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Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr (1996) 5(3): 138-140
Asia Pacific J Clin Nutr (1996) 5(3): 138-140
Impact
of communication technology on Indonesian urban lifestyle: nutritional
considerations
M Alwi Dahlan PhD
Dept of Communication, Faculty of
Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Communication and information technologies are rapidly
changing the way we learn, live, and relate to others. There are
societal and direct personal consequences, along with the impact
of communication as a process, with which we need to reckon. As
in other domains of life and health, nutritional well-being may
be profoundly affected, favourably or unfavourably, depending on
how we manage the new technologies. It is opportune for nutrition
scientists and practitioners to embrace proactively these developments.
Introduction
Of all the advancements in technology in the last
two to three decades, probably none are more rapid, popularly known
or broadly applied than those in communication and information.†
Products or applications may be short-lived or rapidly obsolescent.
A hesitant user’s mind is never made up as the product under
consideration continues to improve.
Some of this technology is restricted to certain segments
of society on account of education and affordability. Nevertheless,
most products are within the reach of almost all economic groups in
most places. Interactive multimedia laptops or global system handphones
may be affordable only to a few, especially in developing countries
like Indonesia. Yet, television, cassette recorders or even satellite
parabolic (dish) antennas have become common across income lines.
The dishes sprout from roof tops in isolated villages as well as in
expensive estates or enclaves. In urban areas, dishes may be seen
in the poorest sections, paid for by cooperative efforts and contributions
of community members.
Communication technology, has had a profound impact
on society and various aspects of life. Its impact, particularly in
negative terms, is the spice - if not the focus - in some social discourse.
Stories abound as to how television tempts people to imitate the consumption
patterns, fashions or behaviours of those in industrialised countries.
But the application of communication and information
(CI) technologies is much more than for entertainment; it covers a
variety of communication modes from mobile phones to the internet.
This broader impact is capable of transforming values, attitudes and
behaviour, and lifestyles. This is how CI impact should be viewed,
in three different categories, namely: a) general societal,
affecting our well-being as communities and individuals b) direct
technological, affecting the way we do things, our modes of communication,
our need to travel and our usage of time, and c) indirect,
notably through the command of orders of magnitude more information,
with few appreciations of who we are, where we are in th 1000 e universe,
what is happening to our sense of time, what our value systems are
and what our future might be. Whether all of this will proceed rationally,
equitably and justly is uncertain.
Societal impact
The development of CI technology in the last 30 years
is a ‘revolution’: an information revolution, a communication
revolution, and a technology revolution. We have a new society, variously
called the ‘post-industrial society’1, information
age, technological society2 or technotronic era3,
and referred to as the "globalisation of information and communication".
A comprehensive picture of the impact of communication
technology (including the impact on lifestyles) is provided by Fritz
Machlup4 with his concept of the information sector, Marc
Porat5 with the information economy, and Alvin Toffler6
with the Third Wave. Fritz Machlup4 probably started the
conceptual development when his study, almost three decades ago, concluded
that the economic structure of industrial societies was changing.
With a rapid growth of information services and knowledge production,
a new ‘information sector’ was expected to outgrow the industrial
and agricultural sector, giving birth to an information economy. Marc
Porat5 shows that the role of information is expanding
due to the crucial role of communication and information technology
in the new Information Society. Toffler6 examines the transformation
for the whole of human civilisation. For him, CI technology not only
changes the structure of the economy and society, but also brings
a new wave of civilisation - to replace the agricultural and industrial
civilisations - characterised by totally new values, way of life,
employment and work habits, organising of time, and communication
modes. In the third wave, everything will be demassified, much more
specialised, and hence may also give rise to more diverse lifestyles.
With the advancement of CT, information media will be interactive;
its content follows the demand of the audience, and is no longer controlled
by media managers.
The growing importance of information is not only
economic, but also societal. It will affect social structure1.
Those who produce new information (scientists, research and development
workers, engineers) will be treated as super elites in an emerging
new class structure, making them trendsetters, who should be more
rational in their decisions and, hopefully, in their behaviour patterns
and lifestyles.
Information has become an important political and
economic resource7. It will displace the position and power
of capital in contemporary society. The power base was land in agricultural
society, and money and capital goods in industrial society. Land or
properties, products, services, or capital goods, will have added
value when they have more information content or components. People
are starting to compete to gain access to information and its technology.
Information has become a commodity, and CT the means for creation
of wealth through information.
It extends beyond industrialised societies to ones
which are developing or transitional like Indonesia. Graduates and
workers in information related services obtain better positions and
pay; they are in demand as the required human resource. As seen in
computer shows in Jakarta, for example, lower middle class families
sacrifice their savings to purchase PCs (personal computers) to ensure
that their children climb higher up the socio-economic ladder. The
information society is fast becoming a reality and much of the theoretical
discourse is now observable.
Wider changes are yet to come. The "information
highway" h 1000 as propelled segments of our own society (small
but influential) into two parallel societies: the real day-to-day
society and the virtual society of the global network. Some, particularly
in urban areas, will feel much closer to the members of their global
network on account of kindred specialisation or profession. Their
thinking, attitudes, behaviour and lifestyles may become closer to
their global friends than to their neighbours in Jakarta.
Globalisation, which in the coming years is going
to be increased by the implementation of the Marakesh agreement, will
further stimulate the demand for more information in society - a demand
to be met by the newer telecommunication technologies and the rapid
expansion of global networks.
With a new lifestyle which demands a continuous flow
of information, society should develop the capability to manage the
world of information. Our information space is expanding exponentially
with the capacity and clock speed of computer chips.
Frederick8 describes how the total amount
of information and knowledge has grown since the invention of the
new IT. Taking all the information available in the year 1 CE as one
unit, it took 1,500 years for the amount of information to double
in size by the dawn of the scientific revolution. But afterwards,
the doubling time kept decreasing, from every 250 years, to 50 years,
and, since the 1950s, to 10 years, six years, and currently somewhere
between eighteen months to five years. Between the time a student
enters and graduates from the university, the core knowledge doubles
in size.
If we are not able to manage or accommodate the information
explosion and be circumspect about technology growth, we may suffer
what Wurman9 calls ‘information anxiety’, the
disease of the information society. This may be the negative side
of the new information-rich lifestyle - or perhaps, it will develop
as a separate lifestyle of its own, about which we will be eclectic.
Direct impact of the technology
The previous discussion on societal transformation
shows that CI technology is affecting social systems and lifestyles
as parts indirectly mediated by a host of socio-cultural factors like
asset base and social stratification. There are also direct impacts
of CI technology on social behaviour.
First, there is the impact on mass media
communications. The media itself proliferates. New frequencies
and compressed technology made it possible for channels available
for television and radio broadcasts to increase. Digital technology
makes possible the broadcasting of several signals simultaneously
through an individual channel, with programme enrichment like higher
fidelity, piggybacking videotext and two simultaneous languages. Powerful,
dedicated direct broadcast satellites and much smaller and cheaper
antennae offer cheaper and easier broadcasts across national borders.
Programmes to be selected will increase in number. There will be a
‘freer flow of global lifestyle’, although the effect to
individuals may not be as dramatic. With so many alternatives, audiences
may become anxious ‘channel surfers’, unwittingly a part
of the new lifestyle.
Second, entertainment media. Information media
are getting increasing competition from entertainment media. Satellite
entertainment broadcasts direct to Indonesia (eg Indovision) may get
competition when new and more powerful satellites, are launched. There
is also a rapid growth in entertainment non-mass media such as videocassette
recorders and laser disc players. CD ROMs are becoming more popular
in metropolitan areas. In the future, there will be other technologies
like DVD (digital video disk).
Third, interpersonal 1000 technology. Cellular
radios are becoming popular. With the cost coming down, more people
will be able to afford handphones. Handphones will be less a status
symbol and fulfil true needs, again changing the way we see ourselves
and others. People will have more opportunity to communicate, but
be more open to intrusion. Work and leisure will be more blurred,
unless considerable discipline is applied.
Fourth, convergence of media. With the development
of the global information super highway, an abundance of communication
channels and information will be available for those who join the
network (internet). Computers will be used increasingly as communication
media, for sending or receiving facsimile and e-mail, acquiring information
from databases, online video entertainment and socialising with virtual
communities.
This technology will require rearrangement of the
daily life of the users, and pose time management problems. If the
experience of those who are hooked on the internet is any indication,
this may be a real lifestyle problem. Food habits are likely to change
further, with infringement on mealtime. Heavy use may affect socialisation
and interpersonal communication between the user and his/her other
immediate surroundings.
The impact of communication
The most direct impact will not be from technology,
but from the communication itself. In this sense, the technology has
an indirect effect as it provides the facilities for communication.
The process and content of communication, no matter through which
channel or technology, will affect audience and user.
Several functions of communication will contribute
to lifestyle10:
- The surveillance of the environment. Judgements
will be about what is actually important and relevant, and what
is true or certain, with more information and probably more distillations
of it.
- Consensus should be more possible. How will
this affect
- us? What is the implication for the community?
Will stablished values be replaced with new ones, or evolve into
new ones?
- Socialisation. There can be a process of
building awareness and educating others whether on a financial,
philosophical, commercial or other basis. If behaviours or values
are disseminated repeatedly without any critical analysis, communication
will confirm these particular wisdoms whatever their validity.
- Entertainment. An increasing portion of
mass communication is now entertainment, which still conveys information,
values and lifestyles, creating them more globally.
Communication can thus provide role models , fill
gaps in personal experience and provide opportunities for resolution
of personal and societal difficulties. How constructive this process
is depends on the quality, integrity and ethics of the communicator.
Implications for nutritional status
Our knowledge of the food supply, our ability to make
informed and healthful food choice, our skill in food preparation,
our eating patterns, our food beliefs insight into our own nutritional
status, and how it relates to our health: our ability to engage in
regular physical activity, minimise stressors and avoid substance
abuse, all of which have nutritional and health consequences, will
be influenced by communication and information technologies. The future
nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist and clinical nutritionist
will need to be proactive in relation to CT and IT, for professional
and so e12 cietal reasons.
Impact of communication technology
on Indonesian urban lifestyle
M Alwi Dahlan
Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical
Nutrition (1996) Volume 5, Number 3: 138-140
Pengaruh teknologi komunikasi pada
pola hidup perkotaan di Indonesia
Dibandingkan dengan teknologi-teknologi lain, mungkin
teknologi komunikasi yang memiliki dampak luas pada masyarakat dengan
berbagai pola hidupnya. Pengaruh teknologi komunikasi dan informasi
paling sedikit dapat diklasifikasikan dalam tiga kategori yang berbeda
yaitu pengaruh sosial, pengaruh langsung teknologi komunikasi dan
informasi dan pengaruh tidak langsung teknologi komunikasi dan informasi.
Dengan pola hidup modern yang membutuhkan aliran informasi terus-menerus,
masyarakat sebaiknya bisa mengembangkan kemampuan untuk mengelola
dunia informasi. Sebaliknya, kemajuan teknologi komunikasi yang pesat
juga dapat mempengaruhi pola hidup secara langsung. Lagi pula, isi
komunikasi, melalui saluran dengan menggunakan produk atau aplikasi
teknologi apapun, akan memberi pengaruh pada pemakainya.
References
- Bell D. The coming of post-industrial society:
a venture in social forecasting. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
- Ellul J. The technological society. New York: Vintage
Books, 1964.
- Brzezinski Z. Between two ages: America’s
role in the technotronic era. New York: Viking, 1970.
- Machlup F. The production and distribution of knowledge.
Princeton: University Press, 1962.
- Porat MU. The information economy. Washington DC:
Government Printing Office, 1977.
- Toffler A. The third wave. New York: Morrow, 1980.
- Toffler A. Powers lift: knowledge, wealth, and
violence at the edge of the 21st century. New York: Bantam Books,
1990.
- Frederick HH. Global communication and international
relations. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1992.
- Wurman RS. Information anxiety: what to do when
information does not tell you what you need to know. New York: Bantam
Books, 1990.
- Laswel H. The structure and function of communication
and society. In: Schramm W, ed. Mass communications. Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1960.
Copyright © 1996 [Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition]. All
rights reserved.
Revised:
January 19, 1999
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