Why Do I Use Email?

WHY DO I USE EMAIL?

Although i do not use email too often, i do use it at times, to contact family and friends who i may not have on my phone or cannot contact any other way. I only email from home and i use Hotmail to do this. Email helps me at time when i cannot use my phone also, for example when i have run out of battery life or credit.Another reason for using email is when i wish to send images to people, which may be too large or too expensive to send via my mobile phone or during instant messaging. There are however some disadvantages to using Hotmail. Firstly you can receive emails from unknown contacts, meaning you are at risk from receiving spam and possibly having your account hacked. Also when sending an email, there is no way to know whether the recipient has received it or read it. I believe that emails do fulfil their purpose of being a free medium of communication, although there are now newer and better forms of communication which are preferred over email.EVALUATION OF MY COMMUNICATION
I use a variety of methods for communication but i feel that i use SMS or instant messaging more than other methods. This is because both SMS and IM are easy to use and usually result in an instant reply. I am quite impatient and for this reason would not enjoy waiting for a reply possibly days or weeks after sending an email or a letter. They are also both quite informal as many people learn to shorten their language when using SMS and IM. This informality makes me feel more comfortable and relaxed when using IM and SMS. Also i usually have my mobile phone by my side at all times. It is therefore more efficient for me to use my mobile phone to contact friends and family. Instant messaging helps me as i can see when people are at a computer from their status and can talk to more than one person at a time. It is also free to use and easy to understand. However i find that with instant messaging you can be contacted by people you may not know, who could potentially be harmful to you. Also a negative point with both SMS and IM is that as you are not hearing voices, you cannot tell the expressions or the tone of the person(s) you are speaking to. Therefore sarcasm is definitely not a good thing to use for these!
WHEN DO I USE MY MOBILE PHONE?
I use my mobile phone frequently. I use it to send messages by text, to make phone calls, to play games, to take photographs and more. I text friends and family more than i call them using my mobile phone, mainly because i find it easier and it is pointless to call them to say very small things. I find that having a mobile phone makes my life a lot more easy for many reasons. Firstly it means that i can contact people when i am not at home. I also feel a lot safer with my mobile phone as i know i can call people in case of an emergency. Also my phone has other means of entertainment such as games, music and a camera, so i can use it for many purposes. However depending on the type of phone, its charge will run out quite quickly and the phone will need to be charged t function. Also if there is no signal you cannot call or text contacts, so it is not always reliable. Mobile phones successfully fulfil their purpose of being a form of communication which people can use whilst on the move.

Communication

There are some negative implications to using SMS, rather than regular voice conversations:

• It is hard to say a lot in SMS
• they can often be unclear if written too informally
• they can be perceived wrongly e.g sarcasm can not be understood in texts.
• It is a lot more simple to explain things in person
• Social life is affected
• It makes things more impersonal as you can send to many at the same time, rather than speaking to one person especially.
• Texts can be seen as a lazy way of communication

Below are a few articles, showing the impacts and views on SMS:

Technology and Businesses

In this day and age, People are very reliant on technology in their lifestyles.
Mp3s, phones, laptops and computers, PDAs etc. without ICT we would no have any of these gadgets that add ease to our lifestyle.

BANKS

• The use of computer technology in banks now means a smaller amount of employees are needed. Machinery is now able to do the same jobs as employees, but more efficiently and accurately
• Nowadays money can be distributed using computing, when before they would have to have sorted peoples’ wages into envelopes.
• There are less tills and therefore less staff in banks, due to the use of online banking.
• Less mistakes are made nowadays as people can type and delete, if they make any mistakes. Previously people would have had to write in sort hand or use type writers to do work. Once you make a mistake on a type writer you cannot fix this.
  Recording can also now be used, rather than people now having to rely on their memory. Word processing means that many typists and shorthand secretaries have lost their jobs.
  

STORES

• People can do their calculations online, so it is even possible to run shops single-handedly.
  

CALL CENTRES

• Call centres are usually located in other countries nowadays, such as India, here there may be a lower wage to pay (saving businesses money). The people here can speak good English, their technology is good enough for the job and they may have high unemployment rates. This relocation has meant tha t many people in the UK no longer have jobs and there a larger amount of available jobs in these overseas call centres.
• However some customers do complain that they cannot understand exactly what is being said to them and also the overseas call centres have different cultural thoughts and are attempting to explain English culture to an English person, not necessarily always correct.
  

PROCESSING DATA

• Data processing jobs are also located overseas at times because they run on different times to us. So basically these employees can receive files from the UK during the time when it is night and it is day overseas, they can complete the work and by UK daytime the work has been sent back to the UK.
• Speed of communication has been improved immensely due to computers, so this can work. We can use satellites, communication links and more to send to anywhere around the world very quickly.

Below are a few articles which show the impact of ICT in society. The first article is about the many career-related opportunities that have become available due to ICT, a positive factor in society. Therefore this is a positive article. The second article is a negative article, showing a way in which ICT has not been beneficial for our society. It talks of how ICT has in fact 'stripped'people of their career opportunities:

What is Scareware?

Scareware is software which tricks computer uses into believing there are problems with the computer. The scareware offers a service or a piece of software that will fix this. Usually this results in viruses on your computer, or coning you out of your money. Scareware is used to create "shock,anxiety, or threats, generally directed at an unsuspecting user."

Tool Man

To make his lifestyle easier to handle, John can do a range of things. Firstly instead of carrying his address book and diary around, John can invest in a PDA, "a handheld device that combines computing, telephone/fax, and networking facilities". This will help him keep track of his contacts and a note of what he plans to do or has already done.
Also instead of having a large road atlas and A-Zs, John can use a GPS "a global positioning system", to keep a track of where his ending destination is and how to get there in the most efficient way possible. This means John will no longer find it hard to reach clients, neither will he be caught in traffic. John would no longer need to take along 'bulky' order forms, catalogues and price lists, if he had a laptop with the correct software. He could create a database to keep all of his details in a secure, easy-to-read format. John can also use his laptop in the car, where he enjoys to work. Laptops also have a calculator on them so he can calculate details using this rather than carrying a large calculator with him. He can also listen to his CDs using his laptop, at moments when he may not be in the car. Using a mobile phone, if John still cannot find his clients he can call them to find out their location. He can also call clients to say if he will be late. Also on most phones is the ability to use a calculator, allowing a second option, other than using his laptop. Using the Internet, John can also see is competition, he can research important information that can help him with his job, and also as John excels in his career he may wish to create a website for himself. To enable him to do this and to monitor his website he will need the use of the Internet.

Ambulance Services

Thanks to technology, ambulance services have seen a revolution in working styles.

Using technology they have been able to:

• Command and control centres
• Make the ambulance service much more responsive and efficient
• Replace bad broadcast systems with digital, secure communications
• Use satellite tracking of resources and geographical information
• Analyse where to best position ambulances and emergency serices, in order to reach people quickly and safely.

Previously ambulance services were quite basic. They may not have had large teams in the emergency services. Also When people called for help from the emergency services they would have had to note the address and find it manually. Now they can use Satellite Navigation to easily locate the emergency. They have larger teams, which is good as some can be reading the SatNav, another can be driving and some can be communicating with the victim. Also nowadays if for any reason the victim cannot tell the emergency services the address there is technology to track their address from the telephone line, therefore saving many more lives. The technology in the vehicles is also better and from the base, they can contact members who are in vehicles, which they may have not been able to do before. Evidently there are MANY ways in which evolving technology has helped the emergency services.

Teleworking

Teleworking is defined as:
"The term used for people who work from outside the office, usually from home. A teleworker is usually connected to the workplace via a computer."

Teleworking is positive because:

• It allows you to work from home
• It is easy and efficient to do
• Allowing staff to work from home is good for company productivity
• It is good for employee health as they do not have to travel all the time
• It saves money on office costs, travel costs and possibly accommodation
• It improves employees' quality of life
• It saves on recruitment costs
• People are less likely to take sick days compared to office-based workers
• Less stress and more flexibility
• It helps staff with children, ill or disabled people and people with special needs also

One negative point however is that a small number of teleworkers complain about increased working hours. Also some feel as though they are neglecting their social life as their work now coincides with their home life a lot more. It is hard for managers to keep a track of whether their employees are actually working, or if their quality of work is acceptable.

1. According to BT there are approximately 2,000 teleworkers at BT.
2. Other companies identified in the projects are COMPANIESSS
3. The different types of teleworking are TYPES
4. People who do teleworking often find that their work hours are significantly longer than those whose work is office-based.
5. The percentage of workers who travel significantly less than office staff is 80%
6. The key benefits for BT due to teleworking are that their employees work much more productively because they are less ill, so take less days of f they travel less and therefore have more dedication to their job.
7. The key benefits for the employees are that they are less ill, they are less tired, they are less stressed and have a better quality of life.
8. The key negative points are that the workers have an increased amount of working hours and that it is hard for managers to monitor their employees.