The Consequences of Network Society - Essay Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Consequences of Network Society Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction A network society is defines as a society that has a social structure that is composed of systems which are powered by micro electronics- based information and communication skills. A society or a social structure is the interrelation of humans and human life in terms of culture and all it entails. All societies are united by information and skills as the source of motivation and status, wealth and the meaning of life. The network society is characterized by power which is based on technology. A network society is built by social networks which brings together networked individuals forming the networked society. It is a society where each person is connected to the other (Barney 2004). The social structure of network society is based on information and communication technologies (ICT). The ICT produces processes and spreads information according to the knowledge that is accumulated in the nodes which are along the networks. Nodes are point of connection along the communication lines that make up the networks. The networks change by adding or removing the nodes so as to reach the goals of the users. A network society is therefore a highly developed social structure that uses ICTs to achieve more openness, to become more adaptable and flexible. Information and communication technology has therefore produced a network society where individuals and groups benefit from electronic networks which help them spread knowledge and information leading to innovativeness. One major component of network society is an economy that is based on knowledge and information where knowledge is mobilised to achieve wealth. Knowledge and other intangible resources such as business ideas, human capital and intellectual property are being viewed as the most valuable in the network society. All this is achieved through the use of computers and the internet. These two are the key players in networking society. Consequences of Network Society Network society however affects the human life in various ways. It has both positive and negative consequences on the human life. The information and communication has enabled the human society to be free from virtual movement to a situation where one’s presence can be felt even where not present. One can obtain information, education and do business in places where one cannot practically access with ease. This is a positive consequence of the network society since it has enabled people to obtain what they need without much travelling and with more ease. Most of an individual’s projects fail due to space and time, space means that there are places one cannot access. With the network society, individuals can communicate even when they are in virtually inaccessible places and without spending much time. Net work society has also linked people with their past information and also with the future information. With the knowledge gained through the networked society, one is able to keep an archive of the current information and also to plan for things yet to happen. Network society is helping the members of the society to save time and money. One community is able to learn about the other in a distance, do business together, and can collaborate in various activities. This helps the members of the society to save time and money that could be spent in doing things virtually. Money and goods can be sent from long distances and business is conducted freely without having to meet your business partners physically (Messner 1997). The network society has enabled friends and families to keep in contact even when in different continents. People can maintain email and cell phone contacts even when in abroad. In the previous eras, people could fear going to live in far continents due to the fear of losing contacts with their friends and family members. But with the networked society, people can live far and still maintain contacts with the people they want (Fuchs 2008). Another positive consequence of network society is that it enables the managers of various organisations to learn of new ideas from those of international organizations. Managers learn of new things through linking with the others and thus can help them to make their future plans a reality. Linking up with the global markets makes the managers learn of new and easy ways of achieving their dreams and of doing things. One is able to change the systems of the organizations and adapt other which are more convenient and less expensive. Organizations also get avenues for selling their products. Society network connects individuals and organizations to the global market thereby enabling them to obtain what they cannot produce and be able to sell what they produce in excess. Network society has resulted into the members of the community changing their views on their desires and needs. The needs of the people have changed due to their changing knowledge and information. The knowledge and information has led to change of lifestyle making people to desire things which are in line with the new ways of living. Members of the society have also learnt of new ways of solving their news through what they have learnt from other networked societies. Through use of technology in various ways, people are able to achieve more and make it easy to meet most of their needs. Network society has raised other classes of communities. There is a virtual community where the members are internet users who can do all the tasks in an online environment without facing the barriers brought by time and distance. People are able to do business online, get education and acquire various skills. They are also able link with the people whom they have common interests but are physically separated. Then there is the intelligent community which views communication as very useful in economic growth and in solving the social problems. The members of this group of community view communication as the opening to economic growth, improvement in business and in improving education. Intelligent community uses information as a tool for making products and services. Then there is the digital community which is a connected community that puts together communication, infrastructure and inventions to meet the needs of the society and of the government. They invent devices that help in doing manual jobs in digital ways (Lievrouw & Livingstone 2002). The network society has led to a reduction on the cases of unemployment in several nations. This is because one is able to work for another country without having to go to that country. Job is done online and submitted and payments are also made. It has made it possible for people who did not have jobs to get through networking. In the network society one is able to work anywhere in the continent without boundaries of distance and time. Job that is done online also has faster results than one that is virtually done between people in different continents. Through the internet, work is done, submitted and results given immediately. The network society is also characterized by a lot of competition such that every individual want to be informed of the new happenings. This has enable people to work hard in their field of work so as to keep modern. Everyone wants his or her area of specialization to employ the modern technology so as to fit in the global markets. This has resulted to overall technological advancement in all sectors of every nation. Network society has also resulted in community sustainability. This is because it has connected the low resource and high resource areas together. This has thus led to pooling of the resources together to the benefit of the low resource areas. The network has also led to collaboration of the private and public sectors leading to pooling of resources from both sectors. This has enabled all members of the community to access the resources equally leading to improved sustainability (Castells & Cardoso 2006). The networked societies experience continuous growth in all their sectors of the economy. The continuity of growth keeps bringing in new things and new ways of doing things that enable the societies to achieve sustainability. The society is able to foresee the future and plan for it. It has also broken the barriers that existed in the society where a certain class of people could not get information from another class. Such barriers were put depending on issues such as age differences, places of origin and education background. Network society has however eliminated such barriers allowing for free interaction at all levels in the society. The consequences of network society have also been felt in the health sector. Societies have found solutions to some of the health problems that have been bothering them. Through learning from others in the network, new forms of treatment for diseases have been found, and also expertise in the medical field have been found. The doctors have been able o update their knowledge through getting information from others in the network society thus applying the knowledge to their local societies. This has been in the human health, the animal health and also in the plant health. Patients and doctors have met through the network society where most of the patients have received solutions to their health problems. Network society has also brought in some negative consequences. For example, most communities are joined together by continuity and interdependence, common beliefs and similar ways of doing things. The network society is one where the individuals and groups re electronically connected, not by common goals and beliefs but by the technology. This new society is bringing in the dissolution of the local communities leading to situations that are not socially desirable (Day & Schuler 2004). These networks connect people regardless of the distance and time. This leads to breaking of the relationships that exist locally and therefore weakening the community bonds. Due to much use of the computer and internet, one gets more attached to the other community through which they are joined by the networks and tends to draw away from the original community. In most cases, networking involves people who have never met and therefore have no common origin. Networking isolates one from those around them making them associate with those in the network society. For teenagers, this is very dangerous as it draws them away from their original society norms and adopts those of others in the network society. This is because a network society is one where there is no common culture, people are only joined by knowledge and information technology. The teenagers will grow with the knowledge that is gained through networking and therefore fail to take in those from their origin. The knowledge that is gained through the internet in most cases does not contain practical life experiences. It only provides theoretical guide towards performing some duties (Castells 2000). The network society has also brought in social evils which have led to increase in the level of crimes. Some people in the society try to gain access of only destructive information such as on terrorism. Some societies are able to access the evils hat are done on other societies and transferring them to their own societies. Countries which were not used to practices of terrorism have been able to learn about it from those others that practice it. With the spread of information across the societies, crimes are also being transferred. Good people are also linked to bad people leading to the adoption of some vices. Network is achieved through internet use which offers a lot of freedom to its users. One can access the information he or she wants and can chat with anyone. There is no monitoring of the contents of the information that is passed between two users and this therefore allows for exchange of socially unacceptable information. People also tend to adopt the habits of other societies which might not be acceptable in their own societies (Dijk, 2006). The network society is one where rules are not put into much consideration. Children are able to access the internet in absence of their parents and can do what they cannot do in presence of the parents. When one is in the network society, he or she takes another form which is different from the real self. One can do things which he or she cannot do in the real self, and talk to people whom he or she cannot talk to virtually. It a different world from the real world where there is no control of what one does. Some of the things that one learns from the internet when transferred to the social world they become crimes. The network comprises of people from different social background who have different perspectives on some acts. To some people what may be viewed as a crime in one society is different from the other society. Children who have therefore not learnt of what is socially acceptable in their local societies can end up into crimes unknowingly. Conclusion The network society has brought in several developments in various aspects of human life. People therefore need to change their social settings and become members of the network society so as to benefit from the developments it brings in. But people also needs to be careful so as not to forget of their local social setting since it provides moral guidance in others aspects of human life. To avoid the negative consequences of a network society, there should be a limit of the sites that one can access on the internet and also on the information that can be accessed by the various groups of people. What people posts on the internet should also be regulated to avoid exchange of harmful information. Bibliography Dijk, J., 2006, The network society: social aspects of new media, London, SAGE. Day, P., & Schuler, D., 2004, Community practice in the network society: local action/global interaction, New York, Routlegde Publishers. Messner, D., 1997, The network society: economic development and international competitiveness as problems of social governance, New York, Routlegde Publishers. Barney, D., 2004, The network society, Cambridge, Polity Press. Castells, M., 2000, The rise of the network society, New York, Wiley-Blackwell publishers. Castells, M., & Cardoso, G., 2006, The network society: from knowledge to policy. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press. Lievrouw, L., & Livingstone, S., 2002, Handbook of new media: social shaping and consequences of ICTs, London, SAGE. Fuchs, C., 2008, Internet and society: social theory in the information age, New York, Routlegde Publishers. Read More