Life in the Information Age - Communication

Communication

How does Communication (via ICT) affect society??

Communication affects society because it provides us with more ways to communicate with the same people. First you had to pay for everything, call just around in your area, and then you got calls free in your area but still had to pay a ridiculous amount of money to talk to a friend and/or relative in other parts of the world. Communication has allowed us to develop new and more efficient ways to contact people we know and/or love; with wireless Internet to all over the world and packages that can be bought that allow you to make calls to all over the world from certain time (this is also the same with texting).

What is Communication??

Communication is a learned skill. Most people - at birth - are able to talk but we must learn to speak well and communicate effectively. But ICT has helped develop easier ways to communicate for those who are blind and dumb; and just for those who do not like to communicate with words! There are many different ways of communicated in the 21st Century and they have been greatly developed since they were first created. Some of the things that had been created and have been developed into communication devices that people are carrying with them everywhere consist of:

• Phones
• Texting
• Calling
• E-Mail (as now phones can connect to the Internet)

• Laptop
• E-Mail
• Web Messengers
• Social Networking Sites

• Pagers
• Send Messages

However before these devices were created, there were other ways of communicating. The most popular was:

• Morse Code
• Sends information via on-off lights, tones or clicks

However the most popular form of communication is via mobile phone.  It has since been developed significantly and companies are always coming up with new ideas for mobile phones that will keep the public interested.

How does ICT assist in Communication??

ICT has allowed Communication to develop in ways that were once unimaginable to the human-race. At the beginning mobile phones were created in order to contact people all over the world; now it is seen and used more of a social networking device and an accessory. We are now able to communicate via:

• E-Mail
• Face to Face Chat
• Skype
• Messaging
• MSN
• Yahoo!
• Hotmail
• Skype

Communication has been developed and is now allowing people to communicate for FREE. People are also now able to communicate with people all over the world. Communication has changed significantly over the years, but the most popular is via mobile phone and this is the time line for the development of mobile phones up to the 21st Century:

• At the beginning:
• Cave paintings were used (supposedly the oldest form of communication)
• Then speech was developed as homosapiens brain functions became more efficient (necessary for survival) 

• Middle Ages: 




Brick Phone - has to be charged and lasts
for only several hours.


• The first telephone was created by 'Alexander Graham Bell' in 1876
• It was the first practical telephone (and from there more up-to-date mobile phones were created - there were the phones that maybe only one person in one town would have had one)
• More advance phones were developed, created and now used
• The only problem with phones of that time, is that they take a very long time to charge (10hours) and last for a very small amount of time (8hours)

•  21st Century



iPhone vs. Blackberry
There are constant battles on what
phone can hold the most data and so far the
iPhone and Blackberry hold the most information
in small and compact sizes.

• More up-to-date, include handy applications that are used every day
• Hold a lot more information and data; and the batteries can last for days
• Mobile phones are updated almost every couple of months because of market trends
• They appeal much more to the target market

Advantages

• Quicker --> instead of having to send letters all over the world, for (sometimes) ridiculously large amounts of money.
• Immediate --> works incredibly quickly and at your convenience which means that you are able to dial emergency numbers very easily.
• Portable --> it is portable and can be carried every with you, because of its small size (and it can do many things).
• Applications --> it has many very useful applications that you can use everyday i.e. calendar, making notes, alarm clock, timer and calculator.
• Internet --> because mobile phones are now connected to the World Wide Web people are able to surf the web on the move.

Disadvantages

• Expensive --> mobile phones can be very expensive in the 21st Century; this is because of the vast amounts of applications that one can now hold.
• Damaging --> they are very bad for your hearing. Seeing as they can now hold music and have to be loud enough to take calls, when they are held right beside ones ear they are slowly damaging ones ear-drums (therefore hearing).
• Reception --> depending on what network you have signed on to and what area one lives in the reception and signal will differ (either for better or for worse).
• Dangerous --> because they are now VERY portable people are able to talk on them whilst driving (which can be very dangerous for pedestrians and people in close proximity to them).
• Unreliable --> they can crash and become faulty within months of buying it, but because you would have bought a contract to go with it, you have to pay the fee for the rest of your contract.
• Out-Dated --> because of the people they are aimed (which is teens and young adults) senior citizens are left out and find it very difficult to use because of the extra functions.

Overall Communication is a vital part of everyday human life.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, "Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after."

This proves that without even acknowledging it we are constantly using communication in everything we do.