The stats speak for themselves when it comes to the technological transformation of Toronto's urban landscape. Evidence of the global proliferation of telecommunications and the Internet can be seen in the stats.

The ECONOMIC impact of growing technological trends:

· According to IDC, a technology research firm, the number of wireless Internet subscribers is expected to rise from 5-million in 2000 to 84-million in 2005;
· Music downloaders swapped 1.81 billion media files in October on Napster-alternative services Kazaa, MusicCity and Grokster, says Web research firm Webnoize. That was a 20 per cent increase from the 1.51 billion files downloaded in September, according to Webnoize
·At its peak, there were an estimated 4 million people in Canada downloading from Napster alone
·In 1999 music sales dropped 7% and in 2000 they dropped 6 per cent, according to Statistics Canada

Changes in technology have had an effect on the SOCIAL behaviour of Torontonians:

· 51% of all Canadian households had at least one member who uses the Internet an average of five times a week according to Statscan;
· The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association says that 1 in 3 Canadians has a mobile phone;
· The Gartner Group estimates that there will be 137-million wireless data subscribers (cellphones and pagers) in North America by 2005;
· Communications expert Charles Meadow says Internet use exploded rising to 4.5-trillion messages sent in 1999, from 10-billion messages in 1986
·Of households that have banked online and/or shopped online, 44 percent strongly agree the Internet has made those tasks easier. Thirty-three percent somewhat agree, and 14 percent somewhat disagree. On the other hand, only 27 percent strongly agree that the Net has made shopping and banking more enjoyable. Thirty-eight percent agree, and 20 percent somewhat disagree
·According to eMarketer, the global Internet population will reach 709.1 million in 2004, up from its estimate of 445.9 million last year. eMarketer believes that the number of Internet users around the world will increase by a compound annual growth rate of 19.1 percent between now and 2004, reaching 529.9 million this year, and 622.9 million in 2003
· The average online Canadian family spends over 32 hours using the Internet every week, and over 1,600 hours online per year, reports CyberAtlas. This is according to a new study from Ipsos-Reid, who polled 750 online adults with children under the age of 18. Fifty-one percent of the parents said they always or sometimes go online with their children. Fifty-seven percent have guidelines on when and how the computer can be used, and 48 percent place time limits on computer use by their children. Seventy-two percent said telecommuting has allowed them to spend more time with their family. Fifty-nine percent have bought online, and 57 percent have used online banking services. Almost half of the parents polled said their children have some influence on the purchase of new technology for the home, and 56 percent said their children have taught them at least some of what they know about the Internet. Over half of online Canadian families said they would bring their PC rather than their telephone or television if they were to be stranded on a desert island.

The growth of technology has an effect on the ENVIRONMENT of Toronto :

· According to stats released by Bell Canada, in 1998 there were 2.6-million public payphones in Canada, and in 2000 there were 2.2-million;
·For AT&T, based on avoided commutes, teleworking avoids 110 million miles of unnecessary driving a year, saving about 5.1 million gallons of gas and emission of 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide; significant reduction of dirty clothes from two laundry loads a week to about one per week (from "teleworkers can work in their PJs", refer to "Economic");