CMC technology, like many previous technologies is infused w

Daniel Chandler, ‘Shaping and Been Shaped, Engaging with the Media , 1993

This quote was describing the future in when it was written. That was ten years ago and the time it was describing is now. The ‘buzzwords’ it uses, global village, electronic superhighway and electronic frontier now seem clichéd and naff. We now live in a world where they are the norm, an everyday thing. People can now interact with others from all over the world using the Internet. Huge libraries of information on every topic imaginable can be read. It has made to world a smaller place and has changed the way we live and work in it. Also mobile communication has had a huge affect over how we live and work also. Technology such as mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, means that we are constantly online. They have cut out the need to sit at a computer and dial up a connection.

Telecommunications has given many workers the ability to work at home, or at least complete certain work related tasks from home. Approximately 18 million Americans work from home, and this figure is growing all the time. This has meant that they don’t have to commute to and from work daily, they can work in more comfortable surroundings at their own pace. Work related tasks such as meetings and conferences could be replaced by video and desktop conferencing. This would cut down drastically on the amount of time and money spent on those areas of work. They now have more time to spend with their families and at their hobbies. In the end wouldn’t everyone want more time to do the things they enjoy? Would this be a ‘technological utopianism’? Despite these obvious attractions what other consequences would there be if you worked at home? Would we miss out on the important social skills that are needed to work alongside other people? What would happen if we spent the vast quantities of our time at home? There are many social aspects to work as well and these are important. Technology has the potential to decrease effective human interaction and thus shape the employees into something they do not necessarily want to be, with regards to communication skills. Also, how would work be regulated? Would the quality decrease? How motivated would people be if they were not in direct contact with a supervisor? Would working from home eliminate the need for managers and supervisors? Work would become more democratic if everyone worked from home.

There is no doubt that much of modern technolog

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