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Technology is like money, it seems. You need some of it … a decent amount, really … to be happy. But at a certain point, it might do more harm than good.
Microsoft recently released a fascinating global survey that unearthed another gap between the developed and the developing world. Poorer countries have a lot more positive feelings about technology than rich countries, and the gap is widening. In the developing world, tech has been a boon for journalism, social connections and employment opportunities. In the developed world, many folks feel just the opposite.
And it makes sense. Mobile phones have brought telecommunications to plenty of places that couldn’t afford to string landlines, for example. On the other hand, in the U.S. and other rich nations, mobile phones are often seen as communication killers — particularly by parents who can’t get the darn things out of their teenagers’ hands. A classic first-world problem.
I’ve written a lot of negative observations about the unintended consequences of technology as part of The Restless Project. I hope no one misunderstands: I’m happy I can see my niece on Skype video calls, I can write books on the beach with my laptop, and I’m really thrilled my father had open heart surgery not long ago in the time it takes to get a tooth pulled. Tech is good. But tech also has its limits, and it’s become a bit of a false god. It’s also really enabling some folks to take advantage of workers, like Uber. There’s billions of dollars in marketing that extols the virtues of tech. Someone has to talk about the dark side. Microsoft’s survey suggests plenty of folks are concerned about that.
In fact, if there’s one thing consumers from all corners of the globe agreed on, it was this: Our very notion of privacy is at serious risk. In 11 of the 12 countries surveyed, respondents said that technology’s effect on privacy was mostly negative. (India was the exception.)
“Majorities of respondents in every country but India and Indonesia say current legal protections for users of personal technology are insufficient, and only in those two countries do most respondents feel fully aware of the types of personal information collected about them,” Microsoft said.
Countries included in the survey were the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Japan and France
Here’s the data on the schism between developed and developing countries and their attitudes toward tech:
Image: iStock
April 11, 2023
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September 13, 2021
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August 4, 2021
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