What is the significance of new communication technologies for contemporary community or youth work - Essay Example

? What is the significance of new communication technologies for contemporary community or youth work? andState: Date: Contents Introduction 2 Sociality – private/public boundaries 3 Cell phones and the culture of youths 4 New technology as gender issues 5 Significance of online Social networking 5 Negative influences 6 How youth work practice has adapted to face these new challenges. 7 Conclusion 9 Works Cited 10 What is the significance of new communication technologies for contemporary community or youth work? Introduction The new technology has remained the most significant influence upon the society, and the youths in particular. The role played by modern and new technology is gradually changing, and as a result many researchers and interested parties have recognised that technology is at the core of the heart of the social order (Chandler 2). The daily lives of youths in the present days are dominated by live communications such as internet chats, use of phones and SMS messaging, among many others. It is not possible to understand the lifestyles of the young people without considering the roles played, in their lives, by internet, mobile phones and other forms of new and modern technology. The teenagers and young people are spending a substantial part of their lifetime using modern technology such are computers, the internet, and mobile phones – hence this issue is incessantly becoming more significant. The new and modern technology has some positive as well as negative impacts on the lives of the youths and the community at large. Although I am aware that Internet has many advantages not only for young people but for the society in general, in my professional role as a youth worker, I only work with young people affected by the negative aspects as they are young people in need. It is through this forum that I have realised the strong need to protect this vulnerable group from the negative impact of new technology, as it will be discussed in this paper. Sociality – private/public boundaries There are various anthropology-based perspectives through which any technology can be studied including creation of social relations, the resultant rituals, the values fostered and the practices developed around the said technology by different users. On the other hand, cyberculture can be associated with new technologies in two areas, including biotechnology and artificial intelligence - such as information and computer technologies. The computer and information technologies have brought about a system of technosociality, which is an extensive process of sociocultural construction built in two systems originated from the so-called cyberculture. In contrast, biotechnologies are the origins of biosociality - a new system for production of nature, life and the body through biological innovations. All in all, cyberculture originates from modernity form of social and cultural matrix, which is seen as a step towards readjusting the dominant tradition. The computer is a reminiscent object and a predictive medium for the creation of various public and private worlds. As the culture of computers continues to spread, more peoples perceive themselves in terms of computers (Escobar 215). It is common to find the term ‘private’ being compared with ‘public’. The field of communication media has been synonymous with the creation of the situations of either being public of private. The private/public boundaries are shaped by the way humans have interacted with the world around them. For a case in point, modern technologies and communications such as televisions, radios, telephones and the internet have practically enjoined the outside and public worlds within the people’s private spheres, breaking the barrier between the two worlds. In addition, the modern technology has toughened the boundary of privacy within homes. By intervening in the external world within the home, and at the same time allowing people to interact with the external world without leaving their homes, the boundary of the private world is no longer withdrawn from the outside world (Lee 192). Cell phones and the culture of youths Morley has observes that cell phones are perceived, throughout the world, as essential and indispensable devices that serve both symbolic and practical purpose (25). The youths have incessantly reduced their usage of the conventional forms of media and communication since the developments in technology has enabled them to use cell phones for different purposes including sending messages, accessing the internet, checking the time, taking photos, getting news updates watching TV, listening to music, setting of alarms, making audio recordings, bidding online auctions, storing personal data, recording of their GPS locations, and downloading wallpapers and music, just to mention but a few. What’s more, cell phones have acted as forms of unions and hindrances, as well as creation of new kinds of calibers of human and nonhuman, or absence and presence, of body and machine (Cupples and Thompson 2). New technology as gender issues Communication technology has greatly influenced the role of gender in the society (Shade 179). A study carried out by Rakow (1992) and Moyal’s (1992) established that women use the telephone for the purpose of community bonding as well as family ‘kin keeping’. Elsewhere, Martin’s (1991) study of Bell telephone stressed that technology has shifted from a men’s business tool to its feminisation, which was made possible through the tendency of women to act as operators and their formation of workable social culture. However, for the past one decade, telephone technology and design has significantly changed, by particularly incorporating female consumers. Some of the cultures that have been integrated in the new technology include stylistics trends, designs as well as the technological innovations (Shade 180). Significance of online Social networking Nowadays, it does not take long before yet another innovation takes the world by its storm, in which case the youth rapidly adopts it enabling them new opportunities for learning, self presentation, manage intimacy and privacy and constructs a wider sphere of relationships. Examples of these innovations include chartrooms, emails, instant messaging, texting, blogging, and the most recent and very influential social networking sites. Public guiding principles desires rapidly take advantage of these young at heart enthusiasms, aiming at invigorating plans of health and lifestyle guidance, informal education, and community involvement. At the same time, technological innovations present the commercial world with new potential for entrenched and targeted marketing, whereas it is requisite for the public policy to deal with new internet risks to youth’s welfare (West et al. 147). Just like other activities in the internet, social networking has recently attained the mass market and the sites keep on developing as the domestic broadband access increases while other advanced technologies such as the GPS continue to become more accessible. The youth have performed and experimented with identity by use of the internet domain, which facilitates interaction with others. As more technological innovations are made and the users continue to develop in their interest and knowledge, the process of identity reconfigures the potential for social identity construction in a rather mysterious manner (Livingstone 393). Nevertheless, the desire by the young people to drive online and mobile communication does not change; they incessantly seek to connect with friends anywhere and all the time, as well as to express their experiences and feelings. The online practices of the youth is exemplified by the flexible blend of several forms of communication, whereby the online communication is used mainly to maintain local friendships that are formed offline, rather than establishing contacts with remote and unfamiliar persons (Boneva et al. 69). At the core of the outburst of internet communication is the aspiration to assemble a prised account of individuals, which verify and is verified by their close friends. Negative influences Chandler maintains that negative determinism is time and again slightly without a fatalism, which implies that problems are inevitable (p. 2). Chandler adds that technology is usually associated with a broad anti-modernism concept and that romancing the future or the past entails refuting present realities (p. 2). He maintains that the internet fuels cyber bullying, and sexting, which targets physical attractiveness, sexuality, and friendships amongst the youth. The perpetrators of these bullying attacks their victims from remote locations leading to psychological damage and fear (West et al. 147). Use of the internet has also caused problems to the youth because they are no longer capable of effectively interact through the conventional avenue. For instance, the youths become used to communication through text messages or online to an extent that they no longer learn acceptance of nonverbal signals, and this exposes them to risk of being misunderstood. In the process, the corporate responsibility for user’s privacy protection has recently been compromised since a number of social networking sites, which were previously ‘closed’, are now letting their users to integrate elements designed by third parties and allow users to sign into third party sites with their own login details (CEOP 2). By exceedingly spending their lifetime using the modern technology, the youths subjects themselves to a feeling of not being appreciated or liked, for example when their text messages or emails are not received by the intended recipient, or when their emails and text messages are not replied by the recipients. In regards to this, Chandler has said that technology is one of the leading causes of wastage of time and mental energy, which could rather be used in productive activities such as outdoor playing, reading of books, and the physical exploration of the world (p. 5). How youth work practice has adapted to face these new challenges. The youth workers have a noble responsibility in ensuring the youths benefits from the new technology and avoid falling play of its negative consequences. The responsibility of a youth worker in respect to technology is to assist young people make safe choices and enjoy the positives of the new communication technologies; as well as to support discovery of online abuse and support trial of offenders. The youth is a vulnerable group and the youth workers should partner with like-minded individuals and bodies in helping them avoid the harmful effects of the new technology. Some of these negatives include sexualisation and pornography of the new technology media. The youth workers have to adapt their practice to deal with the upcoming behavior by the young people as a result of new technology, including sexting, cyber bullying, and new ways of making friends. Youth workers should sit next to young people and discuss important issues that can help them in their lives. The youth workers should make efforts to be aware the kind of activities that young people do on the computers or phones. In this regards, the youth workers can advise parents to place the computers in places that everybody can witness what the young people are doing, such as in the sitting rooms. The parents can also be encouraged to use computers and phones as positive incentives, in order to encourage the young people to participate in positive behaviours such as school attendance and working hard. The youth workers should also participate in delivery of educative sessions such as those regarding online risk taking behaviour, disclosure of personal information, exposure to pornography, oversexualised behavior and the legality of unsuitable materials on computers and phones. The youth workers should support the government’s efforts to unveil new plans to block children from accessing pornographic materials in public places. This includes provision of clean Wi-fi in public places such as cafes and rail stations. This can go a long way in ensuring people’s confidence in public Wi-fi systems by preventing them from viewing things that they should not be viewed in public. This intervention can be run alongside other important campaigns aimed at protecting the young people from risks of internet porn (Livingstone and Brake 75). Many young people have been hurt and bullied as a result of the postings made on social networking sites. There are worrying statistics that many young people aged 16 to 25 have made friends, through the internet, whom they have never met or known their identity. The youth workers should recognise all these risks and chart ways of helping the young people to enjoy the positive aspects of the growing digital world, without drowning in the negatives that this new technology brings about. The youth workers can, for instance, sponsor mentoring and one-on-one support programs to assist the most vulnerable young people, giving them the skills and self-assurance to forge ahead with their lives. Furthermore, it is essential that young people are offered the right support and direction so that inadequacy and isolation do not result into more serious harms. The youth workers can particularly target their support to unemployed youngsters who have significantly fallen victims of the negative impacts of the new technology. There are more worrying statistics that the British children spend an average of 130 minutes per day carrying out different activities online, with a good number of their parents are not aware of these activities. There are also reports that these children spend 36 minutes online doing things that they know their parents would not condone whatsoever. Therefore, it is the role of the youth workers to create awareness to the parents so they recognise the importance of investigating the content that their children are viewing online. In other words, the youth workers should sensitise the parents so they can adapt to ‘parenting in the 21st century’. Conclusion Through these new ways of communication and technology, young people are changing sociality and creating new identities. However, if left unchecked, the young people are highly vulnerable to the negative impacts of technology. The role of youth workers in ensuring the youngsters are protected from negative influences such as internet bullying, sexting, and pornography among other influences have been highlighted in this paper (Livingstone 147). The human behavior and social change is highly determined by technology. 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