Impact of Social Media on Local Communities

- The Effect of IT on the local high street. 

 
IT has impacted shopping for better and for worse. People can order products across the world if needed, or just across the city. It gives a job opportunity to the people supplying the items, as well as to those who are delivering these items to other people, providing easier access to items that are needed. 
 
However, this results in Shop Owners not having enough money to pay the workers at the stores, meaning that they are unable to earn enough money to pay rent/bills for their housing and various other supplies like food and water. Whilst this is a bad thing, Shop Owners also need IT to see what products people want, allowing for them to gain feedback from others. 
 
- The Effect of IT on how local communities communicate with each other – Social Media Groups 
 
IT allows for communities to communicate with each other, allowing for news to be spread around more quickly compared to traditional means of communication between communities, that being in person. IT also allows for communities to communicate with the Government to express struggles with things inside of a certain area without having to schedule an in-person meeting. 
 
However, IT results in communities often spreading misinformation to over communities, leading to various social problems such as confusion and distrust within communities. It is also proven that social media in general can form echo-chambers around people, leading to negative arguments made for the purpose of being negative rather than to give constructive criticism over a specific topic.

 
 
- The Effect of IT on Employment – Job Losses 

IT has helped with many jobs online, such as Tech Support, Cyber-Security and Software Developers. It allows for them to reach to other people more efficiently to solve issues that people may have, providing a positive effect on people’s lives. 
 
However, some jobs have been lost by people who do not work at home, mainly by AI. Factory Workers, Mechanics, Doctors, while they are all still needed, AI has been used to do most of these jobs. For some companies, it is an assisting tool used by workers to help with their work. For others, it is a tool used to replace people’s work and copy it without paying the actual workers. This is a massive problem that causes unemployment across the globe. 

 
- The changes IT has made to our ability to share news

Whilst most of the IT related improvements have had negative and positive things going on with them, IT has improved our ability to share news across the world with little to no downsides. First, news can be shared globally in seconds, compared to more traditional methods such as newspapers or just talking, this is miles faster. 
 
Not only this, but the news we receive has been tailored by what certain AIs see, making the news we see more relevant to our open interests such as baking, dancing, writing etc. This feature has been used for way more than just news but is extremely important for distributing information across to different people as we receive what we want to receive rather than receiving news at random. 
 
Overall, despite the downsides in the job sector and in our communities, IT has revolutionized the way we communicate and work for the better, leading to new advancements every day. 
 

- IT Impact on Sustainability: Improvement? 

IT has been used to find alternatives to resources that are running out at an alarming rate. Such as converting from Nuclear Energy to more Eco-Friendly forms of energy such as Solar and Hydro Energy, allowing us to have a cleaner future. 
 
However, it has to be said that fresh water used for drinking and letting millions acquire water is being used to cool the massive systems used for AI databases, as each 100 words that are inputted into an AI’s system will take about a medium-sized bottle of water just to keep it running, water that is clean and safe, meaning that AI is destroying our environment at a fast rate. Though we cannot blame AI as it is a helpful tool used for other things that we may need in the future. 

 
- Digital Divide of IT 

Many people across the globe have been able to talk to each other with different means of technology, newer forms of technology coming out to allow more communication, which is overall a good thing for people who want to speak with family or friends. 
 
However, these devices are getting more expensive overtime, not to mention AI using a lot of RAM which is contributing to the rising price, making people retail devices to get more money out of people. Most people can't afford basic devices today, and the ones they can afford are outdated.