Technology has come a long way and continues to impact our lives. Misuse of tech innovations can lead to undesirable results. But these have the capabilities to improve everyone’s quality of life when used the right way. Thanks to the different technologies made available, we can solve many social issues. Here’s how technology can help solve the following community problems.
Poor community health
One issue many communities are facing today is poor community health. Not everyone has easy access to healthcare, while others don’t even have the funds to see a doctor when needed. Many organizations and government agencies are working together to provide the public with better access to free and affordable healthcare.
We now use social media to spread awareness to the public and provide tips on how to better take care of ourselves. Different apps are made available to the public to help improve our lifestyle, our physical health, and even our mental health. Even telehealth and telemedicine is changing how we receive and deliver healthcare to the public.
Many municipalities now use Mobile Integrated Healthcare or MIH. This helps provide appropriate care for 911 users who have no emergency needs but do require health assistance. This, in turn, help improve the lives of community members while reducing the rates of 911 misuse and hospital admissions and readmissions.
Unemployment
Some people say they lost their jobs to computers and machines. While this is true to some extent, there are more ways technology helps solve unemployment issues. For one, all machines and computers require humans to operate, maintain, and repair them.
In a nutshell, there are things AI is not capable of doing simply because there are things only humans are capable of doing. Take customer support as an example. No matter how many FAQs, chatbots, and blog entries you bombard your website with, people will still want to communicate with an actual human who understands their needs and expectations.
There is no technology yet that can create engaging copies that can help businesses chain more clients or proofread content as accurately as a human can. No machine can replace salespeople, telemarketers, and bookkeeping professionals. This only goes to show that despite the many tech innovations out there, there are still jobs no tech can do, which means more job opportunities for us.
Aside from this, technology-enabled people to start working wherever they want. With computers, online tools, software, and a high-speed internet connection, people can now work from virtually anywhere. Parents who have no one to take care of their children, disabled persons, and even seniors can now earn even if they don’t leave the house.
Climate Change
Everything we do can impact the environment. The growing demand of people for more environment-friendly and sustainable products and practices fueled the creativity of innovators. Now, businesses are rethinking their processes, are outsourcing materials and equipment to local and sustainable suppliers, and already switched to more eco-friendly packing.
One can easily buy more eco-friendly appliances that make use of considerably less energy. One can install solar panels to power up houses and other buildings. Even cars are made with sustainability in mind.
In the manufacturing industry, they make use of different techniques to lower carbon emissions, reduce wastes, and produce products more sustainably. In healthcare, we now make use of telehealth and telemedicine to encourage people to use available gadgets to get medical care. This, in turn, reduces the need to travel, thus reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles.
Now, we get to reduce the number of wastes created and lower our energy and water usage. We can even reuse and recycle more things thanks to the availability of different materials recovery facilities. Even businesses are doing their part in leveraging tech for the sake of the environment.
Senior Isolation
Senior citizens are often lonely and depressed, whether they stay in senior care homes or are aging in place. According to a report, nearly one-fourth of seniors are socially isolated. With technology, we can help reduce senior isolation and improve their quality of life.
Now, seniors can use different technologies to entertain themselves and ease their depression and isolation. Aside from calls and texts, seniors can take advantage of social media to stay connected with their loved ones. The internet also proves to be good entertainment for seniors.
The good news is, there are senior-friendly smartphones perfect for elderly adults. This way, they can easily connect to the internet, watch shows and movies, and use video conferencing to keep up with their loved ones. They can even use easy-to-use apps to play digital games that can help boost brain health.
These are four issues technology managed to help solve and improve. Without technology, these four social issues would be very hard to deal with. Thanks to the great minds that made these tech innovations happen, community health continues to improve. Seniors can avoid isolation. We can continue to have jobs and do our part in helping heal the planet one step at a time.
