The age of Information Technology has taken a lot of people by surprise. While it has become a way of life for some, others know very little about it and may be unlikely to learn. Eventually we will have a polarized society and this will lead to serious social problems.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
At the mercy of the ever-accelerated advancement of the information technology, great changes have occurred in almost every sphere of our life. Apparently, some people have managed to be perfectly adapted to this completely new era, and a few of them even developed their talent for the information technology as their lifetime career. However，there still exist a number of people who have little access to the advanced technology and are unlikely to be able to learn it in the future as well. Thus, this disquieting fact has inevitably led to our concerns that a polarized society with terrible social problems is approaching.
It is without denying that the advent of the new era has brought about the ever-greater wealth for human beings. This has led some people to easily assume that a better life has been created for every member of the society. But pause and reflection! While considering the distribution of the wealth, these people may not be so optimistic. According to the research carried out by Sus* University in London, the great growth in gross domestic product has not resulted in the wealth being spread evenly across the population, to be exact, with 2% top incomes taking away 71% of the increased wealth.
Therefore, we can hardly be surprised to observe that while the rich have benefited a lot from the rapid development of the information technology, the poor have struggled to attain the thinnest fruit. It can never be something surprising with regard to the mere fact that at the time a rich businessman is busy with his well-equipped commercial computer to harness the power of the internet to carry on his business, a typical poor man are making great efforts to hunt for his next meal. Maybe this seemingly strange society is just following the law of Matthew effect, that is to say, "those that have will have it more abundantly, whereas those that have not will have even that which they have taken away."
All these on-going trends will inexorably give rise to a polarised society with the rich and poor placed on two extreme positions, which may form a negative confrontation between the two poles and result in some serious social problems.
