Availability of electronic information

In this report I am going to discuss the impact the availability of electronic information has had on individuals and society. I am going to consider how the way people access information has changed and how new technologies have played a part in this. I will first consider how increased access to information in many forms has affected myself and my family, etc.

I mostly use the internet for research, gaming, shopping, and socialising. I tend to use the internet every day for different purposes. For example if I have homework, then I would use the internet for research.
My use of electronic information has change a lot over the few years. Nowadays I use the internet more often and I rely on it a lot. For me it is less paper based and more electronic now. A few years ago I mostly did my homework on paper and did my research in the library using books or asking different people for information. Now I do most of my homework using computer technologies like word or PowerPoint, and do my research on the internet.

Use of electronic information has made it a lot easier for me to do online shopping. It is a lot easier to do, rather than normal shopping. I find it a lot easier to find specific clothes that I’m looking for, and I think that online shopping websites offer a wider range of stock. Online shopping is easier because I do not have to waste my money on a bus ticket to go shopping, and also because in some shops, I don’t always find my size, because they’re all sold out. Online shopping is a lot easier for me because I can do it quicker, and not waste as much time as I would waste on normal shopping. Most clothing sites have search tools that make it a lot easier and faster to find things that I want. Clothing websites also have category links which also make it a lot easier and faster to find the clothes that I’m looking for.

However I think that there are also a lot of disadvantages about online shopping. Some online shops require my personal details and card details as well, which sometimes worries me, as I might get my money stolen or it might lead to fraud. I also find it difficult to do clothes shopping online, because I don’t know if the size that I ordered will fit me, or if I ordered a wrong size. Also I find it quite difficult to judge how clothes look from a picture. When looking at a picture, I might not notice small details about the item and I might buy it and then find out that I don’t actually like it. Another disadvantage of online shopping would be that, it’s very addictive and time consuming. I always waste a lot of time doing online shopping, where I could be doing my homework/work. While shopping online I don’t bother to monitor my account balance and sometimes I end up spending too much money. I also think that another disadvantage of online shopping would be the time to wait for the products to arrive. Sometimes it can take a really long time.

I also use electronic information for socialising. I think that socialising online can be a very good thing, because it allows me to talk to my friends and keep in touch with them, but it also allows me to meet new people and find new friends that might like the same things as me. I think that socialising online increases the ability to get along with other people. For me, communicating using the internet has made it a lot easier for me to contact my family and friends that live in other countries. Phone calls to other countries can be very expensive sometimes and I just find it a lot easier, faster and cheaper to communicate with people abroad by using Skype or Facebook.

I think that socialising online has its bad sides as well. My personal information that I shared on the internet might be exposed to anyone, and this could lead to cyber bullying. Socialising online might also lead to getting unwanted messages with attachments that may contain viruses.
I did a bit of research and found out that: