Agricultural Age, Industrial Age and now the Information Age, a new age of human civilization, a worldwide phenomenon, which is greatly affecting the way we live and nobody in this world knows its upcoming effects, whether it is going to be good or bad. "Learning is the indispensable result given for us to succeed in the 'Information Age' we are in". I strongly support and believe that this so-called 'Information Age' has a very good effect to today's technology-intensive world. Why? It is because, just like what Albert Einstein said, "Know where to find the information and know how to use it-That's the secret of success". All we need to do is look for proofs that can support our idea and we should be wise enough to use it for the betterment of the people.
The Information Age would give answer to the question of what it will mean to be literate in the twenty-first century. During this Information Age and in this Information society we are in, information is obviously the primary actor and primary resource to survive. So, everyone of us should have ideas for us to be able to get-through the storm. The ideas and the information that we have are the ones that would keep us going. The following are the main ideas about the Information Age:
- Human civilization has entered its third era, the Information Age.
The human civilization is currently undergoing a pervasive social phenomenon, a global environment wherein information is the number one priority on the list.
- Newer is equated with truer.
The rapid changes in technology makes us think that the values, virtues and the philosophical ideas we learned have been erased in the lives of the people, but not in this age. In this Age, we still see in the tabloids stories about Princess Diana, Elvis, what the UFO aliens are up to and many more, they still are not erased. Hence, stories and our views about them are getting wider and wider. Thanks to INFORMATION, that is why we still learn pieces of the past. This new age is equated with truer because evidences and proofs about a certain topic are shown to people, which makes us realize that it is indeed the truth.
- The wealthy in an Information Society.
- Global shift in resources in the Information Age and Society.
- Information competes with one another.
There is a very strong need for information to stand out and be recognized as a very important part of human civilization. As a result of the exaggeration, one of the competitive pressures, then the people would have a very good idea about a certain topic and they wouldn't just stick to one, instead they would have variety of ideas to choose from, due to the competitiveness of information.
- A developing country in the Information Age.
To send down information from one to the other is a vital need to a developing country, like the Philippines, in this era. In the national economy, information is concluded as the fast becoming national commodity because labor and employment are considered as a vital need for development. Therefore, there is a very big need for information workers in our country to prevent brain drain. Being loyal to the country is what is essentially needed by a developing country in the Information Age for a successful way to develop and be a better country.
You may think that now in the Information Age, the primary resource is not information. Because land, labor and capital are very much needed before you get an information. How can one get an information in something that he/she does if he doesn't even have a worker, a place to work and a money to pay the worker? That only suggests that INFORMATION IS NOT THE PRIMARY RESOURCE in today's era.
One of the main ideas I stated earlier is that there is a global shift of power from land, labor, and capital, to information. And many of the educated professionals agree to that. That idea, by itself, clears the misunderstanding. Yes! Land, labor and capital are very much needed in this era, but that doesn't mean it is the primary resource. Why can I say that? It is because one cannot be successful in something that he/she does if starting from him/herself, he doesn't have an adequate information to start off something and be successful eventually with it. Therefore, I conclude that even though there are many factors that contribute to INFORMATION AS THE MAIN AND PRIMARY RESOURCE, one cannot be successful if he doesn't have sufficient ideas, views, opinions, and information.
So, to summarize all of the things we've discussed earlier, let us simply define the Information Age. According to 'Wikipedia.org', "The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or the Information Era, ... is characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously".
Let me just make my whole statement clear, that: "Learning is the indispensable result given for us to succeed in the 'Information Age' we are in". Therefore, the product of all the transfer of information from one individual to the other and the instant access to knowledge is LEARNING. In this new era of human civilization, each and every one of us are surely going to learn something that is a necessity for our future success!
