Communication Technology Essay Assignment

In 21^st century that we live in, communication can be done in many different ways other than conventional speaking right in front of each other. The reason for that is because of the existence of communication technology and the wide interest in this technology from people around the world. Communication technology is improving as we speak and more important sector is depending on it to gain benefits such as business and politics. Communication technology includes telephone, radio, television, internet, and social media.

Communication Technology impact on public and private life

Communication Technology has a profound impact on both public and private life. In public life communication technology serve more advantages than disadvantages. We can find friends through social media or online game sites, we can even find suitable partner through dating sites. The disadvantages are that people can provide false information and exploit the advantages of social media on people public life and cause misunderstanding, loss of properties or sometimes even lives.

 In private life, the disadvantages are more than the advantages. The advantages are that we can communicate and stay connected with our family or friends online, but it is also easy for hackers to access our personal profile online. Many cases have been reported that such incidents do frequently happen. For example, taken from a website;” Gang Used Social Media Sites to Identify Potential Victims” (Teen Prostitution 2012). Our private lives are easily exploited through the advancement of Communication Technologies too.

Development of Communication and Information Technology

            Communication technology helps us in many ways. Communication Technology can broadcast information to a wide range of people around the world in a short period of time, this is very useful for advertisements, conveying important messages to wide range of audiences and updating citizens of current news. Communication nowadays can even be accessible from anywhere as long as the device can connect to the internet and there is internet coverage in that area. Part of the advancement of communication technology is credited to the invention of Smartphone in the market that makes it easier to access and connected to different types Communication Technologies.

Social media has became the most popular and most effective aspect of communication technology, the reason being users around the world can communicate with each other anywhere and anytime they are on the internet. Social media became the most used communication technology in comparison to television, radio, and conventional telephone. Advertisement companies and even political figures around the world use social media network to convey their message. As shown in a video online, radio took 38 years to reach a market audience of 50 million, television took 13 years, internet took 4 years, Ipod took 3 years and social media giant-Face book took only 2 years. (Did You Know 3.0 2012) This proves that communication technology is improving over the years and is an important way of broadcasting information.

Communication Technology has been improving and developing since the first television was born, many ideas and suggestion of what the future will look like with the continuous development on communication technology. Avery interesting example of the advancement on communication technology is a device called Sixth Sense technology. “Sixth Sense is a wearable gestural interface device by Pranav Mistry, a PhD candidate in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab”. (Sixth Sense 2010) This technology shows that technology can be more interactive with human and someday we will not have to wear or bring many different types of devices such as hand phone, watch, I Pad, IPod, but one device can provide information from all the devices we have now combined and so much more.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Communication Technology

As mentioned above, Communication Technology provides advantage and disadvantages to our society. The advantages of communication technology are none other than the reason communication technology are being invented for, to let people around the world to communicate freely to each other, but now communication technology can share even more things such as photos, videos, and even organize events with people we did not know before. But with the nature of communication technology to be free and open to everyone, some people tend to misuse communication technology for personal gain and interest by affecting other people. Besides addiction, the issue of communication technology these days are users around the world did not use the provided communication technology “smartly”. Users of communication technology should be aware and educated about the do’s and don’ts using communication technology such as social media. There have been cases where people post their social number or even bank account carelessly on their social media that attracts the idea of exploiting the advantages of communication technology. Some users that post all kinds of photos on their social media also provide ample of information to the public and easily can be targeted by culprits.

Legislation concerning Communication Technology

To protect the people of their country, governments around the world have made health, safety and communications legislations. In Ireland, Data Protection Act 1988 has been produced and was amendment by Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003. This act is to provide security when important personal information is given to an organisation or individual to a person. The aim of these rights is to help you to make sure that the information stored about you is:

• factually correct;
• only available to those who should have it;
• only used for stated purposes.(Data Protection Commissioner)

Freedom of Information Act 1997 have also been produced in Ireland and amended by the Freedom of Information Act (Amendment) 2003. The Freedom of Information Act establishes the following statutory rights:

• A legal right for each person to access information held by public bodies and government departments
• A legal right for each person to have official information relating to himself/herself amended where it is incomplete, incorrect or misleading
• A legal right to obtain reasons for decisions affecting himself/herself. (Freedom of information in Ireland)

In summary, communication technology provides advantages and disadvantages and without a doubt have a huge impact on society and the future. Communication technology can be said to be the invention of the century because of the changes it make to the human race, it can be said to be the “line” that distinguish between the era of information technology in comparison to the last era. Communication technology provides an insight to our future and will continue to bring benefit to our society provided we keep in mind of how to use communication technology efficiently.

Bibliography

·         (Did You Know 3.0 2012) Did You Know 3.0 (Officially updated for 2012) HD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YmwwrGV_aiE#!

·         (Teen Prostitution 2012)

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/september/teen-prostitution

·         (Data Protection Commissioner)

http://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/A_guide_to_your_rights_-_Plain_English_Version/858.htm

·         (Freedom of information in Ireland)

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/national_government/standards_and_accountability/freedom_of_information.html

·         (Sixth Sense 2010) Pranav Mistry

http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/