The Impact of ICT on an Adult in Employment – Mobile and Email

David Smith uses email to send his report to the company that he is working for at the time and to send or receive photographs over the internet. Sending reports over the internet saves a lot of time and is an easier method of communicating than through the post. Before he got the internet he used the post to send the report to the company.

One drawback of this was that the file took a long time to print. You have to pay to send the package. The cost of this depended on the weight of the parcel and 80 sheets of paper are not cheap to send. To buy 80 sheets of paper, he would have to spend a reasonable amount of money too. He would also have to buy cartridges for the printer.

These are not cheap. However, David Smith would not have to buy all of these items himself; he would get the company that he is working for to buy them. Now that David Smith uses email to send his reports over the internet to the people who need them, he has no reason to leave his house, nor does he have any reason to print off the document. Although email has made the writing and sending of reports faster and easier for David Smith, he has had a few problems with email. He has had some unwanted emails sent to him from people or companies that he doesn’t know. This wastes time that he would otherwise have spent on his report writing. Sometimes whilst using email for work, he has had problems with his ISP (Internet Service Provider) temporarily disabling the service. When this happened he had to wait for the ISP to sort out his connection so that he could send his email to the person that needed the report. This shows that there are sometimes problems with using email to send important documents, although usually email makes sending reports easier and quicker.

David Smith also uses email at home for social purposes. He is in a rifle club and receives the results of matches through the post or via email. He records these in an Excel spreadsheet which he emails to members of the club. The only problem with this is that not all the members of the club have email, so some of them miss out on this information. He also uses email to contact a very close friend in Kent because this friend uses email everyday as he runs an internet-based company. David Smith sometimes sends him pictures he has taken with his digital camera. He likes using email for contacting friends as it is less formal than writing a letter and it is difficult to get hold of busy people on the phone.

Mobile phone

David Smith recently purchased a mobile phone; this was mainly so that he could be contacted when he is on the move. He uses this technology for both personal and work and it helps Mr Smith a great deal. His mobile phone has helped him become more available to the people who need to contact him all the time.

Mr Smith also uses his phone to call his wife and tell her important information whilst he on the move. Before he had his mobile he would have had to find a payphone. This saves time and petrol.

As well as working as a Safety Consultant, David Smith also works as an online tutor for a company called RRC business training. Now that he has a mobile phone, he is permanently available to be contacted should his students or clients need to speak to him. If there are times when he does not wish to be contacted, he can turn the mobile phone off or divert all of his calls to a different number via a function on his mobile phone.