Social and economic impact of modern communication technology:

Quite obviously a society which will utilise advanced communication technology in  the ways mentioned above, would develop an entirely different social and economic system. It would be a transformed society with an entirely different life style. Besides the impact on industry, administration,  public institutions and social services,  even family life would undergo change. Using new  technology, newspapers are already being published simultaneously from many cities,  railway and airline bookings are being made by  computers that carry booking information updated every moment, doctors in one country can treat patients in another,  conferences can be held with people sitting in  their own offices; these are wonderful developments. We have mentioned, in Block 3, how communication and remote control of devices have made it possible to land a craft on the moon and to fly it back with a sample of moon soil, entirely automatically.  

Entire factories are being run automatically,  by  robots in  the advanced countries. All this communication revolution is there, but the main question, however, is whether the advance communication  technology will, in fact, benefit all countries equally and all sections of  our people equally. There is already reason to believe that the advanced countries not only have q monopoly of technology of  communication, but also  the power to'distort and display information in the way  they like. Moreover in any one country, those who already have greater access  to information are likely to benefit more than the others-probably  making the rich-poor divide sharper. A simple example is advertising  on TV or other media, which can create a demand for things we do not need, or promote a culture of  superficial westernisation. Of course, it allows the bigger firms to beat smaller ones which cannot spend equally on advertisement. The impact of  information technology on our traditional  communication system has also  to be considered.  In other words, what impact will the new'communication  technology have on our traditions and culture?  

In our country, traditional forms of communication have been used for such purposes as dispellirig superstition,  outmoded perceptions and unscientific attitudes. These have been found effective and acceptable  to the people because people are familiar with  them. Practitioners of  the traditional media use a subtle form of persuasion by presenting the message in artistic and yet all too familiar forms. Examples abound where song, drama, dance groups and thelike are used to campaign against social evils or for advance in farming, health, nutrition and family welfare.