology has become interwoven into modern life can show its importance. Technology allows many businesses to function properly, allows many people to work from home and helps companies around the world communicate. Modern technology builds prosthetic limbs, creates inventive surgeries and grows more food for a rapidly growing population. It creates more efficient vehicles and allows humanity to expand its knowledge even further.

Modern Technology & Society

Since humans first discovered fire and built the wheel, technology and society have been permanently intertwined. Modern technology plays some part in medicine, agriculture, communications, transportation, leisure and even the arts. Though modern technology can raise the standard of living throughout the world, it can also be argued that scientific advancement has also led to the loss of much of our privacy and disasters like the nuclear reactor meltdown of 1979 at Three Mile Island.

1.       In the Beginning

o    According to the Princeton online dictionary, the basic definition of technology is science applied to commerce or industry and is a derivative of the Greek word "technologia." The creation of crude stone tools like spears and axes helped prehistoric humans adapt to their natural environment by allowing them to hunt, to build dwellings and to make clothes. In the April 1984 issue of "Current Anthropology," Ann Broward Stahl wrote that when humans learned to control fire and cook food, it increased the types of food they could eat. The furnace and bellows were soon used to forge metal such as copper, lead, silver and gold and create even better tools and more advanced weapons.

Progress

o    Inventions such as the wheel (around 4000 B.C.) and ship's sails (around 3200 B.C.) contributed significantly to the ability of people to not only travel greater distances but also to wage wars in faraway lands. Eventually, simple machines like the lever, screw and pulley gave way to the industrial revolution and more complex machines like the electric generator, the radio, the computer and nuclear power. As technology increases, humans have to train and educate themselves to maintain and build even more complex machines. A study by the University of Missouri found that humans consider technology an extension of ourselves.

Technology and Privacy

o    Revolutionary breakthroughs in the scientific community allowed humans to eventually walk on the moon and send probes to Mars. Computers give us instant news from anywhere in the world, allow us to communicate and share ideas and even help educate our children. Using modern technology, humans have made tremendous strides in agriculture and medicine, helping people live longer, healthier lives. But we also put our personal information out there for all the world to see with social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Our credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, family photos and information about where we work, live and vacation are in the public arena called cyberspace.

Technology and Human Error

o    In 2008, the world had 439 nuclear power plants generating about 17 percent of the world's energy, according to the Nuclear Training Center website. But even though accidents are rare, the more advanced the technology, the more easily human error and mechanical failure can create serious hazards. According to an August 2009 report from the Nuclear Regulatory Committee, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor meltdown of 1979 began with a series of mechanical failures, which led to a loss of cooling water to the reactor core and a meltdown of nuclear fuel pellets. No one was injured or killed in the accident, but it greatly increased many people's mistrust of nuclear power.

The Future

o    The Food and Drug Administration in 2004 approved computer chips that store personal information and can be implanted in humans and be retrieved with a scan of the person's arm. With robots that can walk and talk and powerful computers that fit in the palm of your hand, it often seems the line between reality and science fiction has blurred. But technology has good and bad applications; it can build or destroy. As long as our species exists, technology will continue to affect--and be affected by--society.