The Social Impacts of ICT: How We Spend Our Free Time

Introduction


Hi, I'm Luca and I am a student in year 10 at St. Francis Xavier's College in Woolton, Liverpool. One of the subjects I am currently studying at school is ICT, and I am going to share my knowledge and understanding of this subject with everyone in a series of blogs. In this particular blog, I will be discussing one of the social impacts of ICT - how we spend our free time. I hope that you enjoy this blog, and come away learning something new which you can hopefully pass on to someone else.


Internet


The Internet might just be the main cause of the change in the way we spend our free time. It allows people to do things such as online shopping, research, speak to people and a lot more.


An example of how the Internet has changed the way in which we spend our free time is the fact that in the past, people may have spent their free time by going  out to different places with their friends. Nowadays, however, a lot more people have the Internet at their fingers, and they will choose to go on it instead of going out with their friends.


Also, in the past people may have spent their free time by doing some shopping, whether it may be for clothes or just typical groceries, which meant they would have had to go to a shop to do so. However, all these people need to do now is just find the particular clothes or groceries they would like to purchase on the Internet, and within a matter of minutes they will be able to purchase their desired products.


Gaming Consoles


Gaming consoles have became one of the most popular pieces of technology over time. 


In the past, you would most probably have to go to an arcade and play games such as Pacman or Space Inavaders. These were very simple games which, in terms of graphics, weren't the best.


Nowadays, we have many different new, and technologically advanced gaming consoles on the market. Such as the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii. These all have thousands of different games to play on, which vary in terms of genre and how much skill is needed to play them. They also have very good graphics and the gameplay is also very modern and realistic.


Many more people use gaming consoles these days too. In my opinion, this is because of how realistic, modern and enjoyable they have became over the years. Also, there is a lot more of them. In the past, there certainly wasn't as many as there are today and they were also a lot more boring and dull to look at and play on.


Social Networking


Social networking sites are another thing which have became much more popular over the years.

In the past, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter never existed, which meant people couldn't use them. However, they are now probably one of the most viewed kinds of websites in the world.


These particular websites have had a huge affect on people's lives because previously, people may have wanted to get in touch with a friend, and they would have had to go round to their house to talk to them. Now, all they have to do is log onto a social networking site and basically send a message to the person who they need to speak to, which can be done within a matter of seconds.


Conclusion


In conclusion, ICT has had a major effect on how we spend our free time. 


The Internet has allowed us to do simple things such as get our groceries, which in the past would have meant we needed to go to a particular shop to do so. Nowadays, we only need to go onto the Internet to do so, which can be done in a matter of seconds.


Gaming consoles are another part of ICT which have had a major impact on how we spend our free time. Due to the fact that they have became much more technologically advanced and fun to play, this has made a lot more people want to spend their free time by using these consoles. There are also a lot more of them in modern society, which means that it is more likely people will play on them.


Finally, social networking sites have also had a huge impact on how we spend our free time. In the past, people may have wanted to get in touch with their friends, which means that they probably would have needed to go round to that person's house to do so. However, social networking sites mean that people can just log on and send their friend a message to get in touch with them, which can be done in a matter of seconds.