Five moral dimensions of the information age

Quality of life

School of business and economics

2018

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INTRODUCTION

Generally, quality of life is the general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative

and positive features of life.

Quality of life in relation to management information system identifies corporate policies on

family, computer crime, decision making, vulnerability, job loss, and health risks. Quality of life

is one of the five moral dimensions of the information age.

This principle is derived independently from several cultural, religious, and intellectual traditions

and should be used in conjunction with an ethical analysis to guide decision making. The ethical

analysis involves identifying the facts, values, stakeholders, options, and consequences of

actions. Once completed, you can consider which ethical principle to apply to a situation to

arrive at a judgment.

What values should be preserved in an information- and knowledge-based society? Which

institutions should we protect from violation? Which cultural values and practices are supported

by the new information technology?

The negative social cost of introducing information technologies and systems are beginning to

mount along with the power of technology. These negative consequences can be extremely

harmful to individuals, societies and political institutions.

Thus, balancing power, rapidity of change and maintaining boundaries (family, work and leisure)

are important to quality of life.

There is no doubt that Information Technology (IT) has tremendously changed everyday life.

New technologies such as computers, internet, wireless devices, social networks, have become

part of most people’s life regardless of age or gender. Consequently, these technologies have

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changed our lifestyle. Lifestyle refers to the method and style of our lives including our clothing,

habits, friendships, values and so on. Some studies have taken lifestyle to refer to one’s physical

and mental health status, as well as adults’ quality of life.

According to Leung (1998), lifestyles are identified and classified in order to enhance the

development of social identity through people’s activities, interests and opinions. Lifestyle can

be identified by a wide range of activities, interests, and opinions. However, there is a lack of

comprehensive research in this area. Although the impact of IT on learning, health, energy,

conditions of work, social life and so on, has been a topic of research for a long time, no

researcher has undertaken the task of determining the impact of information technology on

people’s lifestyles and on all areas of their lives

Improvement in quality of life with information technology

Health: Maintenance and restoration of physical and mental health. E.g. The development of a

wheelchair which a paralyzed person can steer by movements of the eyes, Electronic visual

support devices that will one day be possible to restore the sight of many blind people, health

card that contains the patient’s data, which the doctor can store, which should support treatment

in the event of an emergency and enable doctors to share information about the patient, etc.

Security: Does the computer-controlled house improve the quality of life? It does improve

protection against burglary, e.g. by simulating occupancy while the owners are absent (switching

house lights on and off), movement sensors activate flood lights in front of garages and in

gardens. There are alarm systems with direct connections to the police.

A positive aspect is a system which switches on the heating before the owners return home from

a journey.

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Freedom and traffic control: The free movement of persons has become a highly valued aspect

of our society. Everyone regards it as his right to go where he wants when he wants. This

requires a highly-developed transport system, enabling everyone to reach any place on earth in a

reasonable time. To this end, traffic control systems have been developed using IT. No traffic

control system without IT would be imaginable today. We only need to think of an airport, large

shipping port, or main railway station. Even road traffic would collapse in any sizeable town if

the computer controlling the traffic lights broke down.

Education: through e-learning, learning is especially suitable for learning while working.

Internet helps in research projects and increases knowledge.

Work: one can work from home and connections of networks makes it possible to work from

anywhere in the world.

Negative consequences

Below are the negative social consequences of systems, considering individual, social, and

political responses.

Balancing power: Although computing power is decentralizing, key decision-making power

remains centralized.

An early fear of the computer age was that huge, centralized mainframe computers would

centralize power at corporate headquarters and in the nation’s capital. The shift toward highly

decentralized computing and the decentralization of decision making to lower organizational

levels have reduced the fears of power centralization in institutions. Lower-level employees may

be empowered to make minor decisions, but the key policy decisions may be as centralized as in

the past.

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Rapidity of change: Reduced Response Time to Competition

Information systems have helped to create much more efficient national and international

market. The now-more-efficient global marketplace has reduced the normal social buffers that

permitted businesses many years to adjust to competition. We stand the risk of developing a

“just-in-time society” with “just-in-time jobs” and “just-in-time” workplaces, families, and

vacations.

Maintaining boundaries: Family, Work, and Leisure

Computing and Internet use lengthens the work-day, infringes on family, personal time.The

danger of ubiquitous computing, telecommuting, nomadic computing, and the “do anything

anywhere” computing environment is that it might actually come true. If so, the traditional

boundaries that separate work from family and just plain leisure will be weakened.The traditional

boundaries that separate work from family and just plain leisure have been weakened. The work

umbrella now extends far beyond the eight-hour day.

Dependence and vulnerability: Public and private organizations ever more dependent on

computer systems. Today our businesses, governments, schools, and private associations, such as

churches are incredibly dependent on information systems and are, therefore, highly vulnerable if

these systems fail.

Computer crime and abuse- extends to any wrong doing involving equipment and Internet

usage. New technologies, including computers, create new opportunities for committing crimes

by creating new valuable items to steal, new way to steal them, and new ways to harm others. 

▪ Computer crime: is the commission of illegal acts through use of computer or against a

computer system – computer may be object or instrument of crime

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 ▪ Computer abuse: is the commission of acts involving a computer that may not illegal

but that are considered unethical.

▪ Spam: is junk e-mail sent by an organization or individual to a mass audience of Internet

bright, educated workers from reengineered jobs will result in these workers moving to better

jobs in fast-growth industries. Missing from this equation are unskilled, blue-collar workers and

older, less well educated middle managers, these groups are not easily retrained for high-quality

(high-paying) jobs.

Careful planning and sensitivity to employee needs can help companies redesign work to

minimize job losses.

Health risks: Managers should be acutely aware of the health issues caused by computer usage.

This is because these health issues cost businesses huge amounts of money each year in medical

treatment claims and lost productivity.

The health risks include;

• Repetitive stress injury (RSI) - occurs when doing something over and over again causes

pain, muscle strain, inflammation, and possible tissue damage. Largest source is computer

keyboards.

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) - This is abnormal pressure on the nerve that can result in

pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand.

• Computer vision syndrome (CVS): is increasing as people continually use computer screens

and handheld devices that strain eyesight.

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• Techno stress: this is stress caused by working with computer technology on a daily basis.

Managers should encourage their employees to take frequent breaks from their computers

and to recognize and understand the dangers of isolation from humans.

• Role of radiation, screen emissions, low-level electromagnetic fields

Equity and access- the digital divide: Certain ethnic and income groups in the country are less

likely to have computers or Internet access. A similar digital divide exists in schools, with

schools in high-poverty areas less likely to have computers, high-quality educational technology

programs, or internet access availability for their students.

CASE STUDY

i. TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY?

Do you think that the more information managers receive, the better their decisions? Well, think

again. Most of us can no longer imagine the world without the Internet and without our favorite

gadgets, whether they are iPads, smartphones, laptops, or cellphones. However, although these

devices have brought about a new era of collaboration and communication, they also have

introduced new concerns about our relationship with technology. Some researchers suggest that

the Internet and other digital technologies are fundamentally changing the way we think—and

not for the better. Is the Internet actually making us “dumber,” and have we reached a point

where we have too much technology? Or does the Internet offer so many new opportunities to

discover information that it’s actually making us “smarter.” And, by the way, how do we define

“dumber” and “smarter” in an Internet age? Wait a second, you’re saying. How could this be?

The Internet is an unprecedented source for acquiring and sharing all types of information.

Creating and disseminating media has never been easier. Resources like Wikipedia and Google

have helped to organize knowledge and make that knowledge accessible to the world, and they

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would not have been possible without the Internet. And other digital media technologies have

become indispensable parts of our lives. At first glance, it’s not clear how such advancements

could do anything but make us smarter. In response to this argument, several authorities claim

that making it possible for millions of people to create media—written blogs, photos, and videos

—has understandably lowered the quality of media. Bloggers very rarely do original reporting or

research but instead copy it from professional resources. YouTube videos contributed by

newbie’s to video come nowhere near the quality of professional videos. Newspapers struggle to

stay in business while bloggers provide free content of inconsistent quality. But similar warnings

were issued in response to the development of the printing press.

New studies suggest that digital technologies are damaging our ability to think clearly and focus.

Digital technology users develop an inevitable desire to multitask, doing several things at once

while using their devices. Although TV, the Internet, and video games are effective at

developing our visual processing ability, research suggests that they detract from our ability to

think deeply and retain information. It’s true that the Internet grants users easy access to the

world’s information, but the medium through which that information is delivered is hurting our

ability to think deeply and critically about what we read and hear. You’d be “smarter” (in the

sense of being able to give an account of the content) by reading a book rather than viewing a

video on the same topic while texting with your friends. But the constant distractions and

disruptions that are central to online experiences prevent our brains from creating the neural

connections that constitute full understanding of a topic. Traditional print media, by contrast,

makes it easier to fully concentrate on the content with fewer interruptions. A recent study

conducted by a team of researchers at Stanford found that multitaskers are not only more easily

distracted, but were also surprisingly poor at multitasking compared to people who rarely do so

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themselves. The team also found that multitaskers receive a jolt of excitement when confronted

with a new piece of information or a new call, message, or e-mail. The cellular structure of the

brain is highly adaptable and adjusts to the tools we use, so multitaskers quickly become

dependent on the excitement they experience when confronted with something new. This means

that multitaskers continue to be easily distracted, even if they’re totally unplugged from the

devices they most often use. Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich argues that our brains are being

‘massively remodeled’ by our constant and ever-growing usage of the Web. And it’s not just the

Web that’s contributing to this trend. Our ability to focus is also being undermined by the

constant distractions provided by smart phones and other digital technology. Television and

video games are no exception. Another study showed that when presented with two identical TV

shows, one of which had a news crawl at the bottom, viewers retained much more information

about the show without the news crawl. The impact of these technologies on children may be

even greater than the impact on adults, because their brains are still developing, and they already

struggle to set proper priorities and resist impulses. The implications of recent research on the

impact of Web 2.0 “social” technologies for management decision making are significant. As it

turns out, the “always-connected” harried executive scurrying through airports and train stations,

holding multiple voice and text conversations with clients and co-workers on sometimes several

mobile devices, might not be a very good decision maker. In fact, the quality of decision making

most likely falls as the quantity of digital information increases through multiple channels, and

managers lose their critical thinking capabilities. Likewise, in terms of management productivity,

studies of Internet use in the workplace suggest that Web 2.0 social technologies offer managers

new opportunities to waste time rather than focus on their responsibilities. Checked your

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Facebook page today? Clearly we need to find out more about the impacts of mobile and social

technologies on management work.

Ethical Dilemmas

1. Managers do not focus on their responsibilities

In terms of management productivity studies of internet use in the workplace suggest that web

2.0 social technologies offer managers new opportunities to waste time rather than focus on their

responsibilities.

2. No quality decision making

Quality of decision making falls as the quantity of digital information increases through multiple

channels and managers lose their critical thinking capabilities.

3. Lowered quality of media

Bloggers rarely do original reporting or research but instead copy it from professional resources.

You tube videos contributed by newbies comes to video come nowhere near the quality of

professional videos.

4. No productivity without internet

Many people can no longer imagine their lives without the internet and without our favorite

gadgets whether they are smartphones or laptops.

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 REFERENCES

Carbo, Toni; Almagno, Stephen. "Information Ethics: The Duty, Privilege and Challenge of Educating

Information Professionals" (PDF). Retrieved 28 February 2017.

Kerr, Michael (29 March 2010). "Introduction". Ethics and Information Management in the 21st Century.

University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012.

Kernaghan, Kenneth (June 2014). "Digital dilemmas: Values, ethics, and information technology".

Canadian Public Administration. 57 (2): 295–317.

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