Communications development can lead to negative impacts

By A. Wisnuhardana

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Television, computers and telephones are communications equipment which have changed people's lifestyles.

Satellite technology has developed tremendously. American communications company Iridium, LLC, for example, launched five 750-kg satellites at a low orbit of only 673 km above the earth earlier this year.

Such a revolution in technological development is likely to edge out conventional satellite technology. Within the next 10 years, the number of mini, powerful satellites has been predicted to increase to 1,300, as reported by D & R magazine in its June 7 edition.

U.S. satellite and communications technology companies like Orbcomm, Hughes Electronic Corp. and Globalstar are committed to inundate space with satellites, while a consortium under Bill Gates and Craig McCaw (the king of U.S. cellular telephones) is improving Internet and World Wide Web services to overcome problems of slow Internet access.

People forget that all these improvements in technology could have negative impacts. Internet users in industrial countries have already been affected.

A child in the United States became a victim of his Internet acquaintance who was homosexual. The child still suffers psychologically from the experience.

Media Indonesia reported on Oct. 16 that Lynn Vickery used the Internet to aid her in the murder of her former husband.

But attention should not be focused on the negative impacts only. Based on a positive point of view, communication through the Internet has slashed business and personal costs by millions of dollars and enabled individuals to access information they need from the global web.

Companies operating in various sectors have also benefited from computer and satellite technology for various purposes, such as for consumer services, employee recruitment and contract bidding.

Due to such communications technology development, how can individuals continue interaction face-to-face, rather than through computers, telephones and other communications equipment? Supported by virtual communication facilities, people no longer need physical interaction in this era. Individual interaction costs money and time, and even may result in bias.

With technology-based virtual communications, the language of communication is based on mechanical language. The institutionalization of such exact language reduces the possibility of ambiguous interpretation of messages.

But with such communication, an individual loses the opportunity to be expressive through other means. The domination of exact language forces one to comply with what one is facing. Moreover, the individual has no other alternative in expression because one's means of expression seems to be taken for granted.

The next question is what ideology or motivation is behind this means of communication? Based on its modus, the information and communications technology has been developed through a combination of computers, television and telephones for the interest of capitalist countries.

It is developed as an instrument to facilitate communications with an aim of maximizing profits. But people in developing countries apparently cannot avoid adopting such an instrument because, in many cases, the dissemination of information through it is democratic.

Therefore, it is necessary to anticipate the socio-economical impacts of the global information and communication network and think about ways to reduce adverse effects as much as possible.

Sociologically, Indonesian society will be divided into two groups -- a group who are involved in the information network and make use of it for their needs, and another group who continues using traditional means of communication and are unfamiliar with technological terms.

Thus, there are three main problems that must be solved.

* The negative impact on users must be reduced. The global information system is impersonal, sometimes inhuman and individualistic. Individuals involved in the network might be trapped in negative life patterns which are influenced by capitalism.

* The elements of society who are unfamiliar with the network should be encouraged to use it positively.

* Conflicts should be reduced between Internet users and those who are unfamiliar with it. The difference in access to information technology might create opportunities for violence and exploitation.

Changes in information technology will surely cause changes in the social system. Are Indonesians ready to change their way of thinking to face the borderless globe?

It must be realized that communication technology will reach both individual and communal areas. An individual may be able to adjust himself or herself to a global lifestyle, while the community may have to change its views in line with the flood of information. If a social system is not well developed, information can affect social structures and in turn may create chaos.

The writer is a researcher at the Forum for Social Humanism Studies.