“Technology disrupts lives: Is this something to be feared?”

Joseph Schumpeter’s research, a world renowned economist from the early 1900’s, shows that with each technological advancement comes great entrepreneurial opportunities. We have seen that occurring in our own lives recently with digital technology. Amazon, Netflix, Google, Uber are current examples of businesses that would not exist without digital technologies. Like every technological advancement there are both positive and negative effects.

​For example, the above services have enhanced people’s lives tremendously by creating the opportunity to buy cheaper transport, books, and provided more convenient ways of delivering a service such as providing instant access to unlimited information. One of the negative sides, however, is we give away some of our privacy to enjoy those services.
Digging deeper the fear new disruptive technologies bring is often the fear of change and the uncertainty rather than fear of the technology itself. Once we identify our personal fear of change we can manage the fear and prepare ourselves for new technologies by learning about the positive and negative aspects going forward.

Published on Quora.