ICT's IMPACT ON SOCIETY

                                          Impact Of I.C.T

The advance of I.C.T has had a tremendous impact on the way people in the developed world carry out and do things in their daily lives. Whether at home, in the office, out and about or even on holiday I.C.T has a part to play in one way or another. I believe, however, that the impact goes even deeper.  I.C.T has affected the very roots of society. Civil rights, the way decisions are made and most legislation all now have a ‘digital dimension’. In this section of the e-book, I will attempt to provide a clear picture of life in the Information Age. I have chosen the following five areas of life which have felt the effects of the impact of I.C.T and will focus on how they have been affected on a personal, professional and social level. 1.     Working styles 2.     Communication 3.     Banking/shopping 4.     Decision making 5.     Society.

                                          THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF                                                         I.C.T

As it is known from time immemorial that everything in life is like the two side of a coin, there is always a positive and negative side of every phenomenon. But whether the effect is positive or negative the effects of Information Communication Technology (I.C.T)  is far reaching and cannot be overemphasized. The Effects of I.C.T lens looks at how our lives have been changed, for better and for worse, by the impact of I.C.T. It includes both positive effects and negative effects and looks at how individuals organisations and society are affected.

I.C.T CAN HAVE POSITIVE IMPACTS ON PEOPLE

§  Access to information: Possibly the greatest effect of I.C.T on individuals is the huge increase in access to information and services that has accompanied the growth of the Internet. Some of the positive aspects of this increased access are better, and often cheaper, communications, such as VoIP phone and Instant Messaging. In addition, the use of I.C.T to access information has brought new opportunities for leisure and entertainment, the facility to make contacts and form relationships with people around the world, and the ability to obtain goods and services from a wider range of suppliers.

§  Improved access to education, e.g. distance learning and on-line tutorials. New ways of learning, e.g. interactive multi-media and virtual reality. New job opportunities, e.g. flexible and mobile working, virtual offices and jobs in the communications industry.

§  New tools, new opportunities: The second big effect of I.C.T is that it gives access to new tools that did not previously exist. A lot of these are tied into the access to information mentioned above, but there are many examples of stand-alone I.C.T systems as well:

a)      I.C.T can be used for processes that had previously been out of the reach of most individuals, e.g. photography, where digital cameras, photo-editing software and high quality printers have enabled people to produce results that would previously required a photographic studio.

b)      I.C.T can be used to help people overcome disabilities. e.g. screen magnification or screen reading software enables partially sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text rather than Braille.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF I.C.T ON PEOPLE

§  Job loss: One of the largest negative effects of I.C.T can be the loss of a person’s job. This has both economic consequences, loss of income, and social consequences, loss of status and self esteem. Job losses may occur for several reasons, including: Manual operations being replaced by automation. e.g. robots replacing people on an assembly line.Job export. e.g. Data processing work being sent to other countries where operating costs are lower. Multiple workers being replaced by a smaller number who are able to do the same amount of work. e.g. A worker on a supermarket checkout can serve more customers per hour if a bar-code scanner linked to a computerized till is used to detect goods instead of the worker having to enter the item and price manually

§  Reduced personal interaction: Being able to work from home is usually regarded as being a positive effect of using I.C.T, but there can be negative aspects as well. Most people need some form of social interaction in their daily lives and if they do not get the chance to meet and talk with other people they may feel isolated and unhappy.

§  Reduced physical activity: A third negative effect of I.C.T is that users may adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. This can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Many countries have workplace regulations to prevent problems such as repetitive strain injury or eyestrain, but lack of physical exercise is rarely addressed as a specific health hazard.