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.