Information Technology in Modern Society

The last decades of XX century were marked by events that fundamentally transformed the contemporary socio-cultural reality. It is an active entry into the community of advanced information technologies, which occurred as a result of the rapid development of electronics. There is a change of the nature of work, the role of information and knowledge at all levels and in all spheres of public life increases. This is associated with the entry of humanity into a new era in its development – the period of the Information Society, which led to a huge interest in the problems of information, the new information technologies, and the impact of information on the socio-cultural processes, adaptation and development of the individual in a qualitatively new environment.

Origin of Information Technology (IT)

The rapid development of digital computer technology and the emergence of the science of the principles of its construction and design began in the 40s of the twentieth century.

Until then, for almost 500 years digital computers were limited to a device for performing arithmetic operations on numbers. The basis of almost all invented for the devices was 5 centuries gear, designed for fixation of 10-digit decimal number system.

The world’s first conceptual drawing of 13-order decimal adder based on the wheel with ten teeth belongs to Leonardo da Vinci. It was made in one of his diaries.

In 1623, after more than 100 years after the death of Leonardo da Vinci, German scientist Wilhelm Schickard offered his solution to the same problem based on six-digit decimal calculator, also consisting of gear wheels, designed to perform addition, subtraction, and multiplication and division table.

The first implemented and became known, mechanical digital computer was “Pascaline” of the great French scientist Blaise Pascal – 6 (or 8) discharging device for gears, designed for addition and subtraction of decimal numbers (1642).

The development of modern information technology in two decades drastically changed the world. IT took all aspects of society, making irreversible impact on business and professional life, and private life. They changed the way of communication, principles of communication, and forms of relationships. Despite the internal complexity, modern information technologies are easy to use and therefore they are accessible for the endless number of people forced to use them because of professional, educational, cultural, social, political and other needs (Konsbruck).

Supply of electricity and water supply, management of communications and transport, coordination of financial flows, the operation of health and education are not conceivable at present without the use of computer systems (Fitzpatrick). Information and communication technologies directly and indirectly affect the daily life of human, determining the specificity and quality of his work, life, leisure, lifestyle, and even thinking. “Today we can say that the development of computer technology not only creates a new technological order, but rather a new social reality” – writes (Inozemtzev 57).

Recent Developments of Information Technology (IT)

The life of modern man in many ways has become dependent on information technology and telecommunications. For a huge number of advantages, we sometimes do not notice how much we are influenced by modern technology and technical innovation. For all the modern information technology is a huge number of enterprises in different directions (ISPs, hosting providers, ip-providers, ip telephony providers, etc.).

Undoubtedly, computer becomes the cornerstone of the new means of communication. Just as in the nineteenth century, people had to learn to read and write, in order to read the newspaper, they now had to learn computer before at its base there were modern media. To work with your computer, there is no need to be a programmer. As well as to read the newspaper, you do not need to be a reporter or editor.

One of the most striking examples of the positive and negative impact on life is world-wide Internet. It is difficult even to remember the number of the opportunities offered by this resource – the ability to choose products and services and purchase them without losing time and money to get the goods at a convenient to the buyer site, to track the movement of goods and vehicles, to communicate with friends and family, play games, find new friends and get new information, join groups and communities of like-minded, to make complex financial transactions, transfer funds from your account to another, and many other features.

Specific examples on how Information Technology (IT) helps People or businesses

Just a lot of computerized technical means are used daily by millions of people. Developed enterprises implement systems integration in such activities as production, sales, marketing, finance, etc., which greatly optimizes the production process and increases the efficiency of the company. If the top management will take the right decision in time for the introduction of various innovative technologies in the company, then excellent results, as a rule, will not force to wait for a long time.

With the development of Web 2.0 technologies, social networks have gained tangible basis in the form of social networking portals and Web services. Therefore, finding on one of these sites a man who is a stranger for you, you can see a chain of intermediate acquaintances, through which you are connected with him.

The march on the Internet social networking began in 1995 with the American portal Classmates.com. The project has been very successful in the next few years, and this fact has inspired more than a dozen similar services. Though, the official beginning of the boom of social networks is considered to be in 2003-2004, when LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook were launched.

Although LinkedIn was created in order to establish / maintain business contacts, holders of MySpace and Facebook have relied primarily on the satisfaction of human needs for self-expression. After all, according to Maslow’s pyramid, the self-expression is the highest human need, even ahead of recognition and communication. Social networks have become an online haven where one can find the technical and social basis for the creation of the virtual “I”. In addition, each user has the ability not only to communicate and create, but also to share the fruits of their creativity with an audience of millions in a particular social network.

Today, the vast majority of young people do not even imagine a day without social networking.

Large-scale surveillance, conducted in Germany, showed that social networks are much more attractive for the young and middle-aged people than sex and cigarettes. In case of inaccessibility of social networks state close to withdrawal syndrome was observed in most of interviewed!

Also, the modern business of any size cannot do without a computer. Besides the standard functions,  word processing, and mathematical operations, business computers help managers to make optimal decisions.

Business computer, by one press of keys, can organize and analyze the information, can be used to produce economic forecasts, growth rates and growth of the company or for the development of waste-free production methods.

One of the world’s largest computer manufacturers, IBM, predicted several promising technologies that will have the greatest impact on the daily life in the next five years.

According to one conjecture, mind reading is no longer science fiction – the person will simply think to call or to move the cursor.

This will be possible due to a special headset with sensors that read the electrical activity of the brain.

Evidently, in the context of the above, today a deep and diverse investigation of processes, already taking place under the influence of information and communication technologies, is becoming particularly important, together with the forecasting of their deployment in the historical and social perspective of the immediate future. 

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