Factors affecting the use of ICT

Topic 8
 Social factors
 ICT is influenced by social factors, the widespread use of ICT has
led to a lot of benefits to society but it does also create a number of
social problems such as:
 Reduces the number of manual jobs-jobs have been replaced by
computers of robots.
 Changes the way a job is done-people have to adapt to the ways
jobs are done as they are always changing.
 Job loss-ICT systems are being used for different tasks as they are
constantly evolving.
 De-skills certain jobs- a typist was a skilled job but now anyone
with a basic knowledge of word processing-software can produce
professional looking documents.
 Reduced social interaction at work-more and more
people are working from home so it means less face to
face interaction with colleagues.
 Changes in leisure time-more people are working
twilights, nights and weekends instead of the normal 9 to
5.
 Addictions- many people are addicting to certain
aspects of ICT like gambling, pornography and chat
rooms.
 Blurs the distinction between ‘home’ and ‘work’-
companies give staff laptops on which they can do work
at home outside normal work hours which can cause
family conflicts
Cultural factors

knowledge

laws beliefs

CULTUR
E
habits customs

morals arts
Changes in cultures caused by ICT
 People have a more relaxed attitude to copyright issues
 People taking a more relaxed attitude towards issues such as
pornography
 People exploring new ideas such as new religions, complementary
medicine, etc.
Faith on the web
 Podcasting, Facebook and MySpace, blogs and online churches are
all becoming popular for many religions.
 It makes it easier for people to talk about there faith if they feel more
comfortable talking on the internet or visiting sites where people
have the same views.
 Many churches have websites for their congregation and others to
keep in touch and build a more religious community.
 St pixels is an online church and it helps spread
the word about the religion and there beliefs. This
is a way ICT has changed culture.
 ICT and the arts
 Instead of buying a whole album in CD form,
you can just buy tracks you want from ITunes
 It is easier to find music online rather than in
stores
 Your able to carry all your music around by mp3
players etc instead of loads of CDs
Cultural factors in other countries
 Low levels of education and literacy skills-make it
hard for people to make use of ICT
 Very few internet services and unreliable internet
source.
 Lack of money-low incomes and cannot afford new
technology
 Lack of fluency in English-about 80% of all
information on the WWW is in English
 Lack of interest from foreign companies- foreign
companies are unwilling to invest due to the
political situation
 Legal factors
 Copyright laws-prevent the free passage of music
 Selling devices that crack codes or copy right
protection-these would encourage people to
break the law
 Mobile communication like using your mobile
phone whilst driving is banned unless you have a
hands-free kit.
 Economic factors
 Labour costs being cheaper-call centre's located
in different countries that offer cheaper services
like India.
 Fuel costs- a lot of fuel is wasted when you get
lost so GPS systems make it more efficient
 Availability of high speed internet- not everyone
has broadband although numbers are growing.
 Environmental factors
 CRT-LCD screens
 Cost of running computers can be very high. Macs run on lower
power.
 Hardware recycling
 Carbon footprint
 Print preview-to save paper.
 Websites like Mazooma to encourage recycling or mobiles phones.