Communicating in the Online Workplace, Essay Example

Introduction

In his article ‘Communicating in the online workplace’, Krietner examines the communications revolution. In particular he focuses in on the widespread adoption and use of e-mail. This paper examines how technology has impacted my life.

A Technological Lifestyle

Technology has impacted virtually every aspect of my life.  The most significant example being the use of my mobile phone.  I use this to text messages, send e-mails, take pictures with the inbuilt camera, store my personal agenda and maintain a database of daily notes.  The phone travels with me everywhere and enables me to maintain in contact with friends and family.  The software that supports my mobile phone and laptop PC enables me to use social media like that of ‘Facebook’ and this share video clips and pictures with my network of friends and family.  This is extended by the use of ‘Twitter’ that allows me to participate in a wide range of conversations and topics that interest me.  This enables me to obtain new virtual friends and expand my knowledge on a variety of different subjects. These are some of the positive influences on my life.

There are also negative aspects of technology.  You become too reliant on the technology i.e. you just flick a light switch on and you don’t need to understand the concept of electricity and power generation.  As such this does make you lazy and take the technology for granted.  The technology also imposes a degree of control over your life and the subject of peer pressure. You feel compelled to conform in order to interact with friends and family.  Technology can also lead to reduction in literacy particularly in the use of the abbreviated language forms used in Chat and e-mail communications.

Conclusions

Technology is a mixed blessing.  We all love and admire the technological support in our daily lives but equally take this for granted and it somewhat diminishes our appetite and potential for learning.