What does technology serve

Extract

[...] What does technology serve These days it seems like every aspect of civilization is somehow tied to technology. The most powerful man in the world fought to keep his personal Blackberry. The seemingly simple act of texting has spawned a multi- billion dollar industry. And from the alarm that wakes us in the morning to the ambient noise of the TV downstairs that lulls us to sleep at night, technology in every form seems deeply embedded in even the most mundane details of our day-to-day lives. [...]

[...] But since the American market is ultimately demand driven, and since demand is controlled by the people, it might be more appropriate to say that technology does not serve corporations but rather that corporations use technology to also serve the people. Take for example the terminology we apply to the most popular and prolific forms of technology; electricity, phones and Internet these are all commonly referred to as “services.” It's likewise no coincidence that the devices that deliver these services are given names like “personal computers” or “personal digital assistants.” In other words, whereas the people can benefit from technology without the direct intervention of corporations, most corporations only seek out technology as a means of satisfying their customers (aka people). [...]

[...] The technology industries and the service industries that have spawned from them, while growing, are not growing fast enough to compensate for such changes in the workforce, and the end result is some of the highest unemployment rates our country has seen in decades. It's hard to say that such negative byproducts of technology serve anyone at all. So who is right? Pro-technology pundits that want to “make people believe that technological innovation is synonymous with human progress” (Postman 117), or the critics that speculate that technology (and the people that manipulate it for their benefit) is self-serving? [...]