Do ICTs improve our lives?

Within the current digital revolution, do information communication technologies (ICTs) improve our lives and stimulate increased social interaction, or do they work against social networks. The IST project SOCQUIT set out to find an answer. “Take the television as an example. It draws people away from real-life contact with family and friends, could it be the same with computers and the Internet?” asks Jeroen Heres, project coordinator forSOCQUIT, as he questions the link between technology use and our social well-being. By analysing existing European socio-economic surveys, SOCQUIT examined the impact of ICTs on our lives and quality of life. The project, a collaboration between TNO, Telenor, the University of Essex, Eurescom and FTR, looked at whether ICTs influence our ability to find a job, if they allow us to work beyond retirement as we get older, whether local initiatives are better than national ones and if it is really true that migrants are excluded from the digital wave. The aim was to give policy-makers better guidance on how ICTs influence our social lives, and to supply them with a decision support tool that would suggest possible adjustments to policy measures. There is a clear assumption that ICTs bring improvements to our lives, Heres explains. “In the SOCQUIT project we were intrigued by several perceptions about ICTs, and wanted to look into these with the help of, for instance, representative European population surveys.” Social skills more important than technical The project’s final report reveals that many of the assumptions about ICTs and their advantages or disadvantages are not entirely accurate. We assume, for example, that computer skills improve our chances to find a new job, with an estimate of 60 percent of existing jobs and 90 percent of new ones requiring ICT skills, according to the SOCQUIT report. Based on these figures, PC skills should have a determining effect on people’s ability to find employment. On the contrary, “Our study showed that it is the social contact with other people that influences if people find a job or not, rather than the level of their ICT skills,” explains Heres. Equally, ICT benefits for elderly people are not reflected in the job market. “We did not find convincing evidence that the employment issue can be solved with ICT. However we did find examples that because of ICT, the elderly leave their jobs,” he says. These people are not motivated to change, as there are younger people with better skills, according to Heres. Elderly people are not the only ones left behind however, and several national and European initiatives aim to bridge the digital divide through learning programmes. For example it is believed that potential exclusion of unemployed, elderly people and migrants from the information society can be fought with better training, resulting in employment and other life benefits. However, the SOCQUIT report paints a more complex picture, showing that participation is related to the level of social inclusion rather than the educational opportunity. “People already socially active are the ones who are motivated to participate in ICT initiatives,” says Heres. He explains that ICTs make it possible to build and maintain social networks sometimes over great distances, or to meet people with the same interests over the internet. At the same time, these social networks become an incentive for people to learn about new technologies. “This is shown for the ageing society, in local initiatives and for migrants as well as employment.” The report concludes that the most important opportunities for ICTs to increase personal well-being is through their impact on the citizen’s social life. However, Heres suggests that short-term policy efforts would only strengthen the ICT skills of people who are already socially active, leaving the socially isolated on the other side of the digital divide. Food for thought In the long-term, the SOCQUIT report remains inconclusive, since there are few long-term representative population surveys conducted on the effects of ICTs on our everyday lives. For policy-makers however, these results are food for thought, adding a social dimension to ICT initiatives and e-inclusion programmes. SOCQUIT’s work implies that policy-makers would have not only to consider people’s capabilities, but also their attitudes to absorbing new technologies, if ICTs are to fully benefit everyone and improve our lives.

Effect of ICT on our personal and social life

Effect of ICT on our personal and social life

The Effect of ICT on our personal and social life

ICT has made socialising with friends a lot easier and cheaper, it has also added a great deal to what we do in our free time, and how we now share our personal life with the internet.

The internet is one of the main ways we now socialise simply because its easy and basically free, wether it be the internet on our phone or via the internet on computers/laptops we can talk to our friends wherever we are. Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Blogs, Skype are all methods of how we socialise with friends online.

In a way it has taken over people's lives as a lot of people find it hard to go a day 

The rapid increase in the use of computers is having an enormous impact on our lives. Our modern way of living simply could not exist if this modern technology were removed. We almost rely on ICT as our way of living, wether it's employment/work, education or socialising.

Facebook is a very popular social networking site and has had a big impact on both our social and personal life. We can easily communicate with friends and family aswell as making new friends, for free via the internet on our laptops, computer, ipads, ipod, phones, etc. This has had both benefits and disadvantages. Many people spend a lot of time on facebook wether it be socialising, updating their profile, contacting someone, but a lot of people would say they waste time on facebook and often stops them doing their work. The majority of students/teenagers asked would say they spend most of their evening on facebook instead of doing work, and at the same time as watching t.v. In terms of privacy it is not as private as people may think and it is not a safe site to use as facebook are not concerned with keeping our information private, they sell our details to their commercial partners so that we can then be identified with relevant information/ advertisments relating to our age/gender/personality. 

Because of the lack of privacy many things that people post on these social networking sites can be seen by friends, family, employees, this has lead to arguments between people, and it can even lead to be loosing their jobs as a result of their manager or a colleauge seeing something inapropraite they have posted. Due to facebook being easy to use and free it means it is popular but is this a good thing? it has had a big impact on our lives as it has almost taken over our lives in terms of how much time we now spend on the internet. Especially now it has become available and phones and ipods it means these sites can be accessed wherever you are, being able to speak to people and updating their status's to let people know they are 'currently in town' which really nobody needs to know but it has become a habit and a way of life

The issue with people spending more and more time on the internet and these sites means they are spending less time actually communicating face to face, doing their work or just reading a book. If this carries on which it most likely will as ICT develops further then who knows what the future holds.

On the right is a questionnaire asking questions about facebook in order for me to get peoples opinions on the site. I surveyed 10 people which included both family and friends so i got a range of results.

-On average 6 people surveyed said they spent 3-5 hours on facebook a day, 3 people said 0-2 hours and 1 person said 5+ hours. Gernally the people spending the most time on facebook were younger.

-I also asked wether the privacy issues bothered them 2 of them said no, 2 said yes and the rest said they didn't realise there were risks involved and their information wasn't safe.

The survey was interesting as it proved my point that facebook has become a big part of our lives but it is also quite worrying that the majority of people don't realise their are risks involved.

Ipads have made it possible for people to read books via this as apposed to reading a hard back book, this is very popular as it means one light thing can contain 30 books instead of carrying 30 heavy books on holiday which would take up the whole of your suitcase weight. Aswell as being able to read books you can also access newspapers, so it means all you really need to carry on a day out is your ipad. It allows you access to emails, the web, vidoes and pictures, so there is no need for anything else if you have one of these. There are many advantages to this use of ICT. In future books will not be needed and everything could be controlled by the use of ICT.

GPS-  the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth when and where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites

GPS has made travelling from one place to another alot easy, wether it be by car, bike or foot, you will be told where you are, where your destination is and how to get there. Many new cars now have a GPS fitted in the car and a lot of other people will buy one that you can easily fit into your car. No matter how far you are travelling you will be guided by a voice via the device.

There are many advantages to a GPS, It is fast speed, leads u in right direction, helps improve mapping skills, makes navagation easier, you can be found easier if in danger or in accident, plugs into your car cigeratte lighter, it tells you if there are speed cameras and it lets you know what roads are closed. Also there are disadvantages cellular devices can track other cellular device users, not very cheap, people focus on GPS more than road = accidents, should be used as backup map but used as 1st resource, needs good care and handling, external power and some need batteries (handheld ones)

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EFFECT OF COMPUTER ON EDUCATION


History
Before the invention of the microprocessor, computers were more mechanical--for example, the abacus. Charles Babbages' mechanical computers, however, are considered the true predecessors to the modern computer. As the personal computer became more widely available during the 1980s, schools adopted them as important learning tools.

Grade Improvement
Students who do not respond well to traditional teaching methods often improve their grades through computer-assisted learning. Computers offer individualized learning when teachers do not have the time or resources to cater to specific student needs. Scientific research tends to back this up. A Pacific Resources for Education and Learning study found that students taught by teachers and aided by computers saw better than average reading comprehension scores.

Increased Efficiency
Students also learn from computers much faster than through more traditional teaching methods. The ability to control the speed of learning with a software program increases satisfaction. Users can slow down the education process to their needs, decreasing "memory overload." A 1994 study by John Kulik found that more than 500 other studies corroborated this hypothesis.

Positive Attitudes
Improved academic performance and user control of the education process have the compound effect of creating a more positive learning environment for the student. A Sivin-Kachala study of students from 1990 to 1997 found that the improved learning environment that technology provides also promotes more self confidence in normal and special-needs students.

Downsides
Studies on the effects of computer use on education do not always show positive results. Personal use of a laptop during lectures (for visiting social networking sites, for example) can distract the student, which can have an especially negative effect on test scores. A University of Colorado-Boulder professor found that, when students stopped bringing laptops to class, they performed 10 percent better on exams.