In the modern world, everyone wants to order everything online with no long wait. Yet, are we ready for all changes that Big Tech can bring? Digital life expands far beyond our screens, into the real world. That means we have to live with the impact of technology in our own backyard.

The downside of electronic factories.

Technology may have almost solved the majority of human needs, but it has not totally made a good community. Some people in cities near e-commerce processing centers complain about traffic pollution and the safety hazards of vans and delivery trucks.

Communities where water is scarce worry about the needs of internet data centers that use water to keep equipment cool. Neighbors sometimes complain about noise or waste from nearby commercial kitchens and mini-warehouses of delivery services like Uber Eats. This brings noise, traffic, and pollution to more neighborhoods in exchange for faster deliveries.

Conflicts about sharing space and limiting public resources are not new. But we are increasingly living side by side with the physical manifestations of the technological services we want and need. Nor is it too obvious that we are equipped to treat them as our new neighbors. Companies that deliver burritos, alcohol, or bananas to our homes must also have real estate and transportation close to where we live and work. And the effects of climate change have made competition for energy and water more urgent.

According to Richard Mays, the mayor of The Dalles, Oregon, Oregon is home to many computer data centers; and residents disagreed about whether these activities brought enough taxes, jobs, and other benefits compared to what they meant in terms of pressure on roads and the energy grid.

However, no one individual or company is solely responsible for this situation. Our collective demand for more of everything online is to blame, and the public, our elected officials, and businesses need to confront this new reality much more directly. Our more technology-dependent lives require greater public awareness and smart public policy to effectively manage the ripple effects. We all have a stake in figuring out how to accommodate the future we want while keeping the communities we love intact.

Sources: News Update, The New York Times, Opera News, Tell Us Daily