By Nazario Rodriquez Jr
Horizon news staff

TECHNOLOGY in the olden days was meant to improve people’s welfare and lifestyles. The power and influence of technology gradually and unwittingly changed that traditional concept. Nowadays technology (which undoubtedly going higher and higher in a fast pace mode) tends to alienate man from his existence instead of improving his lot. It is coined as the Information Technology revolution.
Big companies from the United States, Europe, Japan, lately South Korea and now comes China have capitalized technological advancement to improve their economies but at the expense of poorer countries by supplying their end products instead of transferring the knowledge and skills.
The "in things" of today’s generation are the cellular telephones (popularized as mobile phones), computers -- PCs, laptops, palmtops, world wide web, google, yahoo and all of internet’s multi-faceted uses.
The humankind is alienated by some material things that do not even benefit him as a person. Every people everywhere is in need of the latest in Nokia, or Sony Ericsson etc. etc. with all its features such as video, camera, radio and so and so. Since we are now on the digital age and fiber optics era, technology changes overnight. Thus, some people change their cellular phones every now and then, especially among those who have the means. But are these things benefit us from their real use? Or we just have them as a status symbol?
Well, there’s a saying that anyone has his right to choose his own lifestyles. That’s where the problem lies.
However, it is also a responsibility for others to set some standards of behaviors, especially to our young to reshape their attitudes towards new technologies that directly affect their everyday life.
The Internet is now saturated with pornography. And this is just a fraction of a larger problem that beset humankind. It is no doubt that the Internet is being used for intelligence agents to spy their enemies and superpowers to track down their nemesis –Say track down so-called terrorists, who also tracks down the pretending Messiah.
So the Internet is being used for propaganda by both sides of the fence. Those who have the means to raise the level of technology will have the power to control the Internet. And we’re not even talking about the business side of it.
We all agree that each country needs these new technologies to come to terms with the signs of the time. But we have to be very selective.
Look at Google Earth, one can now easily pinpoint the whereabouts of any flashpoint or where the battle is taking place. Soon enough, there will come a time that you can actually see what is happening in anywhere else by the mere stroke of your fingertips. It may be a positive side of it. But the thing is, because of these amazing things brought about by the digital revolution the people, businesses and governments depend more and spend more on computers just to make sure they are also part of a fast changing society, instead of using such technologies to energize progress.