Effect of communications technology on technology

Technology according to Banta (2009) is "science or knowledge applied to a definite purpose". Internet was initially introduced by the military to exchange information. It was as a technology introduced to us 15 yrs back and changed our life to the extent we never imagined before. Internet has acted as a catalyst to westernisation: "teenagers the world over drinking Coca-Cola, listening to global brand-name bands from the US, Australia and Europe, and mimicking dress styles and behaviours" (ibid) that are actually non-existent in their own cultures. Similarly, but on a more serious note, various notions about political culture, human rights and democratic freedom have originated and spread with the use of internet (KIC, 2010, p29). Internet is growing at a rate of 2000% a year and is fast becoming an incredibly powerful vehicle for sharing ideas (Krotoski, 2010).

Internet has been able to unite people from various cultures on the basis of interests and preferences. For instance, youths join various communities and share ideas with people across the globe having similar interests. Through the use of internet, people have been able to promote their own language by blogging and sharing opinions and beliefs (KIC, 2010, p29). Growth of internet, promotes the languages which were never known to be existing and the beliefs and trends practiced by lesser known countries. However, Internet has been primarily spreading the western culture and the associated lifestyle. The influence of west has been so strong on the countries importing the values that they have been forgetting there own values.

Internet is not always benignant though it has been extremely helpful to organisations such as Amnesty international and the Red Cross due to which they have been able to pronounce some attention towards their causes (KIC, 2010, p30). It has been known that internet businesses have been camouflaging their underlying interests by offering the free services such as file sharing and search engine use. As pointed out by Krotoski (2010), "we are trapped, tracked and traded in pursuit of profit" without even realising a bit that we are the victims of a social catastrophe. In the real sense, giving our personal information mentioned in social networking sites as well as information determined by the search engines by our numerous searches and many more; are the opportunity cost we are paying for free use of Internet (ibid).

To sum it up, Internet is certainly encouraging underdog cultures and values to rise and promote themselves. However, due to the origin of World Wide Web being related to English and west, it is spreading the related habits to the most corners of the world at an astonishing rate. It would also be value-free to say that English and western culture are spreading themselves at a much faster rate than any other culture and language.

Bibliography

Banta.D., 2009. What is technological assessment?. International Journal of technological assessment in health care, pp. 7-9. [Accessed on 2nd March, 2010]

Kaplan International Colleges, 2009.Study Skills 3. [Accessed on 4th March, 2010]

Krotoski.A, 2010.The cost of free. The Virtual Revolution. Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/b00n4j0r > [ Accessed on 2nd March, 2010]

200712213 SS3 750 Word Essay Chris Bilboe

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