Does IT lead to a polarised society - those who can use it and those who are unlikely to do it?

Question

there is a point that Informational Technologies are rather bad for us than good. one of the arguments was that it's gonna cause social problems like pepole who are too old to learn to live with them or just for some reason dont know how to do that are getting out of everyday activity and that makes our society break into two parts. i wasnt actually agree with this point but the more i think of it the messier it seems to me. just collecting ideas for my course assignment, and would like to know both FORs and AGAINSTs,

Answer 1

Well, I don't see anything wrong with a polarized society. Society is already polarized in the terms you speak of, but rather that society is *currently* polarized by the terms of who is literate and who isn't.

Answer 2

Firstly, I think our quality of living would be much slower if we did not have computers to type out our assignments, calculate tax returns, bank online or play Grand Theft Auto.

Secondly, saying that something shouldn't exist because you cannot be sure it will be equally distributed within society is a pretty lame argument. Inferiority complexes cloud your judgement and make you look older.

Thirdly I know quite a number of old folk who do not have access to the Internet, but they seem pretty happy all the same, and I don't forsee any social problems breaking out in their nursing homes as a result of this digital divide.

Answer 3

I can see where that could happen. For instance, at my job there are truck drivers that still use road maps to find destinations and such and that amazes me to no end given the advancements of map quest or GPS systems readily available. I heard one complaining about the lines not making sense and I tried to remember the last time I even looked at a road map. Damn, I'm glad those days are over. People still use phone books too. That simply baffles me. It takes too long, Is never detailed enough and has severe limitations as to the information you can access. I also know people who have never ordered anything on line and think that it is dangerous and erroneous. What can I say to that?

Answer 4

ridiculous. even those too old or inept to keep up with the times still benefit from the unilateral paradigm shift each new technology brings. the poverty line keeps increasing as well. so you can qualify for welfare today even if you own 2 vcrs, a DVD player, a color TV, etc...

100 years ago there wasn't welfare and even more poignantly, the poorest American today lives better than the richest king a couple centuries past. How? dental work. think about it. even emperors had to put up with their teeth rotting away. no anesthetics either.