Information technology is the technology used to store, manipulate, distribute or create information. The type of information or data is not important to this definition. The technology is any mechanism capable of processing this data.
Kathleen Guinee wrote, "By information technology, I mean the tools we use to perform calculations, to store and manipulate text, and to communicate. Some of these twentieth century tools include: the adding machine, slide rule, and calculator for performing calculations, the typewriter and word processor for processing text, and the telephone, radio, and television for communicating.
Society can be defined as "a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests. Therefore we shall use the common traditions, institutions and collective activities and interests as the basis for our examination of the impact information technology has had on society. We shall also integrate this examination with the impact of how information technology has changed the digital society. This integration will occur in two areas of the analysis of society, first the institutions and second the collective activities of the society.
The influence of information technology on religious practices has mainly been to the effect of making information about them more accessible. The most relevant question though is whether the developments in information technologies have influenced the continuity of social attitudes, customs or institutions. The question of the effect on institutions will however be dealt with later in the report.
Social attitudes have changed with the effect that citizens of a society now expect the various elements of that society to be better informed than previously. They also expect to be able to access more information about a specific product, service or organisation so that they