The Impact of Information Technology on the formation of the Kuwaiti Youth: A Sociological Analysis

Modem societies tend to invest in the development of the human mind
in the field of information, as communication and information
transmission technologies have become the comer stone in the
construction of the edifice of human values. During the last decade of the
twentieth century, human societies witnessed successive developments
occurring at an accelerated rate in communication and information
technologies thus facilitating and promoting contacts between individuals
and civilizations. The worldwide web or the Internet perhaps represents
the most important of these developments. Therefore, the contemporary
society reflects a new social system in which knowledge and technology
play decisive and influential roles. The modern knowledge revolution,
following the revolution in information technology, led to the emergence
of the knowledge society, a society based on a set of values, laws,
orientations and behaviors formerly unfamiliar to human societies.
Undoubtedly, the impact of the revolution on information technology will
by far exceed that of the industrial revolution, which was mainly apparent
in western societies. For who can today live away from the myriad of
news, pictures and analyses transmitted through television by
communication satellites? Who would agree today to stay out of contact
with friends and family members wherever they may be? Who still does
not know that the most underground movements advertise their activities
and programs through the means of information technology? The digital
revolution has in fact influenced economy, politics, infrastructure, social
awareness and society, even in the most reserved countries. Moreover,
the revolution in information technology has not yet ended. After the
rapid proliferation of the new digital media, the World is eager to see the
subsequent developments and future innovations in these technologies
and how they will merge with mass-communication technologies to
generate new packages of entertainment, communication, masscommunication
and information services. Such recurrent technological
revolutions will impose numerous changes, not only in the economy, but
also at the level of social and political awareness, and reaction and
interaction with the whole World.