Impact of ICT on Individuals, Organizations, and Society
ICT brings both positive and negative effects to individuals, organizations, and
society. It improves education, access to information, and security. However, it limits
personal interaction and physical activity and poses problems in employment and
security.
Positive Effects
Improved access to education
There are new ways of learning such as the use of learning management
system (LMS) which implements educational enhancements such as distance
learning and online tutorials, virtual reality, and interactive multimedia.
Access to information and communication
The internet is widely used in communication. Access to it is getting better
as it has become available in almost all places such as commercial
establishments and public spaces. New tools have been promoted such as
VoIP phone, Instant Messaging (IM), chat (e.g., FB Messenger, Google
Hangouts, Yahoo! Messenger, etc.), video chat (e.g., Skype, FB video chat,
etc.), and email. In addition, ICT has been maximized by most individuals
nowadays for leisure and entertainment such as watching movies, playing
games, or even reading news and articles, and for creating new relationships
with people around the world.
Security
With the advancement that ICT brings, individuals and organizations can
solve any security problems. Examples of security measure on applications
are: (1) the use of encryption methods to keep and protect data from any
malicious software; (2) the use of password/s for personal information
protection; and (3) the development of physical security systems such as
biometrics in a form of fingerprint, facial recognition, iris (eye) recognition, and
voice recognition.
Negative Effects
Reduced personal interaction and physical activity
Because of virtual communication, ironically, people are less likely to talk
to or meet each other in person. And because of the comfort of working from
home and the entertainment that the internet offers (i.e., streaming movies,
playing online games, etc.), physical activity is reduced leading to health
issues such as obesity and heart disease.
Job loss or increase in unemployment
This can be considered as one of the worst effects of ICT.
o Multiple workers being replaced and reduced by a smaller number of
employees capable of doing the same volume of tasks
o Shipping or freight services in which a certain amount is added to the
operating costs for the physical process of transporting commodities or
goods
o Automation through robots or machines replacing people in the
assembly line
Security
ICT brings not only improvement but also threat to security. Data or files
must always be kept secure and safe. The internet connection must always
be safeguarded from different attacks such as data modification, identity/IP
address spoofing, password-based attacks, denial-of-service, etc. Computers
should also be protected from various forms of viruses and malware which are
released almost every day.