Internet + Society = A New Galaxy

We seem to be in the core of an Internet revolution. The pace of social change resulting from the diffusion of this technology, both nationally and globally is, by many accounts, dramatic. In less than ten years, the Internet has become indispensable. What are the consequences of this?

Donna L. Hoffman, Thomas P. Novak and Alladi Venkatesh state that
“Much of the broader issues in Internet development concern individual and social consequences of indispensability, and their larger implications to, for example, social welfare and policy issues. At the individual/social level, the issues include but are not limited to: altering perceptions of the space-time continuum, human communication and interactions at local and global levels, blurring the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the paradoxical nature of technologies, and both positive and negative psychological consequences. Two important policy debates include the digital divide (Hoffman and Novak 1998;Warschauer 2003) and the ongoing controversy over the impact of computers on education in schools (Cuban 2003). Research shows that the Internet has not touched all segments of equally: the lower socioeconomic levels are among those least likely to enjoy access.”

Reference:
Has the Internet Become Indispensable? (2006) Retrieved April 24, 2007 from http://sloan.ucr.edu/blog

Although there has been a tremendous amount of discussion in the press about how the Internet is changing all facets of social life, research on the impact of the Internet is only beginning to emerge. A review of the studies “suggests that the Internet may have had less impact on many aspects of social life than is frequently supposed. “In many cases, the Internet seems to have created a new way of doing old things, rather than being a technology that changes the manner in which people live their lives. As a consequence, the policy implications of increasing Internet use may be less than is often believed.

Reference:
Tom R Tyler (2002) Is the Internet Changing Social Life? It Seems the More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Journal of Social Issues 58 (1), 195–205. doi:10.1111/1540-4560.00256

Technology can't bear the blame or accept the laurels. "Technology is often seen as the culprit. However, it is the people that use and apply the technology that are at fault and make the mistakes, NOT technology. It must be recognized that technologies are not changing what we do. Rather, they are changing the way we do it!"