How do evolving technologies impact on individuals and their lifestyle?
The impact of evolving technologies on individuals and lifestyle, including the effects on communication, family roles, work, leisure, health and the differing access to technology across groups
A focused answer to the HSC Community and Family Studies option Social Impact of Technology dot point on how evolving technologies affect individuals and lifestyle, covering communication, family roles, work, leisure, health and unequal access to technology.
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What this dot point is asking
In the Social Impact of Technology option you study how evolving technologies change the way individuals live, work, communicate and relate to family. NESA wants you to weigh both positive and negative impacts across several areas of life, and to recognise that access to technology is uneven, creating advantage for some groups and disadvantage for others. A strong answer is balanced and specific: it names real technologies and links them to concrete changes in lifestyle and wellbeing rather than making vague claims that technology is good or bad.
Communication and relationships
Communication technology, from smartphones to social media and video calls, lets families and friends stay connected across distance, which supports the social and emotional wellbeing of separated families, migrants and rural communities. It also reshapes how people maintain relationships day to day. The trade-offs are real: constant connectivity can erode face-to-face interaction, fuel social comparison and cyberbullying, and create pressure to be always available. The same tool that connects a grandparent to grandchildren overseas can also isolate a teenager who substitutes online contact for real-world friendship.
Family roles and the home
Technology changes roles within the family. Online banking, shopping and household apps redistribute domestic tasks and can make them more efficient. Remote work and learning technologies allow parents to work or study from home, reshaping the boundary between paid work and family life. Devices also become a parenting issue: managing children's screen time and online safety is a new responsibility for parents. These shifts can ease the juggling of family and work or, conversely, blur the line between them so that work intrudes on family time.
Work and leisure
In work, technology enables flexible arrangements such as working from home, automates routine tasks and creates new occupations, while also displacing some jobs and raising expectations of constant availability. For individuals, this can improve work-life balance or undermine it. In leisure, streaming, gaming and online communities expand entertainment and connection, but sedentary screen-based leisure can displace physical activity and affect physical wellbeing. The exam rewards you for showing both the freedom technology adds and the new pressures it creates.
Health
Health technology has clear benefits: telehealth brings consultations to people who cannot easily travel, wearable devices and health apps support self-management of conditions, and online information empowers patients. These are especially valuable for rural and remote families and people with mobility limitations. The costs include misinformation, over-reliance on unverified online advice, privacy and data risks, and the mental health effects of excessive screen use and social comparison. A balanced response acknowledges that the same technology can raise physical wellbeing while threatening emotional wellbeing.
Unequal access and the digital divide
Access to technology is not equal, and this is central to the option. The digital divide describes the gap between those who can access and use technology and those who cannot. Barriers include cost of devices and internet, poor connectivity in rural and remote areas, lower digital literacy among some ageing people, and disability that makes some technology inaccessible. Because so many essential services, from Centrelink to banking to telehealth, now operate online, those without access face disadvantage in economic, social and physical wellbeing. Technology can therefore widen inequality between groups even as it improves life for those with access.
Evaluating the overall impact
The strongest answers resist a simple verdict. Evolving technology improves convenience, connection, flexibility and access to care and information, yet brings isolation, privacy loss, blurred boundaries, health risks and unequal access. The net effect depends on the individual's circumstances, how the technology is used, and whether they can access it at all. Grounding this evaluation in real Australian examples, such as telehealth uptake, remote work trends and the rural digital divide, gives the marker the specificity that lifts a response into the higher bands.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of NESA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
2024 HSC15 marksAnalyse how an individual's access to and acceptance of a selected piece of technology can affect their lifestyle.Show worked answer →
This 15-mark Section II response should analyse how both access to and acceptance of one chosen technology shapes lifestyle, with examples. (Example: the smartphone.)
Introduction. Define access (the ability to obtain and use the technology, shaped by cost, location and skills) and acceptance (the willingness to adopt and use it). State that both together strongly influence an individual's lifestyle.
Body points.
- Communication and relationships. High access and acceptance allow constant connection with family and friends, supporting relationships, but can also reduce face-to-face interaction.
- Work and education. Access enables remote work, online learning and flexibility, improving lifestyle, while lack of access (the digital divide) limits these opportunities.
- Health and leisure. Acceptance of health apps and online leisure can promote wellbeing, but overuse can cause sedentary behaviour, poor sleep and screen dependence.
- Effect of low access or acceptance. An individual who cannot afford the device or chooses not to adopt it (for example some older people) may be excluded from services increasingly delivered digitally, affecting independence.
Conclusion. Access and acceptance together determine whether a technology enhances or limits an individual's lifestyle, so their effect depends on the individual's circumstances and choices.
2023 HSC4 marksDescribe ONE effect that entertainment technologies can have on interpersonal relationships within families.Show worked answer →
A 4-mark answer should describe one clear effect in detail, which may be positive or negative, with an example.
Effect: reduced face-to-face interaction (a negative effect). When family members spend extended time on individual entertainment technologies, such as streaming services, gaming consoles or social media on personal devices, they may interact less with one another. Family members can be in the same home but absorbed in separate screens, reducing shared conversation and quality time.
Consequences. This can weaken communication, emotional connection and a sense of belonging within the family, and may lead to conflict over screen-time rules. (Alternatively, shared entertainment technologies such as family movie nights or co-operative gaming can have a positive effect by creating shared experiences.)
For full marks, choose one effect and explain how the entertainment technology produces it on family relationships.