Technology and society

Contemporary effects

Digital technologies affect education, communication, work, media use, and social interaction. Digital technologies have also become embedded in everyday social activity and communication, changing how people interact with information, institutions, and one another.

Sociologist Manuel Castells has described the growth of information and communication technologies as contributing to the emergence of a "network society", in which social and economic activities are increasingly organized through networks enabled by digital communication technologies. Their effects vary by context, and research has identified both potential benefits and risks.

Recording technologies have altered how music is created, distributed, and experienced, illustrating how technological change can reshape cultural practices. Anthropologist Minna Ruckenstein argues that people also come to understand algorithmic systems through everyday experiences and emotional responses, which become part of wider algorithmic culture.

In education, digital technology can support access to learning materials, collaboration, and some forms of instruction, but evidence of their effectiveness is mixed and depends on how they are implemented. UNESCO has also identified concerns including unequal access, distraction, privacy risks, and reduced face-to-face interaction. Studies of mobile learning have also examined how smartphones and Web 2.0 tools can support student engagement and collaborative learning in tertiary education.

Research on social media and young people likewise reports both potential benefits and risks. A 2023 advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General stated that social media can provide connection and support, while also raising concerns about mental health, body image, and patterns of intensive use among children and adolescents.

Technology and economic development

Technological research and development is funded through both public and private sources. Governments support research through direct funding, procurement, grants and tax incentives, while businesses finance and conduct a substantial share of research and development.

Technological adoption is an important factor in economic growth, productivity, employment, and structural change. Differences in the extent to which firms adopt and use new technologies can contribute to differences in productivity and economic performance. Long-run models of economic development have examined interactions between technological change, population growth and economic expansion.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digitization among many firms. Research by the European Investment Bank found that more digitally advanced firms were generally better able to withstand pandemic-related disruption, while many businesses increased their use of digital technologies in response to the crisis. The expansion of teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic prompted research into its effects on productivity, worker well-being, and business organization.

Technology and inequality

Access to digital technologies and their benefits is unevenly distributed between countries and social groups. In 2025, the International Telecommunication Union estimated that 74% of the world's population used the internet, compared with 23% in low-income countries. Geographic inequalities also persist: globally, 85% of urban residents used the internet compared with the 58% of rural residents, while only 14% of rural residents in low-income countries were online.

Digital inequality also reflects differences in the affordability of devices and data, digital skills, and other social and economic barriers. The World Bank has noted that network availability alone does not ensure meaningful digital participation, and that gaps in affordability, skills and inclusive policy can limit access to employment, education, financial services and public services. Gender disparities also remain; the ITU estimated that 77% of men and 71% of women worldwide used the internet in 2025.

Technology and work

Technological change can alter the tasks performed within occupations, create new forms of work, and reduce demand for some existing tasks. Research by the International Labour Organization on artificial intelligence suggests that, for many occupations, AI is more likely to transform or augment work than completely automate jobs, although exposure varies considerably between occupations, countries, and demographic groups.

Digital technologies can also change how work is organized and managed. Algorithmic management systems use data and automated processes to allocate tasks, monitor performance, and coordinate workers. Studies of logistics and healthcare workplaces have identified potential efficiency gains from these systems, alongside concerns about work intensity, job quality, and worker surveillance; their effects can also differ according to institutional and regulatory conditions.

Ethics, privacy and surveillance

Technological development can raise ethical questions concerning privacy, autonomy, fairness, accountability, transparency and human rights. These issues have become particularly prominent in debates over artificial intelligence. UNESCO's Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence identifies principles including privacy and data protection, fairness and non-discrimination, transparency and explainability, human oversight, and responsibility and accountability.

Digital technologies can also expand the capacity of governments and private organizations to collect, analyse, and monitor information about individuals. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that technologies including intrusive hacking tools and biometric recognition systems can enable pervasive surveillance and threaten the right to privacy when adequate safeguards, oversight and legal protections are absent.

Sociological factors and effects

Sociological approaches to technology emphasize that technological development is shaped by social, economic, political and cultural factors rather than occurring independently of society. Decisions about which technologies are developed, adopted and maintained are influenced by institutions, users, markets, regulations and other social forces.

Choices made during the design, development, and adoption of technologies can lead to different technological outcomes and different consequences for social groups. These approaches also examine how technologies can reshape social practices and institutions after they are introduced. This reciprocal relationship is a central theme in science and technology studies and is often discussed under concepts such as the social shaping or social construction of technology.

Technological capability has also been used historically as a measure of social and political hierarchy. Michael Adas argues that European perceptions of scientific and technological superiority influenced attitudes toward non-Western societies and helped shape colonial policies.

Environment

Technology can have both beneficial and harmful effects on the environment, and the effects of a technology can vary according to its design, production, use and disposal. Technological systems can support environmental monitoring, pollution control, resource efficiency, and the development of lower-impact alternatives. Governments and other institutions may respond to these effects through regulation, incentives, restrictions, or the phase-out of particular technologies.

Digital technologies and the environment

Digital technologies can influence environmental outcomes through the energy system and information infrastructure. The International Energy Agency has found that digital tools and platforms can support clean-energy transitions by improving energy efficiency, demand-side flexibility, remote monitoring, and the integration of distributed energy resources.

Information and communication technologies can also have negative environmental effects: their production, use and disposal consume energy and resources, and can contribute to electronic waste and carbon dioxide emissions, while ICT can also support emissions reductions through applications such as smart transport, electricity grids and industrial processes.

Negative effects on the environment

Technological production and use can contribute to resource depletion and pollution of air, water, and soil. Resource extraction, industrial production, energy use, and waste generation can also contribute to greenhouse-gas emissions, habitat degradation, and other long-term environmental pressures.

Technological autonomy

The concept of technological autonomy describes the view that technological development can acquire momentum that appears partly independent of deliberate human control. Jacques Ellul argued that modern technological systems can become increasingly self-generating, self-determining, and difficult for individuals to redirect.

Langdon Winner criticized what he called "technological somnambulism", the tendency to treat technologies as neutral tools that develop according to technical or economic imperatives without sufficient political scrutiny. Critics of technological autonomy emphasize that technologies remain shaped by human decisions, institutions, and social priorities, even when their development appears difficult to control.

Government

Governments can influence technological development through research funding, procurement, tax incentives, regulation, and other policy measures. Public support for research and development can encourage particular areas of innovation, including where private investment or market incentives are considered insufficient.

Governments also shape the development and use of emerging technologies through regulation, technology assessment, standards, stakeholder engagement, and international cooperation. These forms of governance can be used to address risks while influencing how technologies are developed and introduced into society.

Richard E. Sclove argued that democratic participation should play a greater role in technological decision-making, including technology assessment, research, development, and design.