Many people use technology to communicate with their friends and love ones but never give a thought to how technology has improved their lives. Technology surrounds us every day, the grocery store is dripping in technology, the buses run on computers, and even the dentist uses digital cameras and computer imaging systems instead of x-rays. While we live our lives surrounded with technology, have you ever stopped to consider how society can be changed through technology?

The internet opened up forms of communication that we never thought were possible before. Today we have hundreds of social news sites where individuals can write and post news reports pertaining to the world around them. People can also comment and respond to ideas through forums and commenting systems which means we can share ideas and knowledge with anyone in the world at any time. Imagine if we created a forum where this open communication path was used to create social policy and laws? No longer would social policy be created by the elite few who find themselves governing others but by the masses.

Open source software allows many people to provide their own input and knowledge towards the creation of useable software. There are still many societies where the exchange of ideas is not open or acceptable. We should bring open source software to these societies and help to teach that sharing ideas and knowledge with others can be a profitable endeavor for everyone. We can also take the ideas of working together to create other open source projects. Using the ideas of open source will increase the eduction level of people around the world, teachers can and are releasing their lessons and knowledge the world through the internet. Children who live their whole lives without access to teachers can now learn by listening to audio recordings or watching a television show.

Many employers area already using video technology to connect their office locations together and avoid large travel expenses. What if we connected employers with possible employees around the world through video communication? Technology could help raise the level of earnings for many people who barely make enough money to survive. A new form of work would be created through the use of video communication. Some workplaces already communicate mainly through email, why not expand this idea and hire the most qualified person no matter where they are located in the world.

Another method of sharing has been created through creative commons. We can improve society by releasing all forms of art under the creative commons licensing structure. Allowing other people to spread our art and use as they see fit can help spread the ideas behind our creations and challenge others to create as well. Time and time again society has been changed by the artistes within and today we have the ability to spread art to every corner of the world by using the internet and technology. Of course, all of our ideas towards using technology and the internet to improve society can only succeed if we have net neutrality. Individuals need to be able to choose what they access on the internet without the interference from an internet provider or their government.

The ability to share knowledge and information with anyone in the world through the internet is one of the best ways we can improve society. However, without a computer hardware infrastructure the internet is nothing but a communication idea. The One Laptop Per Child Initiative (OLPC for short) is a great example of how we can get computers into the hands of people who need them. Computers do not need to be top-of-the-line gaming computers designed to produce high end 3D graphics. We can provide low cost equipment to people who have never owned a computer before. These low end computers are able to connect to the internet and therefore connect to the world.

With an OLPC style computer and a webcam, individuals will be able to document the horrors inflicted on people in third world countries and post the information to the internet for all to see. No longer will one man or one government be able to hide behind their silence and abuse people in their countries. When a society is under siege by a despot, the truth can become societies best weapon. That truth can be recorded on computers and posted to the internet. Even if we can not get a computer in to the hands of every person in the world, there are other technologies that work just as well. Digital cameras can store thousands of pictures on a chip smaller than a postage stamp. If we arm people around the world with cameras we can still communicate and learn through the photos.

Cell phones are also a great technology that will help to improve the lives of people around the world. Even something as simple as a voice conversation can change a person’s life. If all you have is a cell phone that makes voice calls, you could connect to voice recognition software and communicate with the world. People could use cell phones to listen to educational recordings and expand their knowledge. We could teach people new skills and give them training all through a cell phone conversation.

Finally, advanced in manufacturing technology should be shared with all the countries of the world to help improve not only society but the environment as well. By training people on high speed manufacturing processes we can improve the working conditions of millions of people around the world. Clothing manufacturing will not longer need to be completed through sweatshop practices instead high-tech cloth cutters and sewing machines could be used.

Many times technology surrounds us and we fail to notice how our lives are improved. We have become so immune to how improved our lives are because of technology that we often fail to see that there are other people who need assistance. We need to spread our technology to all countries of the world and help to improve their societies as well.

Do you have accounts at every social media website that has been created? Do you spend all your free time reading the latest news or telling people what you are doing at a certain minute? Many people spend more time on social media websites then they do with their own families. If your constantly seeking out information and interacting on social media websites you may be addicted. While there is no “cure” for an internet or social media addiction, you can manage your social media addiction.

Many people find that if they do not manage their addiction to social media, they often end up sleep deprived or with mental and marital problems. Once you find yourself spending more time with your computer and social media sites than you spend with on your job or with your family, you need to start managing your addiction. It is hard to control yourself, after all most social media websites allow you to create the media yourself and what is better than seeing materials you create published?

The first step to managing your social media addiction, is to pay attention to what you do online and what you enjoy. There are hundreds of different types of social media websites but which ones do you enjoy using and participating in the most? You may want to make a list of the sites that you spend the most amount of time on and list the reasons your enjoy those sites. Once you have the list of where you spend all your time, start removing websites and social media activities that you do not enjoy. Many sites take content from other sites and repurpose it on their websites, think about it, do you really need to spend your valuable time on these websites? There is no reason for you to be spending time on websites or activities you have no interest in. Stop wasting your internet time on activities that have no value directly to yourself.

As you begin to narrow your social media focus down to the websites and activities you truly enjoy, your probably found that you spent a lot of time in social media activities you did not care for. However, you can not simply replace the activities your no longer taking part in with more time on your favorite sites. The next step in managing your social media addiction is to set a time limit for your activities every day and schedule the time on your calendar. The key to this step is sticking to your plan. The time can not be flexible or you may discover you start to fall back into your old habits.

It is vital when trying to manage a social media addiction that you stop paying attention to how many “friends” you have. Stop following people that you do not care about. There is no need to have thousands of virtual friends. One of the most addictive part of social media websites is finding friends but do you really need to get updates from thousands of different people? Stop becoming friends with everyone who requests you as a friend or everyone who posts. Limit your “friendship” to a small set of people who highlight and create content that really interests you. Once you limit the number of people you are interacting with, you will discover that you are able to do more with your social media sites during the time you allot each day.

One great aspect of social media is that new tools and websites are constantly being created. If you hear others talking about a new website or new tool and you have to stop what you are doing to check the tools out for yourself, you have an addiction. In order to manage your social media addiction, you need to control your desire to stop everything your doing and flock to a new social media website. When you hear about a new tool, stop and think about whether or not this new tool fits with the websites you spend your social media time on. If you think it will make sure you include the tool in the scheduled time you have set aside for social media websites. Keep in mind that many of these tools are very popular for a week or two then disappear, do not waste your time on sites that do not add to your experience or take away from the key sites you have allocated your time to.

Finally, in order to manage your social media addiction, you need to disconnect social media from your cell phone. There is no need to have constant access to your favorite social media. If your in a business meeting or at a family event, keep your cell phone in your pocket and do not access social media websites. Stop posting your life on a webpage and start to share directly with the people around you. Stop this madness and start spending time with the people you care about. Social media is actually not very social, it’s nothing but a website.

When computers first came into existence during the 20th century, the computers took up entire rooms and were only able to perform simple mathematical formulas. In addition, these computers had to be rewired and reprogrammed every time the operators needed to change or update a function. Today’s technology advances are allowing computers to become more powerful and much smaller every year. Think about it, how big was your first computer and what is the size of the computer your using now? Chances are the computer you have now is much smaller and more powerful than your first computer. If we continue on this path towards small powerful computers, what will our computers look like in ten years?

Imagine your next computer being based upon a glass of water. While today you need to avoid getting water anywhere near your computer and electronics in general, researchers have already demonstrated that water is able to create an ultra-dense storage system that computers and other electronic devices can use. Researchers have developed a method to use small amounts of water to stabilize the memory bits of nanowire that is barely three-billionths of a meter wide. As this technology progresses we may find that water will increase the memory and storage capacity of our computers and allows us to use new and different materials in our computers and technology.

Maybe, your next computer will not be based on a glass of water but what is living in the water. A computer built from E. Coli bacteria has already successfully started to solve mathematical puzzles. The bacteria computer actually completed a mathematical problem faster than a standard computer based upon the silicon CPU chip. Bacteria computing is based upon the idea of DNA computing and can actually process the same data we use our computers for today. Each strand of DNA is able to process bits of data independently while still creating a useable whole. Ok, it may not be appealing to have a dish of bacteria sitting on your desk but DNA computing is one technological advancement that researchers are working on daily and we will see the technology learnings applied to our computers in the future.

If bacteria is not your idea of a perfect computer, why not consider a magnetic trap that holds quantum qubits. Qubits are very similar to the bits we currently use to represent data in our computers. In our computers today, the bits store data as either a 0 or 1 which is considered very linear (there is only two choices and no in-between). When using qubits, we can represent data as 0, 1, or both 0 and 1 at the same time, instead of data being very linear qubits allow our data to become 3-dimensional. When one qubit interacts with another qubit, we create a quantum qubit computing platform that is the basis for 3-dimensional computing. Once we start to use quantum qubits in our computers we will not need to represent 3D images on our computer screen because they will be created around us in the magnetic trap process the qubits.

If your a person on the go, you probably own at least one portable laptop computer. Ten years from now, your entire portable computing process may change as well. Instead of carrying a heavy computer, it would be much nicer to have a piece of expensive jewelry instead? Diamonds actually make much faster computer chips than the current silicone we use, however since natural diamonds are very expensive we continue to use silcone. Currently advances in technology and our knowledge of geological processes has opened up the ability to create diamonds in a lab. Man-made diamonds are virtually identical to diamonds made by the earth. Since we no longer need to wait for the earth to produce the diamonds we need for our computers all we need is for the price of man-made diamonds to become affordable. Then CPU manufacturers will begin to create computer chips that are much faster than the computers we have now and and we can begin to move toward jewelry as a computer.

Finally, our computers may become a pile of photosensitive molecules. Molecular computing focuses on similar ideas to DNA computing and creates a process where the computational power of individual molecules is harnessed to create faster processing. Photosensitive molecules can use the energy of light to fuel the computing power of the molecules. Researchers believe that molecules and molecular computing will create faster computer that are more cost efficient, save energy, and are smaller in size.

Whatever our computers look like in ten years, one thing is for certain, we will be using smaller computers with more power. Researchers may be pushing computing processes to the extreme but every day new advances in DNA and molecular computing are pushing the envelope and creating faster computers based upon materials that surround us in life.

Do you often find yourself trying to remember things from your life and failing? Do you need to learn a lot of facts or details in your job and never seem to be able to remember everything completely? Or maybe you simply want to be able to concentrate on a project for longer than fifteen minutes. If any of this is familiar to you, it is time to boost your cognition and improve your memory. Technology allows us new methods of brain stimulation and memory tools. You no longer need to resort to creating paper flash cards and quizzing yourself hourly. You can use your computer and technology in general to help improve your memory.

One software program that can help boost your memory is SuperMemo. SuperMemo is a database of material you need to learn. You can either create your own database of information to learn or use a pre-created database. During a review session, SuperMemo quizzes you on the material in its database and tracks your responses. Then, depending on the goals you set for yourself in SuperMemo, the program creates the ideal review program for the material you need to learn. You will not spend time reviewing information you already know because SuperMemo tracks the information you already knows and helps you to focus on the facts and information you still need to learn. Psychologists believe that improving your memory requires repeatedly study and SuperMemo is able to help you study efficiently.

If you are trying to boost your memory to help learn unfamiliar items, you may want to create a mnemonic device. Mnemonic devices associate lists of items with other words or acronyms. Mnemonic devices are can be either silly new sentences or entire stories and usually devising the mnemonic terms is hard if your brain is not working at its full capacity. To aid in creating a mnemonic device, there are many programs available on the internet that can help you. One such website is The Mnemonicizer which can help you build the best mnemonic device for the information you are trying to learn. The sillier the mnemonic saying you create, the easier it will be to remember the information for the long term so if you are stuck on a list of material you need to learn quickly, give the mnemonic device a try.

Improving your cognition increases not only your ability to remember items you have learned or been exposed to but your ability to think and communicate as well. The human brain starts to slow down as we age and there is evidence that this slowing begins as early as age 30. By playing simple brain games we can halt this brain slowdown and in many cases actually speed our brains up again. Lumosity is a brain training program that has been developed to be fun and engaging while allowing our brains to be challenged and worked. The Lumosity program is a scientifically designed brain training process. This program contains many different computer games designed to be entertaining and brain stimulating at the same time. After you being to play the brain games available through Lumosity, you will discover that not only are you able to concentrate better and think in a clear and concise manner but you actually feel better emotionally and physically.

Even when you do not have time to spend on a brain game or quizzing yourself with SuperMemo, you can still use technology to boost your cognition. Sometimes our brains may either not know or forget how to create the brain waves necessary for learning and concentration. Remember, our brains start to slow down around the age of 30 and part of this slow down may be forgetting how to create certain brain wave patterns. A brain enhancement CD is designed to stimulate your brain to create brain wave patterns similar to the patterns found in highly intelligent and over-achieving individuals. Do not worry, this will not hurt, all you need to do is listen to the CD containing music and sounds while studying, reading, or performing tasks that need increased concentration. You can even incorporate the sounds into your own music playlists and into some music streamed from the internet which will allow you to listen to the music you enjoy and improve your cognition at the same time.

Whatever process or program you decide to use in order to boost your cognition, you do need to change your process periodically in order to re-stimulate your brain and to avoid muscle memory. If you constantly perform the same learning process again and again, you take the chance on memorizing the process which will stop the process of brain stimulation necessary to boost your cognition. Keep boosting your cognition and you will soon discover that not only are you able to remember items better but you will have a better outlook on life in general.