Analysis of Digital Society - Research Paper Example

Analysis of Digital Society Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 2 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Internet has become an integral part of human life at the present day. Since the 1990s the expansion of the use of the internet has affected the businesses and the activities of the general people in a number of ways in most of the modern societies. Most of the people are connected with one another with the use of the internet and the present day businesses are to a great extent dependent on the World Wide Web for the day to day operations and for the connection with the clients. This essay would try to find the ways in which the internet may have a positive effect on the society by increasing the social capital, through the increase in the use of online activities like communicating or networking. The maintenance of the present social relationships and the development of the future relationships have become easier with the help of the internet. Individuals as well as organisations these days make investments on the social capital on the ground that this would help the organisations or the relationships to be sustainable in future. Scholarly resources like academic books, magazines, periodicals and journals have been consulted to provide an insight on the research works that have already been done in this particular subject. A thorough research has been done to analyse the various pros and cons of the issue in question. Discussion The changing trends in the use of internet have the impact on the social capital of a particular society. In this context, it is important to throw light on the concept of social capital. Social capital may be defined as the set of relationships or resources on which the social life of an individual is based. The social resources of an individual generally are those which help the individuals help to have the right set of information, resources as well as the other kinds of support. An individual with a better social capital would have a better position in terms of educational achievement, growth in terms of career, status in the society as well as happiness in general. By investing in the social activities which take place over the internet or “online” individuals would be able to enhance the social status that they generally have in absence of the internet. Social capital has often been classified under different heads. These would include the network capital, participatory capital as well as community commitment (Lin, 2001, pp. 78-98). Network capital implies the relationships that an individual develops with one’s relatives, neighbours, friends as well as colleagues. These relationships help the individuals to develop a sense of companionship clubbed with the other tangible and intangible resources like information, services, goods, or psychological support. Participatory capital is distinguished from this kind of capital (Valenzuela, Park and Kee, 2009, pp. 875–901). This is the opportunities that the individuals acquire with the involvement in the voluntary organisations or the political parties that have motive which aims at bringing a change to the society in some way. The involvement in many cases is responsible for meetings the needs and desires and aspirations of the members. On the other hand community commitment may be a distinctive form of social capital that pertains to a particular community to which an individual belongs and is associated with a sense of motivations, belongingness and responsibility. The question around which this essay revolves is the extent to which the Web Wide Web is instrumental in increasing the social capital. The beginning of the new millennium saw a rise in the use of internet and there was radical increase in the networking which was not only confined to the online activities but offline as well. People with identical mindsets or common interests would have a place to meet at a platform which is spread across the globe. Thus the restrictions of time and space could be eradicated with the help of the internet (Coleman, 1988, pp. 95−120). The people who participate in the online community have a place where there is opportunity for the expression of their opinion. There is freedom of speech and expression of speech for even those countries which may be considered as conservative to the rest of the world. It has been found by many of the researchers that quite contrary to the common belief; the relationships that have been found to develop on the internet have lasted even on the physical space. This proves the fact that the online relationships are not only superficial and can be valid basis of business relationships across companies as well as the clients (Wellman, Et al, 2001, pp. 436-455). The communication gaps that are formed due to the face to face relationships are addressed by the online mode of communication. Not only this, the entire process of communication has become extremely fast in the present day which in turn has facilitated the process in which the business operations take place. The relationships in the distant places overseas which could not be thought of in absence of the internet can now are considered as feasible with the support of the internet throughout the time. Several instances can be noticed where it can be found that the social activities of one individual is influenced by other people who are connected with the help of the same medium online. For instance, the online shopping activities of a group of college goers are generally found to be the same as the buying behaviour of one individual is noticed and affects the others in the group (Lewis and West, 2009, pp. 1209-1220). Thus the social networking that is taking place online is also affecting these people beyond the time when they are on the internet and is reflected in the related social behaviours. Despite the rising importance of online forms of communication there is a way in which the traditional forms of communication has remained the most important factor for development of relationships and hence the two forms are considered to be complementary to one another. However, the individuals who use the internet are found to have a higher degree of social capital compared to those who do not engage into the practice of doing it. This may however lead to rise in the disparity in the social capital possession of the people (Putnam, 2000, pp. 34-68). An individual may be endowed with social capital of a certain nature. This may get hampered due to the various superficial relationships which may be formed on the internet and may be greatly unstable in nature. The online activities may be classified under two heads. This would include the strong tie investments and the weak tie investments. A person would make strong tie investments with his or her family, close relatives and friends. On the other hand the weak tie relationships would be formed with the distant relatives and the acquaintances which are formed over the internet (Pasek, More and Romer, 2009, pp. 197–215). Thus, while on one hand the relationships that are developed on the online mode may help in the betterment of the already existing relationships it may also contribute to the devastation of such relationships. Therefore in the life of a person the allocation of the social capital among the weak ties and the strong ties are completely subjective as per the behaviour and the choice of the person involved. There are several benefits of such social ties through the internet which have been acknowledged by the users of such technology. First of all the rise in the social capital takes place from the point of view of the rise in the awareness of the desires and needs of the people with whom the individuals interact. The lives of the people become an open book which is easier to read and comprehend. There is also a negative aspect to this (Quan-Haase and Wellman, 2002, pp. 6-11). None of the people in the surrounding environment including the friends and family would take more time than necessary to look for and provide a solution to the ailments of the people in need. The contacts of such relationships are done more frequently. The people who are engaged in such social activities get to know each other’s taste which is portrayed by the activities like sharing the different files, songs and pictures which may be of mutual interest for the people involved. The people who have met first time on the internet may also go forward in developing the relationships by meeting up in the physical space. This may also have its negative effect (Shah, Kwak and Holbert, 2001, pp. 141-162). There are cases where the people who are regular users of the internet are victims of internet abuse and may face dire consequences in their personal and social lives due to any kind of negative stigma that is attached. The businesses of the present day are increasingly getting engaged into business deals that are based on the online deals. Every organisation strives to maintain and develop relationships with the clients. Multinational organisations may have their operations in different parts of the world belonging to different time zones. It is only possible to integrate the entire set up of the countries through the internet (Zinnebaur, 2007, pp. 19-24). The meetings in the organisations take place in the online medium through teleconferencing and video conferencing. The managers make important decisions based on the database management systems which are highly dependent on the internet. Hence the volume of operations of the business and the business relations has been fruitfully increased only with the help of the internet. Conclusion From the above analysis it is clear that indeed the internet has been able to contribute to the social capital in a very positive way. Of course it is not an unmixed blessing and has its detrimental effects but the positive effects of the use of the internet and the way it benefits the society at large far outweighs the negative effects. However, it is important to have a control over the use of any resource which may have a very high potential for expansion and the activities have to be assessed from time to time. References Putnam, R., 2000. Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster. Pasek, J., More, E. and Romer, D., 2009. “Realizing the Social Internet? Online Social Networking meets Offline Social Capital.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics, Vol, 6(3), pp. 197–215. Available at http://www.stanford.edu/~jpasek/Josh_Pasek/Publications_files/RealizeSocialInternetapa.pdf [Accessed on 6 Feb 2014] Shah, D. Kwak, N. and Holbert, L., 2001. “Connecting’ and ‘Disconnecting’ with Civic life: Patterns of Internet Use and Production of Social Capital.” Political Communication. Vol 18, pp. 141-162. Quan-Haase, A. and Wellman, B., 2002. How does the Internet Affect Social Capital’ in M. Huysman & Wulf, V. (eds) IT and Social Capital. Available at http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/internetsocialcapital/Net_SC-09.PDF [Accessed on 6 Feb 2014] Wellman, B. Et al, 2001. “Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital?” American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 45(3). Available online at http://abs.sagepub.com/content/45/3/436.full.pdf+html Coleman, J. S., 1988. “Social capital in the creation of human capital.” The American Journal of Sociology, 94, pp. 95−120. Valenzuela, S., Park, N. and Kee, K., 2009. “Is there Social Capital in Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students Satisfaction, Trust and Participation.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Vol. 14(4), pp. 875–901. Lewis, J., and West, A., 2009. ‘Friending’: London-based undergraduates experience of Facebook. New Media and Society, Vol. 11(7). pp. 1209-1220. Zinnebaur, D., 2007. What can social capital and ICT do for inclusion, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Available at: http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/eur22673en.pdf [Accessed on 6 Feb 2014] Lin, N., 2001. Social capital: a theory of social structure and action. New York: Cambridge Press. Read More