The Internet has turned our existence upside down. It has revolutionized communications, to the extent that it’s now our preferred medium of everyday communication. In almost everything we do, we use the web. Ordering a pizza, buying a television, sharing a flash with a lover, sending an image over instant messaging. Before the web, if you wanted to stay up with the news, you had to steer right down to the newsstand when it opened within the morning and purchase the newspaper of the day to get last day news. But today a click or two is enough to read your local paper and any news source from anywhere within the world, updated up to the minute.

The emergence of web 2.0 within the first decade of the twenty-first century was itself a revolution within the short history of the web, fostering the increase of social media and other interactive, crowd-based communication tools.
Today, we will send data from one end of the planet to the opposite during a matter of seconds, make online presentations, sleep in parallel “game worlds,” and use photographs, audios and text to share our real lives, our genuine identity. Personal stories go public; local issues become global.

The rise of the web has sparked a debate about how online communication affects social relationships. The Internet frees us from geographic fetters and brings us together in topic-based communities that aren’t tied right down to any specific place. Ours may be a networked, globalized society connected by new technologies. The Internet is that the tool we use to interact with each other, and accordingly poses new challenges to privacy and security.
Information technologies have wrought fundamental change throughout society, driving it forward from the economic age to the networked era. Online, the traditional constraints of space and time disappear and there’s a dizzyingly wide selection of communicative possibilities. The impact of social media applications has triggered a discussion of the “new communication democracy.”

The development of the web today is being shaped predominantly by instant, mobile communications. The mobile Internet is a fresh revolution.
People do not spend hours gazing at a display screen after work or class; instead, they use their mobile devices to remain online everywhere, all the time.

Let’s take a few moments to recognize a few pieces of technology that are dedicated solely to making life easier and more secure. Without these advancements, everything from deadly illnesses to fraud would be far more prevalent.

1. Improved healthcare
Technology and healthcare go together better than spread and jelly. The tech world has boosted healthcare such a lot that it might be impossible to list all of the positive changes that are made within the last year alone. Patients are now ready to report data remotely to their doctor, and that they also can keep a better eye on medical conditions. There are still some issues processing all of this data but look for this to be resolved shortly.

2. Safer online payments
Everyone has heard about the increase in fraud and cyber-crime, but there are some ways for Internet users to guard themselves. For example, the Apple Pay app allows users to store their MasterCard data and other personal information in one secured resource. From there, users can make payments from their phone or online by validating the method via their fingerprint. Other methods for shielding payment data include utilizing services like PayPal. No matter which option you select, this sort of technology can help keep your information secure while also presenting a neater payment method at an equivalent time.

3. Online grocery shopping
Are you too busy to spend an hour at the grocery store each week? Many stores are now offering online shopping and curbside pickup. Not only does this help busy parents, but it also provides a huge relief to people with autism and other sensory processing complications. To make a good thing even better, stores such as Kroger keep a log of each purchase in the user’s account so that they can easily repeat orders with a single click.

From a security standpoint, parking lots are one of the most common spots for abductions and sexual assaults. Not having to get out of your vehicle will make you much more secure, especially if you keep your doors locked while you wait for the store employee to bring the groceries to your car.

4. The rise of smart cities
If you are concerned about being eco-friendly, yet also want to embrace technology, a smart city may be the perfect choice for your next move. These cities are designed to take advantage of technological knowledge to reduce each building’s consumption of natural resources. Seeing key data about water usage and electric consumption on a single dashboard installed in your home or business is a good way to ensure that you meet your eco goals.

5. Reduce wasted resources with used items
The Internet makes it possible to find almost anything you could think of. Even better, most of these items and services can be rented or purchased used. This is a great way to save money, but it also goes much further when you consider how much waste is kept out of landfills with this option. You can find everything from used textbooks to free manure by searching Craigslist and your local Freecycle board, which makes this another great use of modern technology.

6. Exercise incentive
Innovative companies have recognized the need to offer a strong exercise incentive to help people help themselves. As a result, technology keeps finding new ways to give people a much-needed boost. One of the best recent examples is the augmented reality game Pokemon Go. The popular app rewards players for walking and this has led people to walk as much as six miles per day in search of new and rare Pokemon.

7. Telecommuting opportunities
Do you prefer the idea of working from home? There are many perks to doing this, including reducing your carbon footprint, saving money on gasoline, and having a lower risk of being in an automobile accident. Thanks to high-speed Internet, laptops, smartphones, and project management software, 45 percent of U.S. employees are now able to telecommute at least part of the time. Instead of driving through rush hour traffic and arriving at the office frazzled, these workers can minimize their stress, increase their productivity, and work comfortably in their pajamas or favorite pair of jeans.

8. Instant answers to everything
Everyone has thought of a random question or gotten into a debate about whether or not something happened. Before the Internet, these questions and debates could last a long time, and there was often no clear answer. Now, though, you can look anything up on Google and get instantaneous results. This has made life easier, and it’s also a great educational tool for people of all ages. The time savings alone of finding something online versus having to make phone calls or go to the library is huge, but don’t forget that you can expand upon the quick answers the Internet provides by reading books dedicated to the topic in question.

9. Bringing families together
Email, Skype, texting, Facetime, and social networking sites give people from around the world the easiest possible way to stay connected. Interestingly, studies have shown that people who use Facebook regularly have a 10 percent increase in the closeness of their connection to family and friends. This helps highlight the potential of technology to bring people together. Family members who are spread across the globe can join family gatherings via Skype. Additionally, shared calendars help families avoid scheduling conflicts.

10. GPS makes it difficult to get lost
We’ve all heard horror stories of people making a bad driving decision due to the instructions from their GPS unit, but these incidents are not the norm. Instead, GPS giving us step-by-step voice directions to get from point A to point B makes it easier for every driver to keep their eyes on the road instead of looking at a map. This makes driving safer, and it is also helpful by telling you when you’ll arrive, which roads to avoid, and the fastest possible route.
This list doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the many ways that technology improves our lives and keeps us more secure, and that’s exactly why these innovations are such important game-changers. After all, technology has been created for almost any scenario you can imagine. Therefore, even though you may benefit from occasional tech breaks, it’s worth noting that you can also regain focus on technology.