Social Issues in It Profession

Every IT professional faces some challenges in the beginning of their career. Social issues being one of them. Some of them are disability, ageing, equality and green issues. If we consider the case of ageing, soon the work places would have people from five generations. This particular situation is being termed as Generation 2020(Gen 2020). I suppose most of the people in this Gen 2020 has not known of the world without technology. Problems might arise between the older generation and the newest generation workforce as both have different views.

The new generation may tend to be more flexible, embrace diversity, work untraditional works, and like their bosses to see them as equals. While the older generations might have a different view and principles. Hence, it is very much important for the professionals to be concerned and careful in their communications. Even a simple misinterpretation can cause a very serious environment which is not good for the employees as well as the company as it may affect their work progress. When we consider the issue of disability, it is not just limited to physical problem but also includes the mental issues. It is upon us the IT professionals to implement necessary tools to assist them and improve their quality of life. Devices like eyegaze edge, headmouse nano, talking hands, and smart glasses helped people with motor neuron disease, eye problems, and deafblind people make difference in their lives. In addition, the e-textbooks, voice recognition systems, smart pens, etc. are being useful to the disabled. If the disabled are able to use the technology like the normal individual they can contribute a lot to the society and that would even make them feel confident about themselves. In addition to this, the IT professionals should also promote equality of gender in the work places.

The most important social issue to be stressed upon is the green issue. With the advancing technology we are also accumulating a lot of e-waste. This e-waste has to be recycled or destroyed carefully in such a way that we can minimise as much as damage it is causing to our planet. With this growing technology and population, our resources are becoming scarce and demand increasing. So the IT professionals should not only concentrate on the power consumption but also try to reduce the carbon footprint at work, recycle the e-waste, distribute work among the servers to decrease the workload etc.