The Impact of New and Emerging Technologies
New technology reshapes jobs, money, society and the planet. Learn to weigh its benefits against its harms across six areas of impact, the way an examiner expects.
Learn it by doing, the way you will be assessed
Free and interactive, so you can rehearse the thinking away from the workshop or studio.
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The Impact of Technology
Every new technology, from robots to the smartphone, ripples outwards. It changes the jobs people do, the way businesses raise money, how we live, and the health of the planet. Designers must weigh these impacts. This module works through the six areas the exam expects you to consider.
Industry and enterprise
Two of the six areas concern work and money. Keep them apart: one is about jobs and where firms sit, the other about how a business is funded.
Match each area of impact to an example
- Jobs lost to automation, and workers needing new skills
- Firms clustering together in a science and technology park
- Crowd funding a start-up online
- A not-for-profit organisation set up to run a service
- The demand a product places on finite natural resources
- Remote working and the Internet of Things changing daily life
- Industry: how firms cluster and organise production
- Industry: the effect of automation on jobs and skills
- Enterprise: new ways businesses are structured, such as not-for-profit
- Enterprise: new ways of funding a start-up, such as crowdfunding
- Sustainability
- Culture and society
Name the area
A firm moves its factory onto a science and technology park to sit near similar businesses. Which area of impact is that?
- Industry, because it is about where firms and their workforce cluster
- Enterprise, because choosing new premises is a business decision
- Culture and society, because staff may move house to follow the work
- Sustainability, because a new site consumes more natural resources
Sustainability and environment
Two areas concern the planet, and the exam expects you to keep them apart. The overlap is real, so learn what is DISTINCTIVE about each.
Environmental impacts
Select ALL THREE that are ENVIRONMENTAL impacts of making and using products.
- Pollution released during manufacturing
- Waste that must be disposed of
- Excess packaging that is thrown away
- Crowd funding a new business
- Workers needing to learn new skills
- People changing their working hours
Sustainability or environment?
Three lines from a product report. Tap the one that is a sustainability impact rather than a direct environmental one.
- Report notes:
- the factory releases pollution into the river
- ;
- the casing uses a finite natural resource that will one day run out
- ;
- the packaging is thrown away after a single use
- .
Impact on people
New technology affects people in many roles: the workforce, consumers, children, and people with disabilities.
Technology for everyone
A designer adds voice control to a kitchen appliance. Which statement best describes the impact on people with disabilities?
- It is assistive technology: it can improve access and independence for someone who cannot use small controls
- It has no particular impact, because voice control is a convenience feature for everyone
- It helps only if the appliance is also sold more cheaply than its rivals
- It removes the need for any other accessibility feature on the product
Culture and society
Technology also changes how we live together. This area covers population movement, social segregation or clustering, and changing working hours. Two modern examples matter most: the Internet of Things (IoT), where everyday objects connect online, and remote working, which lets people work from anywhere.
The delivery drone
A company designs a new smart delivery drone. Reason out its impacts across the areas.
- Drones can deliver faster and cheaper. What is a likely NEGATIVE impact on industry?
- What ENVIRONMENTAL concern might the drones raise?
- How might widespread drone delivery change CULTURE AND SOCIETY?
- How should a good designer respond to all of these impacts?
Answering well
In the exam, how do you best answer a question about a technology's impact?
- Give a specific positive AND negative consequence tied to that technology, naming the area each belongs to
- Say it has some good effects and some bad effects
- Cover all six areas of impact briefly, without developing any of them
- Give one positive and one negative, without naming the technology or the area
Impact summary
New technologies affect many areas. In _____, automation can raise output but cost jobs. _____ covers how businesses are funded, such as crowd funding. _____ is about the demand products place on natural resources and the waste they create. In culture and society, the Internet of Things and _____ working are changing daily life.
Write the impact answer
A company launches a smart home speaker. Discuss its impact: give one positive and one negative consequence, and name the area of impact each one belongs to.
- Name the area for each consequence: industry, enterprise, sustainability, environment, people, or culture and society.
- Make each consequence specific to a smart speaker, not to technology in general.
- Give one clear positive and one clear negative. A one-sided answer caps the marks.
- For the negative, say who or what is affected, not just that it is bad.
- Finish with a short judgement: on balance, is the impact worth it?