High-tech gadgets are everywhere, and we often don’t realize how much we depend on these gadgets to get through our daily life. If you were to experience a massive shutdown of tech, do you realize how much we couldn’t do? Today we look at all the different ways that tech has become a major part of our day and how much we should appreciate the work the equipment does for us.

We Are Safer

Security systems were once non-existent. It was up to all of us to figure out how to keep our beloved items secure and safe from prying eyes. Security began with the government and businesses and eventually reached to our homes. Now, thanks to tech, we can all have security systems in our homes to ensure we won’t lose our beloved items. With companies focused on everyone, like home security in Chicago, some of the more crime-ridden cities can now feel safe again. These security systems are virtually everywhere. When you go to the department store, grocery store, your bank, the gas station, and now your home. Sometimes we forget how safe we truly are with the technological advances in security systems.

We Can Be Healthier

Technology has always been a part of the healthcare field and as it grows, so do our chances of being healthier and living longer. Advances in dentistry and various other medical fields allow us to find health concerns sooner rather than much later and further developed. In lots of cases, we can even detect possible issues before they ever develop so that we can take measures to protect ourselves from deteriorating health. X-rays and cat scans have improved drastically and can see so much more. Thanks to tech, a lot of research years are cut in half because we can process information quicker than before. We have even learned more about the effects of diet, genetics, and environment much better than in previous years.

We Travel Smarter

Global position systems (GPS) were originally designed for the military and used frequently enough that it seeped into civilian life. When we used to travel by car, we had to buy a map or ask for directions from the destination we were going to. We then migrated to using map websites on the internet; Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, and Mapquest were the most popular of their time. Far from perfect but it could give you written street by street directions rather than deciphering a roadmap. Fortunately, companies saw that the market for GPS systems you could buy and put into your car to have someone tell you when to make a turn, how far you had to go before the next turn, and so on. Now? GPS services are on every smartphone and often included with newer models of vehicles. GPS systems are everywhere and we no longer have to pull out a map to read it, we can just have someone tell us exactly where to go each step of the way. It makes you wonder, how did we ever live without GPS?

We Have a World of Information at Our Fingertips

The internet itself has certainly changed how we receive and digest information. When we needed information on ancient cultures, find out about the latest books coming out, or needed to get some new recipes, we once headed to the library. All of those things are now on the internet and so much more. We get news as it happens, we can learn more about cultures from far away lands, we can educate ourselves about any topic we want to. There are even free college courses you can take online to further your education in your field or simply educate for self-fulfillment.

Technology may have a bad rap amongst the older generations, who are often slower to adapt to changes. The reality is, technology has certainly improved who we are as a species and will continue to do so as long as we keep educating ourselves.