“Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable.” So said American writer Joseph Wood Krutch, and although he meant his quote in a slightly disparaging sense, he’s absolutely right. Without technology, our society would fall apart; we depend on technology for communication, travel, information, and many other things. It’s safe to say that ours is a society based entirely on technological innovation.
With that in mind, then, it stands to reason that technology should have fundamentally changed industries. It’s easy to see the influence of technology on our lives and industry: social media, the Internet, and rapid advances in smartphone power and accessibility mean that we all have the sum total of human knowledge readily available in our pockets. This article takes a look over a number of industries that have evolved thanks to technology. Let’s begin.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Trading
Prior to the advent of modern tech like smartphones and high-speed Internet connections, trading was very much something that was exclusively done on the trading floor. Once, there were physical buildings in which day trading took place; stock markets were only physical entities, massive banks of machines, computers and phones that enabled traders to communicate with contacts, secure deals and watch the value of shares as they fluctuated.
Now, however, the entire process can be easily accessed online. Websites like BinaryOptionsExpert.net even trawl the web for bots like OptionsRobot that can automate trading, meaning you don’t even need to be present at a workstation in order to trade. Smartphones that sit in our pockets can access the stock market quickly at any time, and their processing power means they can easily handle the large volumes of data being processed. Physical stock markets still exist, but the business is increasingly moving online.
Real Estate
It was once the premise of a real estate agent to set up shop in an office somewhere and, once they had clients, to wait for a time to schedule a viewing. Now, however, the real estate business is moving online, with many real estate sites like Zillow and Trulia cutting out the middleman entirely.
With that in mind, the modern real estate agent works around their client’s schedule. They set up viewings based on a client’s say-so; there’s no time for 9 to 5 for a real estate agent, since many clients will want weekend or evening viewings owing to their own restrictive work schedules. What’s more, there are even bots online which, when given information about their users’ desires, will recommend properties to them automatically. It’s not hard to see how real estate isn’t a “sit in the office and do paperwork” job any longer.
Teaching
It’s easy to argue that teaching has never actually been a 9 to 5 job in the conventional sense. Yes, teachers and lecturers do usually keep office hours, and yes, they leave work after working for a set amount of time. Often, though, teachers and lecturers take their work with them, marking on off-hours. In the modern era, teaching is also moving online, with many online lecture platforms like Udemy and Coursera offering users the same experience as a university degree but with the flexibility and accessibility of studying whenever and wherever possible.
As such, if you’re a teacher, you’ll now need to fit your lectures around the needs of your students and your platform rather than scheduling them yourself. The upside of this is, as many online lecture platforms are video-based, you can simply upload the lecture at your convenience and deal with student inquiries as and when you see fit.
Healthcare
The idea of remote healthcare can be a difficult one to process. After all, how is it possible for a doctor or nurse to diagnose a problem remotely? Well, as it turns out, it’s quite straightforward. Artificial intelligence means that many online platforms can diagnose illnesses based on a series of questions and a perceptive central machine learning core; whereas sites like WebMD and its ilk work based on self-report data and are thus similar, their central AI is nowhere near as smart as platforms like Eliza or Florence.
As a result, it’s also possible for nurses and other healthcare professionals to perform their work remotely; teleradiologists, for example, can now review X-rays remotely and recommend procedures without actually being physically present. It’s not hard to see how, in the future, sufficiently advanced robotics could see surgery being performed remotely, too.
These are just a few of the industries tech has changed forever. However, technology is always on the move, and we can expect the tomorrow of technology to be at a totally different level, of which new advancements will arise. Ultimately, we are all interacting with tech on a scale never seen before, and this is unlikely to change.
If you are interested in even more technology-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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