The Integration of Technology into Society

Technology has always had a part in shaping community. Everything from cars to telephones, to now the internet and computers have changed how society has functioned, form the individuals to the communities they act as. A proposed new technology that would have an immediate impact on the community it would be introduced it to is massive free public wi-fi internet.

In urban environments, many of the ways that divide social classes is the amount of wealth that each individual has. Now the almost everything is on the internet, there is one thing that is barring you from accessing the internet, a stable connection. The only place that anyone can access the internet is either at a public wi-fi spot, namely the library, or at home, where the other wi-fi spots are pay-as-you-go. By providing free public internet, everyone in the community, even those who may or may not have a home address or enough money to afford the skyrocketing prices of internet access by the large phone companies. This will encourage more people to use the internet for job hunting, and e-commerce, by the fact that they no longer have to spend a sizeable chunk of their paycheck on the internet access. The bar to access the internet will be much lower, and make it easier to move everything from physical media to digital media, therefore making all records online and more secure. In addition, the new introduction to the low cost netbooks, cut down versions of notebooks specifically designed for internet access, will make it even easier to integrate the internet into the community.

Free public wi-fi will make the internet seem just like the library, a wealth of knowledge easily, and basically free, to access at our own will. This will encourage many in the community to use the internet not only as a way to research, but also to communicate, because everyone will be online.