Characteristic features of the information society. Pros and cons of the information society: table
Experts who introduced thisterm, explain that the information society becomes, if there is an abundant circulation of high-quality information in it, there are means necessary for its storage, use, distribution. Information in such a society quickly and easily spreads according to the requirements of people or organizations interested in it and is submitted in a form familiar to everyone. Information and services related to its delivery should be as cheap as possible, because the society becomes informational only if information is available to all. Here, the pros and cons of the information society will be considered.
Driving force
How to save people from routine in the processproduction, how to ensure the proper level of automation in the processing of information in social and industrial spheres? Here a panacea is computerization. The driving force of progress, for example, the Japanese consider production is not material, but just an information product. Innovation, design and marketing will make the product more informative. The advantages and disadvantages of the information society in this formulation of the question are visible to the unaided eye.
In addition, there will be a change not only in production,but the whole way of life with a system of values in terms of increasing the importance of cultural leisure. Unlike industrial society, where the goals are consumption and production, the information society offers to use intellect, that is, knowledge, and most of the workers are engaged in collecting, storing and distributing them. This is a plus. And the downsides of the information society flow from here - a minority of workers who are engaged in the creation of material, not intellectual values, simply can not all "thinking" to feed, clothe, arm and equip.
Material base
Naturally, applying the intellect, materialvalues are easier to create. And this is a plus. But life shows that modern material values are getting closer to disposable, polluting the environment and forcing people to spend much more time on replacing the worn out. And this is a huge minus. Technological and material basis are various systems of computer networks and technology, information technology, telecommunications.
The information society, its pros and consreal practice is a matter of several years. Already in the twentieth century, created by theorists became a visible picture of the near future. Forecasts are as follows: the world space is transformed into a computerized single information community, people live in houses with electronic stuffing: all kinds of devices and devices.
Approaching the future
Example - "Smart House", and this is not fiction. Already in Moscow, a comprehensive management system for the entire engineering of a modern building is used, the automation of all operations. Solutions are not only high-tech, but also with a fairly high aesthetic level.
Here, setting, monitoring and remotecontrol of lighting devices, as well as climate and ventilation, audio-video-TV-video surveillance is controlled by voice or gesture, security and fire alarms determine the possibility of an emergency and control the entire system on their own, all electric drives are automated with a sensor system and touch panels.
The pros and cons of the information society are also hereare easily calculated. Plus - life becomes more convenient, less - the consequences of failure of at least one computer can be irreversible, which we already observe from time to time with the airlines of even the most technologically highly equipped countries. Also, hacking, hacking banking and even defense data of entire countries is flourishing, which contributes to the growth of terrorism in the world. Against this background, it is possible not to recall the hacking of websites with personal data of citizens with the aim of blackmail or damage to their reputation. These are the characteristic features of the information society.
Advantages and disadvantages
We come very close to building a new societytype, therefore, it is necessary to accurately calculate what this way mankind will rejoice, and what threatens. Pros and cons of the information society the table will show clearly:
| Pros of building an information society | The minuses of building an information society |
| 1. Overcoming the information crisis, smoothing the contradictions between the information sea and information shortage. | 1. The increasing influence on the society of any media - even inadequate. |
| 2. Ensuring the priority of information compared with other resources. | 2. Information technology interferes with the privacy of people, often causing destructive actions, disrupting the activities of organizations. |
| 3. The predominant form of development is the information economy. | 3. The existing problem of the selection of information of a qualitative and reliable one does not resolve. |
4. The basis of society should be the automated generation, processing, storage and use of all kinds of knowledge through the latest information technology and technology. | 4. Most people find it difficult to adapt in the information society. |
| 5. Information technology of a global nature, covering all areas of human activities. | 5. Difficulties in neutralizing the danger of a gap between consumers and the "information elite" (people involved in the development and distribution of information technology). |
| 6. Formation of information unity of human civilization. | 6. There are not enough relevant developments in information law and information protection. |
| 7. Through informatics, the free access of every person to the resources of information of the whole civilization. | 7. Threat of breach of confidentiality of information data. |
| 8. Realization of humanistic principles of public management and control over the environmental impact. | 8. The security of the personal information space is not properly secured. |
The activities of people are directed mainly atprocessing of information, all material production, as well as the production of energy should be entrusted to machines. This process is in full swing: already in 1980, the share of people's employment has dramatically changed: agriculture accounted for only 3% of all workers, in industrial production - 20%, about 30% of working people were in the service sector, and 48% information tools and worked directly with them. So the pros and cons of an open information society is a reality that requires systematic study.
The means of competition
Information as an industrial product beganfirst in the sixties of the last century, first in America, then in the USSR, with proposals for the concept of a paperless organization of spheres of government. But the Japanese were more active than others in the information field. They correctly used the advantages and disadvantages of the information society. The table proposed above does not fully meet the Japanese level of technology twenty years ago: security in Japan was provided well, and the adaptation of people in the computerized space went quickly and fairly smoothly.
They became the most zealouspropagandists of the ideas of industrial use of information. Subsequently, they were brilliantly managed on the world market, repeatedly gaining a competitive struggle at the expense of Japanese devices, computers and other systems that create the technosphere. Therefore, they retained leadership for a very long time in this field. Pros and cons of the formation of the information society the Japanese managed to take into account and bypass almost all the pitfalls of this voyage in the man-made information sea.
What are the realities of the information society
There is no reason to expect any drastic changesin social structures after the transition to the information society. Pros and cons balances this structure. Stratification of people on the wealthy and poor will remain practically in the same proportions, since the measure of using the fruits of labor will remain different. Despite the differentiation of the scope of virtual services, there will be more important (expensive) services and less - according to the capabilities of each member of the new society. This, of course, will not go to the pros. And the downsides of the modern information society do not end here.
Problems will arise in the access to that information,which belongs not to just one country, but to several or to all of humanity, for example, relating to outer space. Banks of data on various branches of agriculture and industry, on the potential of buyers and potential sellers, are mysteries with seven seals, belonging to and making up the wealth of individual exchanges and other brokerage firms that are engaged in the redistribution of goods. But most of all, it is the individual in the information society who suffers. Pros and cons are not balanced here. But this is the topic of a separate article, because an avalanche of virtual data has already demolished many.
Work at home - a lack of communication
The proportion of home-based work is one of the most importantfeatures of the information society. In industrial, individual labor was on the verge of extinction. Automated workplaces allow many specialists to work without leaving home. This is the inevitable reality of the near future. In the US, already 27 million people working at home, a third of all modern firms make extensive use of remote employment.
Huge progress has been made in the sphere of education,scientific activity. Exchange of results in networks occurs instantly, there is no dependence on polygraphy - all this speeds up the pace of scientific research. Computer science plays a huge role in the organization of production, technology, now it has become important not less than all engineering sciences, chemistry, physics and others in an industrial society.
The closest to the construction of such a society areinformation-industrial countries: England, Japan, USA, Germany and others. There they invest a lot in the information industry, computer systems and telecommunications. What are the pros and cons of the information society to its members, these countries already know by hearsay.
Positive and negative
Free access to any information other than personal information.and corporate, it's good. But it's bad that along with the necessary and useful information, we are literally being demolished by the flow of an unnecessary, often immoral, imposed on a person right from childhood. Pros and cons of the information society are briefly formulated as excessive freedom of access with a side effect in the form of damage to spirituality.
Created a great entertainment industry,leisure, sports, tourism, a person can relax, get distracted from work, relax, fill spiritual forces, and this, too, can be attributed to the pluses. The minus is the lack of demand for spiritual potential due to the interrogation of human needs through communications, therefore most often from the richest arsenal of services one chooses watching TV programs or playing games on the computer. However, as often this choice is due to financial insolvency. In any case, this is reality.
Television and personal computers
What are the pros and cons of the information society,television is the best. With its help monuments and masterpieces of culture are created. But also - advertising and spam. There is also a great number of pop and rock concerts, soap operas, where profits are guaranteed, again, the human personality is being completely ignored, society is becoming less and less moral and cultural.
The system of secondary and higher education has become wideruse databases, dictionaries, reference books, because the process of working with them has been greatly simplified. There was an opportunity to receive distance education. There are a lot of films and programs that are educational in nature. It's in the pros. And the disadvantages of the information society are also considerable here: students and students are spoiled by the availability of information, they are accustomed to count on other people's ideas, write off the Internet and often do not create anything of their own. Such a plan of mental laziness can lead to the fact that science will not find its researchers and inventors.
Spirituality and creativity
Characteristic features of the information society, plusesand the minuses are perfectly visible on the influence of the media in the environment of the younger generation. Should (and try to) form aesthetic tastes, there is a popularization of stereotypes of behavior, fashion for music, clothing. Examples are given of patriotism, spirituality, the advantages of a family way of life. And next, if not together, is the unraveling of the "stars", antiheroes, advertising the opposite standards of existence, often not traditional for our country and the rest of the Christian world.
The characteristic features of the information society -the pros and cons of it. This is an opportunity for creativity and laziness, when it is more like watching than living, educated media in people, and compensation for not accomplished act of creativity in the form of cruel spectacles. Instead of creativity, sex and drugs are often chosen - something that is more accessible. Very good opportunities for communication without borders: in addition to dating at work or studying, there are "friends" in blogs from all over the world. Minus - frequent cases of fraud, communication on immoral soil, all this hardens and corrupts the youth.
So, the main thing: the ability to develop the freedoms, which gives the information society, against the emergence of humanity, the gray mass. The choice is for humanity.
