Internet as a Modern Rally Point of a Young Society

"Ethics in the off-line world: the ethical impacts of computer systems inthe office, the factory, the school and public areas" or "Ethics in vrtual communities"

Author: Wojciech St. Moscibrodzki
email: womo@cnt.pl
Technical University of Gdansk,
Poland
Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics
Department of Programming Techniques

The Internet is a ultra-fast developing, self-supporting technology structure of modern days. In a few decades its growth influenced the everyday life of many people, even those not very familiar with computer technology. Some people even dare to claim, that this is comparable to the Gutenberg's invention, as both of them dramatically expanded the accessibility to the information. Moreover, the Internet with additional support of modern multimedia devices gives people for the first time in history the possibility to maintain direct interpersonal contacts with no respect of distance. One is certain: we witness the birth of the new generation - the first generation of a global information society. In the paper, the author discuss the influence of the networking technology and rapid development of multimedia transfer on various aspects of young peoples' life: from the new entertainment types to the complete reorganization of their future careers. A comparison between Japanese and East-European culture is given, based on authors observations and self-prepared questionnaires (target group is 16-20 years old). The paper shows the interesting differences and similarities between two comparable sample groups in two separate in origins societies. The factor of different level of technology acceptance and understanding in both regions is proved to be not too important, which could be a significant encouragement for young democracies of the Eastern Europe, for it seems that the high-tech society can quickly match the development level of current leading countries (in opposition to the industrial age). The main focus of this paper is placed on the sociological and economical points of view, as well as on the strict technology details. The main researched fields are: outbreak in information availability, emerge of groups of interest and subcultures, the influence on traditional family structure and young people opportunities (jobs, experience exchange, remote teaching etc.) and threats (e.g. drug availability, radical politic movements, quasi-religious cults). Further considerations are also investigated, e.g. the possible effect of untamed world-wide idea and opinion exchange on the peoples' relations stability. Last, but not least, the author present a brief discussion on the aspects of other factors of community, e.g. international law, privacy and free speech ideas, as applied to currently developed techniques and technologies.

"Ne invoces expellere non posis"

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