Impact of the Digital Age on Society Today

Discuss the impact of the digital age on the social, economic and political life of society today.

The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization. The onset of the Information Age is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as the Industrial Revolution marked the onset of the Industrial Age.

During the information age, the phenomenon is that the digital industry creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a high-tech global economy that spans over its influence on how the manufacturing throughput and the service sector operate in an efficient and convenient way. In a commercialized society, the information industry is able to allow individuals to explore their personalized needs, therefore simplifying the procedure of making decisions for transactions and significantly lowering costs for both the producers and buyers. This is accepted overwhelmingly by participants throughout the entire economic activities for efficacy purposes, and new economic incentives would then be indigenously encouraged, such as the knowledge economy.[1]

The Information Age formed by capitalizing on the computer microminiaturization advances, with a transition spanning from the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s, to the Internet’s reaching a critical mass in the early 1990s, and the adoption of such technology by the public in the two decades after 1990. This evolution of technology in daily life, as well as of educational life style, the Information Age has allowed rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society.

The impact of digital age on the social life of the society today is connected with one’s position in the society, his social class and also his social background, nowadays, there are so many changes in the social aspect of our lives. A very good example of this is festival, changes in tradition and also in the mood of dressing, all this became possible because of the impact of digital age we have today. If we look around us today, it’s hard to find a person that has not added anything new to his traditional attires , what I mean here is, for instance, for the Hausa’s and also the Fulani’s, there were not know for wearing jeans and tops, but now it has become a common thing based on socialization. Before, many do not believe in going to school especially the Fulani’s, they only believe in rearing cattle’s while the women among them are to stay at home, but now, everyone wants to be in school, illiteracy is darkness, people don’t believe in staying at home doing nothing anymore, for at least even when they lack the opportunity or don’t have the means of going school or seeking for job opportunity, they will prepare engaging themselves in a small business just for them to earn something for a living. There are so many changes due to the impact digital age on the social life of our societies today.

The digital age as made the means of communication easier for the world because you can send a message to someone in new york from Nigeria.

The digital age as affected the politics of the am economy because you are able to find out the party that as the higher polls making it possibel for the other compeiton to know where they stand at the point of the election.

It as aided the politician to be able to have a wider amount of suppoter or vote in the campaign because they can easily broadcast their speechs on the web making people like them more .

Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen social media galvanize thousands over politics, create as many industries as it has destroyed, and offer an abundance of visual and audio entertainment.But has all this incredible change actually changed us, or just the world we live in?

Below are some areas in which social media has had lasting, and arguably permanent effects on the ways in which we live. The question is, are these changes all for the better?

Child Literacy

It stands to reason that children who read and write more are better at reading and writing. And writing blog posts, status updates, text messages, instant messages, and the like all motivate children to read and write. Last month, The National Literacy Trust released the results of a survey of over 3000 children. Theyobserved a correlation between children’s engagement with social media and their literacy. Simply put, social media has helped children become more literate. Indeed, Eurostat recently published a report drawing a correlation between education and online activity, which found that online activity increased with the level of formal activity (socio-economic factors are, of course, potentially at play here as well).

Ambient Intimacy

Lisa Reichelt, a user experience consultant in Londoncoined the very pleasant term “ambient intimacy.” It describes the way in which social media allows you to “… keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible.”

Consider the many communications technologies through history — the telephone, Morse code, semaphore, carrier pigeons, smoke signals — they are all fairly inconvenient and labor intensive. Lisa has hit on the idea that communication has become so convenient that it’s actually become ambient around us. It surrounds us wherever we want it, not necessarily whenit wants us. We dip into it whenever we like.

Knowledge Was Power

From his Meditationes Sacrae, published in 1597,Francis Bacon was paraphrased as saying “knowledge is power.” Fundamentally, the more you understand about life, the more chance you have at success. But these days, Wikipedia and Google have democratized information to the point where anyone is able toacquirethe knowledge they may want.

As a case in point, I had never even heard of Meditationes Sacrae until I looked up the term “knowledge is power” on Wikipedia.In Bacon’s time, the only people that had access to books and the literacy to unlock the wisdom within were the wealthy with the time and inclination to learn.

Of course, books weren’t the only source of knowledge. Consider blacksmiths, dressmakers, cobblers or sailors who passed their skills and techniques from mother to daughter, from father to son. Back then, the friction that held people back from learning was low literacy, a lack of access to books and very little time. Now, that friction is almost non-existent. That is because of both the ability of computers to replicate information for distribution, and the the way that Google, Wikipedia and blogs have empowered people to share what they know. Now,the only real friction that exists is our own desire for knowledge. It’s there for you — if you want it.

The Reinvention of Politics

A recent report by PEW found signs that social networks may be encouraging younger people to get involved in politics. You only need look at Twitter’s recent impact on the Iran elections, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and even the election of Barack Obama to see that more and more people are getting involved in politics and are feeling they can make a difference.

One of the most popular blogs on the web, The Huffington Post, is mainly political. Politics has a fast pace, and that lends itself well to social media. UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown said in June last year that because of the Internet, “foreign policy can no longer be the province of just a few elites.” Twitter even postponed an upgrade because of the important role it was playing in the Iran elections.

These are all signs of both social media’s growing influence in politics, and the growing interest in politics from users of social media.

The down side for poltic in the digital age is that most information can be gotten from th internet aboout any party making it a disadvantage in the campaign if he or she as a bad record either a fake degree or something a voter would not like about whom he wanted to vote for .Tecchnology has changed the way we live, work, shop and play. We can bank, shop and donate securely from anywhere we can access the Internet. We can to communicate across oceans and continents in seconds. We can work from anywhere, increasing efficiency and productivity. Yet, Nigeria education has yet to embrace the power of technology to customize education and give students the ability to gain knowledge anywhere, anytime.

Digital learning can change that. Digital learning is any type of learning that gives students some element of control over time, place, path and/or pace. It allows students to learn in their own way, on their own timetable, wherever they are, whenever they can.

Students are using digital learning everywhere – except school. They are gaming, texting and posting on the Internet. Imagine if we channel those digital skills into learning? Student achievement would skyrocket.

But still the digital age as a negative effect on the education system,as part of the English class, students wrote and edited their stories on screen and I was amazed how motivated they were and how much time and effort they put into their work.

Since the early to mid 90s I have used computers and the internet on a daily basis and as I sit typing this chapter into my fifth-generation Macintosh (while checking emails, paying some bills, downloading research papers and Skyping friends) I realise the value of the new technologies and how useful they are.

We live in a global village with instant communication via television, computers, the internet, mobile phones and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Skype. While parents are often described as out-of-date and old-fashioned when it comes to new technology, children are celebrated as digital natives.

Impact on jobs and income distribution

The Information Age has impacted the workforce in several ways. First, it has created a situation in which workers who perform tasks which are easily automated are being forced to find work which involves tasks that are not easily automated. Second, workers are being forced to compete in a global job market. Lastly, workers are being replaced by computers that can do the job more effectively and faster. This poses problems for workers in industrial societies, which are still to be solved. However, solutions that involve lowering the working time usually find high resistance.

Jobs traditionally associated with the middle class (assembly line workers, data processors, foremen and supervisors) are beginning to disappear, either through outsourcing or automation. Individuals who lose their jobs must either move up, joining a group of “mind workers” (engineers, doctors, attorneys, teachers, scientists, professors, executives, journalists, consultants), or settle for low-skill, low-wage service jobs.

The “mind workers” are able to compete successfully in the world market and command high wages. Conversely, production workers and service workers in industrialized nations are unable to compete with workers in developing countries and either lose their jobs through outsourcing or are forced to accept wage cuts.[6] In addition, the internet makes it possible for workers in developing countries to provide in-person services and compete directly with their counterparts in other nations.

This has had several major consequences, including increased opportunity in developing countries and the globalization of the workforce.

Workers in developing countries have a competitive advantage which translates into increased opportunities and higher wages.[7] The full impact on the workforce in developing countries is complex and has downsides. (see discussion in section on globalization).

In the past, the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies. For example, workers in the United States were once well paid in comparison to the workers in other countries. With the advent of the Information Age and improvements in communication, this is no longer the case. Because workers are forced to compete in a global job market, wages are less dependent on the success or failure of individual economies.[6]

In conclusion, digital age had so much impact on the social, economic and political life of the societies today because it has brought so much changes in our daily aspects of life and also helps us to improve and reshape our environment with the aid of practical, experimental and scientific knowledge or technology.

Impact on social life

The digital age as made communication easier and faster for indivdual and firm of all countries but this the social network in the world as made it harder for indivdual to have face to face conversations

eferences

Amichai-Hamburger, Y., & Barak, A. (2009). Internet and well-being. In Y.Amichai-Hamburger (Ed.), Technology and psychological well-being.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Anderson, C. A. (2002). Violent video games and aggressive thought, feelingsand behaviors. In S. Calvert, A. Jordan, & R. Cocking (Eds.),

Children in thedigital age

(pp. 101–120). Westport, CT.: Praeger.Anderson, C.A., & Bushman, B.J. (2002). The effects of media violence onsociety.

Science

,

295

, 2377-2378.Antoci, A., Sabatini, F., & Sodini, M. (2009).

Will growth and technology destroysocial interaction?

The inverted U-shape hypothesis

. Munich Personal RePEcArchivehttp://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18229Accessed 15

th

January 2010.Bandura, A. (1977).

Social learning theory.

Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Barylick, C. (n.d.). Technology and social isolation. Retrieved fromhttp://irchelp.org/irchelp/misc/tech.htmlAccessed 12th January 2010.Bauerlein, M. (2008).

The dumbest generation: How the digital age stupefiesyoung Americans and jeopardizes our future

. New York, NY: Penguin.BBC (2009)

Online networking ‘harms health’.

London: BBC News Website.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7898510.stmAccessed 12th January 2010.