Years ago, one single invention was able to transform whole society and economy, that invention was the steam engine which led to the industrial revolution. Today we are entering the new era in which digital technologies have the same impact on the world we live as the steam engine once did. Production processes are changing too, physical objects are being seamlessly integrated into the information network.
Industrial revolution
When the industrial revolution began, it was something that increased a lot of productivity in society through factory labor. So, when we think about the industrial revolution we have a lot of different inventions that came from it, one of it is the machinery that was built to ease factory processes and reduce the manual labors. Listing few of the changes that transformed society during the Industrial Revolution:
- Trading of common goods became easier which helped in economic growth.
- It decreased the price of goods while making more of them easily available, thus improving the quality of life.
- Production rates increased as the number of factories manufacturing quality goods increased.
- Means of transportation became more comfortable, cheaper and faster.
Information revolution
During the Industrial revolution time, people had to face an inadequacy of information and time delay to access the information. Presently, the internet has evolved so much that all the information is available at fingertips. Also, it became a medium for the distribution of goods, for services, for managerial and professional jobs.
Below are few of the changes that transformed the society:
- Reshaped consumer behavior as there is easy and affordable access to things.
- World is connected as means of communication is better.
- With a large amount of internet data, analysts are able to filter the needs of the users.
- Online transactions enabled trade without borders which accelerated the economic growth.
The crux behind the thought is that the industrial revolution brought to scale in productivity to make per unit cheaper, which in turn boosted the economy. This economic growth brought the need for better efficiency in communication and automation. Internet and other information media were their solutions to growth, where it was no longer about being able to make things and getting marginal increases or decreases in the cost of the specific good but it’s about how we use the goods we have more efficiently. Instant access to information is accelerating the speed of our society. It is reshaping established customs and ending old world boundaries. Thus, I believe the dawn of the Industrial revolution impacted more in our societies, which later added efficient tools like the Internet to support its consistent growth.
