There are many factors (i.e. ideas, events, people, etc.) that change a society at any one time in history, but technology plays a key role. Our society is becoming remarkably technology oriented and this is closely related to our energy resources. One of the major component of the present times, product of the progress of computer and telecommunication technologies, is the Internet era – an era in which powerful communication channels diminish geographical, temporal, psychological, and cultural distances around the world to shape our society to a substantially different one from that dominated by television.

        The Internet has rapidly become a popular attraction to the point that is the largest source of information in the world today. In the 20^th century, electricity, the telephone, the television, the radio, the automobile and the airplane all made the world more accessible to more people, transforming our economy and society in the process. The Internet has the same revolutionary impact and is having a profound effect on individuals, organizations, and society. Its effects spanned on the way we work, live and learn. By enabling instantaneous and seamless communication and commerce around the globe, from almost any device imaginable, this technology is one of the key cultural and economic forces of the early 21st century. With its web sites and chat rooms, the Internet is also a mean of communicating with people in places all over the face of the earth. However, whereas most of their impact is positive, there are obviously some negative side effects. Some critics even claim that because of the Internet and the excessive use of computers, society has developed in a way that resembles autism, which is concern with the manner people react and communicate. How?

        The Internet was originally developed as a medium to share information and facilitate communications among offices, universities, and research institutes, but because of its popularity and the vast among of information and other resources available, some people have become addicted to its use. The attraction to Internet lies on the fact that it gives individuals the capability to control the production, storage, and dissemination of information. Another technology closely related to Internet is the E-mail. There is no doubt that e-mail is a very direct and cost-effective way of communication, but many people use it to avoid personal contact. The communication through e-mails lacks the human touch to the point that body language, gestures, and similar essential ingredients of communication will be lost from human beings. The information technology, in general, has made possible that many people can perform their work at home, isolated from the rest of world; study away from the classrooms (distance learning) and do business and shopping on the Web (web shopping). All these activities retreat people from society. 

        Since the Internet is so easy, accessible and essentially unregulated, it leaves room for many controversies about the Web, including electronic commerce, credit card fraud, invasion of privacy and more. Thus, the Internet is affecting our lives in several ways. I believe that technology, including the information technology, enables society to benefit enormously but we should be aware of the threats and disruptive effects adjacent to the use or excessive reliance on a particular technology. As another related example, it is worthy to remember how we feared the consequences of the possible inability of most computers to process date information later than December 31, 1999 (The Year 2000 "Y2K" problem), and all this because the multi-tasks we rely on the computers’ performance nowdays.

Related Readings:     The Social Impact of Computers