Final answer:
Technology influences behavior and culture by transforming communication, work, learning, and social interactions. It creates opportunities and poses challenges, contributing to the globalization of culture. This integration can conflict with traditional norms, especially in collectivistic societies, and leads to issues such as the digital divide.
Step-by-step explanation:
Diverse factors such as technology significantly influence behavior and cultures by introducing new ways of communicating, working, and understanding the world. For example, the widespread adoption of computers, the Internet, and cell phones has transformed how people interact with one another, engage in commerce, learn, and entertain themselves. This digital integration often leads to conflicts with traditional norms of face-to-face interaction, especially in cultures where certain social relationships are closely regulated. Mobile technologies, for instance, have empowered young women in some societies to make new connections and access information outside the scope of their elders' approval.
Furthermore, technological innovations can also have broad societal impacts, such as affecting population dynamics through medical advances, changing environmental management with agricultural improvements, or transforming educational methods. As a result, technology can both create opportunities for some while possibly introducing negative consequences for others, like job loss, pollution, or increased surveillance.
Cultural values themselves are influenced by technology. For instance, collectivistic cultures may emphasize the needs of the group over the individual, a perspective that can be reshaped with the introduction of communication technologies that prioritize connectivity and individual expression. All in all, technology is at the core of cultural innovation and contributes greatly to the globalization of both material and non-material cultural aspects, leading to phenomena like the digital divide and challenging the notion of what constitutes cultural accomplishment.