ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COMMUNICATION

Advantages;

 Communication - Speed / time – money can be saved because it’s much quicker to move information around. With it has become quicker and more efficient to contact either a business or family member. We can now correspond with anyone around the globe by simply text messaging them, or sending them an email, for an almost instantaneous response. The wide availability of the internet has also opened up face-to-face direct communication from nearly anywhere in the world, thanks to the help of video-conferencing, social networking websites, Skype and a myriad of deals offered by telecommunications companies and smart phones thus making it far cheaper than in the past. Online communication can bring families / friends together across distances.

 Globalization - Video conferencing saves money on flights and accommodation. has not only brought the countries and people closer together, but it has allowed the world's economy to become a single interdependent system. This means that we can not only share information quickly and efficiently, but we can also bring down barriers of linguistic and geographic boundaries. The world has developed into a global village due to the help of information technology, allowing countries like Ireland and China who are not only separated by distance but also by language to share ideas and information with each other.

Cost effectiveness - It feels free to send an email it’s without doubt cheaper than phone calls. ICT has also helped to automate business practises, thus restructuring businesses to make them exceptionally cost effective. This, in turn, increases productivity making the business more profitable; that usually means better pay and less strenuous working conditions.

Greater Availability - ICT has made it possible for businesses to be automated giving clients access to a website or voicemail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that a business can be open anytime, anywhere, giving a customer the capability to make a purchase from different countries thus making it easier and more convenient. It also means that you can have your goods delivered right to your doorstep from places that you would never have had access to before.

 Bridging the cultural gap – Greater access to technology has helped to bridge the cultural gap by helping people from different cultures to communicate with one another, and allow for the exchange of views and ideas, thus increasing awareness and reducing prejudice.

 Creation of new jobs - Probably, the best advantage of ICT has been the creation of new and interesting jobs. Computer programmers, Systems analysts, Hardware and Software developers, and Web designers are just some of the many new employment opportunities created with the help of ICT.

Education – Computer’s along with their programs and the Internet have created educational opportunities not available to previous generations. Information is freely available to any and all with an internet connection. 

Disadvantages;

 Unemployment - Replace "advances in technology" for "increased productivity" and the primary change from a labour-intensive to a technology-enabled economy can be explained. While information technology may have streamlined the business process, it has also created job redundancies, downsizing, and outsourcing. ICT can make someone more efficient at their job; a company can therefore employ less people to complete that job. For example: In a factory, skilled technicians and machinists can be replaced by computer-controlled robots which can work faster, for longer and more consistently or large companies who used once employed many typists they can now be replaced by one person using a word processor.

Privacy - Though information technology may have made communication quicker, easier, and more convenient, it has also brought along privacy issues. From cell phone signal interceptions to e-mail hacking, people are now worried about their once private information becoming public knowledge. An example of this could be the embedding of microchips n virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items — and, by extension, consumers — wherever they go, from a distance.

Lack of job security – Experts in a wide variety of fields believe that ICT has made job security a big issue, since technology keeps on changing nearly every day. This means that individuals need to be constantly studying or at least keeping up with changes in their profession, if they want to feel secure in their jobs to be secure.

 Overriding Cultures - While ICT may have made the world a global village, it has also contributed to one culture consuming another weaker one. For example, it is now argued that teenagers in the US influence how most young teenagers all over the world now act, dress, and behave. Languages too have become overshadowed, with English becoming the primary mode of communication for business and everything else.

By Kingalu Avin BAPRM 42697