The selected woman technologist is Limor Fried, an American engineer and owner of Adafruit industries. She lives in the United States of America (U.S.A) commonly influenced by the Pop culture, which according to Barry (1988) “is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid-20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century” (3). The culture is mainly influenced by the mass media especially in terms of providing entertainment, sports, politics, technology, and fashion among others.
The technology has not only influenced the pop culture, it has also influenced other cultures including the Chinese, the Indians and the African cultures. This is because the technology has changed the manner in which people work, interact, work and even learn. Every individual in Limor Fried era is interested in reporting news or receiving news, sharing pictures, producing and/or enjoying music and movies whenever he/she wants. In summary, Limor Fried is living in a culture that is facing generational shift.
This culture has led to an increase in the number of women using technologies and technology tools, methods, and equipment throughout the world. Bulik (2011) stated that though gender disparities on the use of technology exist, the number of women using different technology tools both in the United States of America (U.S.A) and the entire world has been on the increase. This is because women have proved to be the fastest growing and most valuable consumers of the internet and e-commerce (Bulik, 2011). This was supported by Yau, and Cheng (2012) research that “women in Western countries use the Internet 17 percent more than their male counterparts” (Pg. 73). This is based on the fact that women spend more time skyping, texting and talking over the internet more than men. Apart from being internet-based readers, they are the greatest users of social media sites except LinkedIn.
Women in the pop culture are also adopting mobile technologies including Smartphones are now driving trends in such spaces including mobile video viewing and mobile payments. Over 28% of women are using social features of their mobile technologies including short messages (SMS), multimedia messages (MMS), and social networking. Women are leaving landlines and televisions to internet-based services including you-tube and skype through laptops, handhelds and/or tablet PCs. Such technology tools are also moving women away from using books and notes in hardcopy, as teachers use PowerPoint presentations and projectors in their teaching and learning.
