Lesson 2: Communication and Technology

Technology plays a great role in our lives

Benefits of using ICT:

 Easy access to any topic in the computer

 Availability of volume of knowledge

 You have the world at your fingertips

How do we keep ourselves safe from people who want to destroy us?

 Internet – information highway that can take you anywhere

 Blogs, social networking, wikis, and websites have little or no regulation or censorship
 People can publish whatever they like
 Freedom to express ourselves and makes information freely available
 The need learn how to sort through the information and to check how trustworthy the information is

Credible sources: ISI (Institute for Scientific

Information), SCOPUS (Elsiever’s research database),
EBSCOhost (Elthon B. Stephens Company)

Predators- steal info from students

Be careful of not divulging important information in

the internet, not too much information

 The use of technology can interfere with our privacy and safety
 Industries: Data mining to look for patterns and use that behavior, take advantage
 They use data to make reasonable predictions about the future
 Criminal cases – in some places

MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

 Stealing information or ideas from the internet by copying information word for word
 The internet should be used as reference only and list all sources in the bibliography
 Piracy- illegal copies of CD’s, DVD’s or software programs
Ethical issues
 • Send messages without giving their identity
• Removes their inhibition, giving them opportunity to be less accountable
• Fake profile to hurt someone
• Pornography are freely available

Implications on politics

 ICT Impacts on global community

 Used as a political tool
 The use of the internet has changed the politicians trying to influence public opinion
 Services are inadequate in other parts of Africa
Poverty
Illiteracy
 Language barrier-68% inEnglish
 Digital divide- accessible vs. inaccessible

Implications on culture
 Record and describe cultures
 preserved, spread and grown
 better understand other cultures
 But, spread of western culture results in loss of diversity
 Causing young people to abandon their own culture

Impact on the user

 Impact of ICT to individual

 Multiple physical problems
 Inflammation of the hand, wrist, thumb,
 eye strain
 Take frequent breaks
 Looking at the computer for 40 minutes, take 15 mins. break
 Eye check up
 Pain in the thumb
 Children don’t move actively, harms the heart
 Develops epilepsy by overstimulation of the computer, bright light flashes, acute attack

Psychological implications

 Psychological impact
 Exposure to more and more information - Information overload
 Trauma – tsunami in Japan
 Exposed to horrifying images
 Helpless, powerless
 Our brain gets stimulated and churning over and over with distorted information
 Over stimulated or bombarded by information
 Establish balance
 Things can be misinterpreted when they are texted because of the absence of those nuances in communication
 Not to act impulsively
Social implications

 e-communication
 To keep in contact with family
 To reach out with one another
 To establish relationship with other people outside our everyday lives and form communities
 Not good at all times
 People may not be the person they say what they say they are
 addicted to social networks, social websites, cellphones
 Sms , instant messaging have not improved the quality of this interaction.
 Text-based communication lacks the elements of face-to-face communication
 Case of quantity not quality
 No room for deeper and meaningful communication
 Communication is superficial

Economic More jobs were created Internet is seen as

implication but certain jobs were
taken by technology
natural environment for
entrepreneurs
s

Work flexi time and

More people work Saves the company
adapt sched to suit their
outside the office money
social life

Miss personal contact

Work longer hours
with workmates

Environmental impact

 Impact on our planet

 Consider environmental impact
 Produced unwanted bi-products
 Computer: Toxic substances- lead, mercury, cadmium
 Disposal of e-waste - risk personal health and damages our environment; be responsible
 Increase demand for power due to technology
 More power requirements
 Use technology which are energy efficient, LED’s
 Use Power management system – automatically turns off computers
 Telecommunication and video conferencing reduce greenhouse gas emission resulting from travel through cars
and other vehicles