“Over the past century, the most significant contribution of technology has been to make people’s lives more comfortable.”

Technology is the other name for scientific developments. In the present day, there is hardly any aspect of our life which is untouched by the latest technological developments. So much so, that we can attribute our day to day life’s comfort to technology. Man’s evolution from an ape to the present day human being has been a long story, but the very transformation from Stone Age to computer age depicts his zeal to progress, unlike the other animal species. Therefore, it was quite evident since ages that we craved for more new things, more comfort, more inventions and hence more development.

Since the past century, we have got so much used to the comforts provided by the ever developing technology that it seems impossible to imagine a life without these comforts. Whether it is in the field of health and medicine or entertainment, the latest developments have their marks everywhere.

Food, clothing and shelter, which once were the basic necessities, are almost taken for granted today. From these elementary comforts, we have become much used to the luxury of fuel and electricity. Electricity is the most common comfort one seeks after getting an accommodation. Supplementing these comforts are coolers and air conditioners. In the field of entertainment, jumping tracks from transistors to cassette players to television to computers to i-pods, we want it all. The convenience, comfort and joy of using these gadgets are such that we do not even realize how they transformed from luxury to necessity.

For instance, telephones were believed to be a luxury affordable by only a selected few, especially when letters could serve the purpose. Today, their latest versions i.e. cell phones have marked a permanent place in every individual’s life. Only something better may replace it, owing to the easy accessibility and connectivity it provides.

In terms of accessibility, the roles of computers and internet connections have been unmatched, so far. With a click of a mouse, one can get an entire encyclopedia related to any field. Apart from speedy calculations and marveling memory, the latest information and a variety of options to choose from are available. Be it an affordable holiday vacation, a suitable job vacancy, a suitable matrimonial alliance, career counseling, electronic tuitions, online banking, online booking of tickets, online jobs or exams and their results, computers cater to all the day to day needs.

Equivalently, transport used to be for the simple comfort of travelling. Gradually, buses were replaced by more number of individualistic cars, simple cars by SUVs and more luxurious cars, boats by steamers, steamers by ships and ships by luxurious yachts. The purpose served remains the same; commuting from one place to another. Thus, other than the development in speed factors, all the transformations have been made by keeping the comfort factor in mind.

Though, there have been innumerous developments in other fields like exploring details of the solar system, different planets, life cycles of various organisms, astrology etc, which are not directly related to the comfort of common men, it would not be incorrect to state that most significant contribution of technology in the past century had been to provide comfortable life to people.