ICT: The Social Impact

Technology has modified the way that people have managed businesses. It has also affected the ways people communicate with one another. The Internet has subtly been integrated into the workplace. Instead of meeting face-to-face, programs such as instant messengers can be used, and also emails can be sent. This increases the efficiency of work in a business, and consequently saves time and money. People can now have video conference calls from different locations instead of calling meetings. This is also beneficial because people who are absent from the place of work can still access the conferences online.

However, during a video conference it would be much more common to face misconceptions and misunderstandings, as glitches would be faced in the video conferencing program, and this will complicate conversations between people or important meetings between companies. Security issues often come up, as company data which is stored online can be stolen. Therefore, money would have to be spent on software to ensure the security of the essential data.

ICT has had many effects on society, especially on children. It can be used for education, and sometimes for games as well. They also use it to correspond with people. This of course sparks up many safety issues, and many parents are worried about their children targeted for paedophilia. Children should be careful not to give out personal information online with people. However, ICT has also had a positive effect on children as they can share experiences online and anonymously, such as children with cancer who write their suffer stories and post them online.

A form of ICT that has significantly changed society are mobile phones.They started off as a simple way to contact somebody, and now they can be a game, a map, or a camera. Sitting on a public bus you would probably see 2/3 of the people using a mobile phone. They however have been accused of ruining our language. Text messaging, and the need to make messages short, meant we developed new ways of spelling. This lead on to teenagers in schools spelling in 'text speak' and lowering their grades.