The Impact of the Information Society
1. Introduction
The speaker begins by stating that the impact of the information society has the potential to surpass the industrial revolution. There are two main consequences of the revolution that are commonly agreed upon by sociologists. This is the deterritorialization of the social and the disembedding of social institutions. According to this theory, information and communication technologies (ICTs) cause a change in the social order and the rules that govern interaction. The speaker looks at how this happens through developments in technology and the existence of a global information infrastructure. Drawing from sociological and anthropological studies, he gives a few examples of how things such as the internet and mobile phones have created a virtual world, and how these technologies have removed constraints in social activity, thus changing the rules of social interaction. He explains how this has happened through a change in both time and space and gives an excellent example of a mobile phone call transcending different time zones. He also explains the theory that the increase in global networking has created new rules for the structuring of social integration. All these factors are said to be causing a transformation of the modern world. This is a very important concept in understanding how ICTs have changed societies, let alone trying to predict the future of how they may further change it. The second consequence is the disembedding of social institutions. That is the movement of social systems from localized institutions of time-space to a global set of relations. Giddens uses the term Time-Space Distanciation and gives the example of how fast food outlets are creating a global standard style, serving a cheap and healthy tasty meal, and how that is causing rapid change in modern traditions of family meal times or dining. Perhaps McDonald’s is a bad choice of example as he then goes on to say that the process often involves the shift from tradition to modernity or from a backward social position to an improved one. An example of this may be in a developing country that recently installed better telecommunications infrastructure. That country may then attract foreign investment seeking to exploit the global relations towards, say, a joint venture to produce something for export. This has caused a change in the rules of social systems and a predicted future way of how they are to be carried out. The speaker concludes this section by mentioning that these two consequences are useful theories to understand the transformation of modernity and to develop a true theory of globalization and the consequences of ICTs in societies in the future. This theory provides a very comprehensive framework for understanding the social change caused by ICTs. To my understanding, this theory is being used in numerous fields of research to understand very specific changes at both micro and macro levels of social interaction. It also has the potential to set the path for future research in an attempt to predict the consequences of ICTs in global societies in the future.
2. Advancements in Communication Technology
The telephone revolution • The first significant advancement in communication was the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. This device changed the way in which information is transmitted forever. Although the first conversations were conducted between battery jars at differing ends of a wire, Bell’s assistant, Thomas Watson heard the first words ever spoken through a telephone: “Mr Watson. Come here I want to see you.” A new era of human communications was a result of the invention of the telephone as for the first time information could be separated from transportation. Telephone networks were set up across the globe and in 1887 the first mobile telephone was patented by Pearson and supplied the British Post office. New technologies were developed such as the facsimile (FAX) which allowed for the transmission of documents down the telephone line. Telephone exchanges reduced the need for private circuits between two points and an automatic service was developed to reduce the need for a telephone operator. This eventually led to the development of ISDN lines which have far superior transmission capabilities than the original analogue lines. This wealth of new developments culminated in the development of the mobile telephone and cellular networks in 1947. Mobile telephones have grown from large bulky devices to tiny handheld units and the introduction of WAP technology has enabled mobile phones to now transmit data from the internet. This modern development has brought the telephone full circle in its story of development from the simple transmission of voice to the separation of information from transport and transmission of data.
3. Effects on Education and Learning
The ease of home education via the Information Highway will also affect the traditional process of sending the young away to school. This may be replaced by sending the tutors to the home to instruct the youth. Mobile learning will be increasingly easy, with information access and educational tools becoming portable. In the end, the educational stage of life becomes immersed in a continuum of learning and information seeking of which the traditional process of education is only a small part.
Now, most data is unstructured and ‘messy’, making it difficult to find specific information. However, the trend will be toward structuring data so that it is readily accessible via computer. This will change what skills are taught. The quest for information is itself becoming a major way for people to learn, with vast implications for self-education. Data will be constantly updated in a process of lifetime education for all.
The information society will deeply affect all forms of learning. The means by which information is obtained, stored, and retrieved will change the total process of education. These changes are more profound than those entailed by the so-called computer culture, extending beyond computer literacy to data literacy and information processing. Computer literacy is little more than the ability to use a computer. More advanced forms of literacy will involve an understanding of the way information is structured, how to locate and retrieve relevant data, and the evaluation of the quality of the obtained information. Marketing this type of literacy will be a major industry.
4. Social and Cultural Transformations
There are, however, instances of activities being displaced by information technology. The most obvious example is shopping. The continuous rise in home computer ownership and the internet has had a rapid and profound effect on the retail industry. Online shopping has grown at an impressive rate and reached a level in the US where it accounted for 5.4% of total retail sales in 2008. The steep upward trend suggests that it will not be long before online shopping replaces trips to the local stores for a large number of people. The recent rise in digital downloadable products such as music and computer games will further this trend. The effect of this on the vitality of local communities can be quite significant. The shops on high streets and in local shopping centres to which people are attracted may often be the only reason for a trip out of the house. With decreased necessity for people to leave the house to purchase goods, it is likely that voluntary social interaction involving leaving the house will diminish.
While the above economic outcomes are the most important to society at the present time, it is likely that they will be surpassed in the long run by changes in our cultural and intellectual life. The developments in information and communication technology have had a profound effect on how people spend their time. Most of the changes in day-to-day time use can be seen as ‘time-shifting’ – activity is moved to a different time rather than being replaced. For example, television has been blamed for the decline of many traditional activities (reading, hobbies, social interaction), but time-budget studies suggest that the time spent watching TV has been largely substituted from time spent sleeping or doing casual work rather than other activities people consider more important. More recently, there has been an obvious substitution of time spent on computers and video game consoles for television viewing.
5. Challenges and Future Prospects
Ensuring that the transformation of the Information Society benefits the whole of humanity, and particularly those who are most in need, is something which will be crucial in determining the shape of future societies. Prediction concerning the future forms of societal structure and processes, and the extent to which these will be beneficial, is naturally an area of major interest for social scientists who study the Information Society. But it is also an area in which the potential implications and applications of work in this domain greatly exceed the scope of this work.
Foremost among the challenges associated with the Information Society is the need to ensure that the opportunities it provides are available to all. If the benefits of new technologies are to be realized, particularly in relation to education and training, it is essential that provisions are made for infrastructure and access to the tools of the modern age. This is most apparent in the case of developing countries, and in response to this, the United Nations has taken a leading role in attempting to promote the concept of an inclusive global Information Society. However, it is widely acknowledged that significant barriers to this ideal still exist within and between all countries, particularly with respect to the divide between disadvantaged or marginalized groups and others. These divisions, often termed “new inequalities,” have been the subject of a significant body of research by social scientists who study the Information Society, and it is clear that they are a highly complex phenomenon which often manifests in the form of unacceptably low levels of computer and Internet literacy in certain population groups. Addressing the problem requires changes in public policy, and given the cross-national character of the issue, it is one area where international collaboration is increasingly seen as necessary.
