Telecommunications has a vital role in our lives because everything we do revolved around communication and media. Telecommunication engineering has revolutionised the way we communicate and has intertwined with the way we live our lives. It is hard to imagine life without technology simply because of the improvements it has brought to our lives. The internet has made information freely accessible and is the perfect tool for education and business. Unfortunately many people in South Africa do not have access to the internet.

The advantages of the internet:

1.    The biggest benefit offered by the Internet is access to information. The internet is the perfect information hub because you can find information about everything online. This benefit also has negative consequences because without gate keepers children have easy access to porn and other information. In South Africa this led to the Protection of Information Bill (POIB) in attempts to restrict the free flow of information.

2.    When the internet was invented its primary concern was communication. The development of the internet has created a flood of online communication which will continue to change the way people interact with each other. Using email and social media connected through smart phones people can communicate from anywhere at any time with others anywhere in the world, instantly.

3.    Entertainment is also an important aspect of the internet, which has probably made it as big as it is today. Internet offers a variety of entertainment that includes video games, music, movies, chat rooms and news. The entertainment aspect has also given rise to transgressions of intellectual property rights that resulted in the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect IP Act (Pipa) legislation drafted by the US Congress.

4.    E-commerce or online shopping as it is commonly known is a fast growing sector and has become the easiest way to shop. The benefit of this method of shopping is internet users can shop for anything without leaving the comfort of home.

5.    Internet provides users with many services, for example job searching, online banking, buying movie tickets, hotel reservations and consultation services.

The importance of a telecommunications company and internet are pretty obvious, but the internet still needs to be used responsibly and carefully. Unfortunately many scams exist on the internet so users need to be careful when online, some websites can steal your information or give your computer viruses and porn is too easily accessible. However, the advantages of internet and telecommunications outweigh the disadvantages.