IMPACT OF COMMUNICATION MEDIUMS

What Danger does the Society Face depending on Computer Screens rather than Face-To-Face Contact as the Main Means of Communication?

Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of the Communication mediums in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on impact of Communication mediums on a person's life and its relation with work life. The research also analyzes many aspects of literature available previously. Finally the research describes various factors that have positive and negative impact on person's life due to its use.

What Danger does the Society Face depending on Computer Screens rather than Face-To-Face Contact as the Main Means of Communication?

Arguments

What is the relation between Communication mediums and social problems? At first take, a Communication medium seems related to social problems only as a solution. The face to face interactions does not have any negative impact on persons health, but the communication mediums like LCD screen of laptops, and other communication devices have shorten the life span in recent times. This is so because technologies are artifacts that allow people to achieve goals. In this light, once a social problem is identified and the decision taken to address the problem, then appropriate technologies can be sought to achieve that end. For instance, in the United Kingdom, unruly behavior at football grounds, usually associated with young and aggressive men, was a cause for concern amongst politicians, soccer's management bodies, supporters, as well as the police during the 1970s and 1980s.

Introduction

The remarkable growth of closed circuit television surveillance (CCTV) and use by law enforcers of camcorders at and around football stadiums have been the technological answers to this social problem. There has been a radical decline in disturbances on the terraces because those involved can be sure they will be filmed, identified, and in due course arrested and punished. Thus, a technological solution to the problem of violence at and around football grounds was developed. To be sure, not all technological solutions to social problems are successful, but those that do work are legion and, possibly for that reason, frequently go unobserved—from hip replacements that make the incapacitated (and usually elderly) able to walk again, to the refrigerator that keeps food fresh and thereby extends its use, to electronic tags that allow criminals to be released from overcrowded prisons while still being under supervision. (Webster, 2002)

But can one accept the forgoing? It is surely unpersuasive given the apparently enormous number of cases in which Communication mediums appears to be a manifest cause of social problems. A litany of cases comes to mind. For instance, arguably the major issue facing the world today is environmental damage (Brundtland 1987), notably global warming and the associated climatic shifts and potentially catastrophic floods that will accompany this. Profligate use of gasoline, inappropriate use of solid fuels, and CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) are some of the causes of this predicament, As sobering is the issue of nuclear power, the disposal of the waste from which is extraordinarily complex, time dependent, and risky ...