List 5 Disadvantages Of Information Technology?

Advancements in information technology have had many great benefits on society, however, this has not come without its downsides. Below is a list of five disadvantages of information technology and an explanation.

• Over reliance on technology - a lot of people believe that because computers and the Internet has become such an regular part of modern life, some people particularly children who grow up with it, will not be able to function without it. Some people think that the Internet is making people lazy, particularly when it comes to essay or project research as instead of reading books in a library, one can just perform a Google search.
• Loss of communication skills - with the ever increasing variety of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, a lot of people are worried that traditional communication skills will be lost. This worry is particularly about children who often engage in these websites because communication and interactive skills are not important with computers.
• Job losses - technology in an organization, company or business, the number of hours that a human works at that company are reduced. This may even result in some people losing their jobs because technology is doing it for them. However this is beneficial for the organization as their profit is increased because they don't need to pay their workers as much because they aren't required as much.
• Loss of personal touch - emails and instant messaging have replaced the old tradition of handwriting letters. And although this is advantageous because of time constraints, a personal touch and sense of feeling is lost compared to taking the time to sit down and hand write a letter.
• Health problems - research has shown that technology can cause a number of problems with a person's health. Many scientists, doctors and researchers are concerned about possible links between technology and heart problems, eye strain, obesity, muscle problems and deafness. Waste emitted from technology can pollute the environment which not only makes people ill, it also damages the environment.

Some of the advantages of information technology include:

Globalization - IT has not only brought the world 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 Chile and Japan who are not only separated by distance but also by language to shares ideas and information with each other.

Communication - With the help of information technology, communication has also become cheaper, quicker, and more efficient. We can now communicate with anyone around the globe by simply text messaging them or sending them an email for an almost instantaneous response. The internet has also opened up face to face direct communication from different parts of the world thanks to the helps of video conferencing.

Cost effectiveness - Information technology has helped to computerize the business process thus streamlining businesses to make them extremely cost effective money making machines. This in turn increases productivity which ultimately gives rise to profits that means better pay and less strenuous working conditions.

Bridging the cultural gap - Information 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.

More time - IT has made it possible for businesses to be open 24 x7 all over the globe. This means that a business can be open anytime anywhere, making purchases from different countries easier and more convenient. It also means that you can have your goods delivered right to your doorstep with having to move a single muscle.

Creation of new jobs - Probably the best advantage of information technology is the creation of new and interesting jobs. Computer programmers, Systems analyzers, Hardware and Software developers and Web designers are just some of the many new employment opportunities created with the help of IT.