Technology Shifts Power

Changes happens everyday. The cause of change varies. The magnitude and speed varies. So are the impacts. Actually, every individual, organization or group perceived the impact differently. While leaders were focusing at the big picture, the minority can creep unnoticingly and overturn the sight.

"One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change." - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The emergence of internet have brought about applications that brought people around the world closer through allowing information to share at a faster speed and in more than bi-directional at a single instant. Such has increased the quantum of information flow and also reached out to more individual from more than one channels and in greater frequencies. The source and credibility of such information were usually difficult to trace or validate. This is, however, not the point of discussion in this article.

Technology, or the rapid advancement of it, have somehow intensified, expedited and magnified the changes through engaging a wider audience and, as such, hit on more individuals. The awareness to the masses created through today’s technology is exponential and difficult to regulate or control. Another factor for the viral is the speed of transmission. The speed of dissemination and spread kept response time so short that they became difficult to contain and mitigate.

The conduits facilitating the dissemination such information enable reach to people of differing culture, educational background and experiences. As such, they enlarged the group of people accessing to the transmitted messages as well as opinions to the messages. These people may or may not have any relation of stake to the content but may do so to for a variety of reasons. However, their opinions may directly or indirectly influence the decision of others especially when a majority of the respondents leaned towards a general direction. They can be contagious.

“Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."


Howard Zinn, "The Optimism of Uncertainty," in The Impossible Will Take a Little While, edited by Paul Rogat Loeb

Anyone with an intention to disseminate messages to the masses can easily do it with the help of technology and several good nodal connections that can “help fan the fire”. It is certainly necessary that the messages be scripted carefully to leverage on the strengths of the conduits. The messages should provoke emotions among some groups of people and in the direction with the mega-trends of the targeted communities. How dangerous technology can be? Technology can shift power and is a double edge sword when linked with power. Leave that personal agenda and ego behind and technology can be leveraged for the good of mankind.