Discuss the impact of ICT on the way we socialise and interact with each other

There have been a lot of changes on the way how we socialise and interact with each other with ICT. ICT has made our life more comfortable and convenient to meet friends. When the technology wasn’t well developed in the old days, people had to visit their friends’ house to socialise and interact with each other which usually took a lot of time for travelling and transportation. Even though some of them may have mobile phone with them, a simple phone wouldn’t satisfy the how they want to see their friends, just by giving a call and hear their voice. People usually want to physically see their friends as well.

However, by the time technology has been improving, people wanted more and more high technology devices to achieve better life quality. Some hardware devices such as touch screen smart phones and computers are now one of the most reliable communication tools. With the use of computers, there are many social communication application software available for people to install on their computers, so that we can keep in touch with friends who live in remote countries. There is also social network on the internet available to people from all over the world to check what our friends are up to.

Regards to touch screen smart phones, there are some major applications online for users to keep in touch with friends in different ways. Both of these methods allow people from as simple as text chatting, to as advance as video calling. And one cannot be not mentioned is, voice calling through applications is almost available to every platform. From the applications mentioned above, we can see it has been a big change on how to social with each other and how it has made the connection between each individual closer through technology.

High technology benefits in many way. With the availability of video calling software, apart from social purpose, it can also be used for business purpose. Take white collars for instance, if an overseas manager needs to have a meeting with another office worker from a different country during office hour, and not possible for one of them to visit one of each company, then the solution would be having the meeting in a room with a big high definition screen on the wall. This gives enough time and flexibility to both of the workers from foreign countries.

With the use of high definition screen, this allows them to see each other better and to go through essential documents. With the built in speakers in the monitor, this enables both of them to hear each other without mistakes. With the benefits of having high technology for socialisation and interaction with family and friends, there are also a down side of it. As more innovated communication hardware devices are being released from the global market, they have made people’s life very convenient to the point that people may have already been over relied on them.

Take for instance, you have the top smart phone which you can call, video call, play games with your friends, more and more, you can do everything on the phone to keep in touch with your friends and relatives. A friend of yours who you have not seen for 10 years want to meet you somewhere one day. But you are too lazy due to the fact that you can simply contact your friend through your smart phone or computer. This does not cost a lot of money (only cost WIFI data) and saves time for travelling.

When your friend ask you out again next time, you may not want to meet her physically again because of the convenience of your phone or computer. This means having a these devices may take apart the relationship or friendship between you two. In conclusion, ICT has made a big difference on how we social and interact with each other from the past to present, and no doubt it will still be changing in the future.