World Telecommunication Day and Information Society Day-History to Know!
Every year, we celebrate World Telecommunication Day and Information Society Day on 17 May to highlight these noteworthy Information and Telecommunication technologies.
Surviving through the pandemic lockdown period with physical communication cut to its minimum has made people value the significance of information and digital communication technologies in our daily lives.
Every year, we celebrate World Telecommunication Day and Information Society Day on 17 May to highlight these noteworthy Information and Telecommunication technologies.
Celebrating the constant evolution of digital and telecommunication that has enabled us to express our views and be a part of a global community makes up the key part of the focus of every World Telecommunications Day celebration.
World Telecommunications Day and Information Society Day 2022 has its primary focus on highlighting the importance of every type of telecommunication as well as digital communication technologies and how this information bridges the gap between continents.
Before understanding the significance and theme for this year, and What are World Telecommunications Day and Information Society Day 2022, let’s explore some of the historical facts about how this day came to be.
Rewinding to the Start Line
Making the facts and their origin more interesting, we are going to explore the history of World Telecommunications Day and Information Society Day in quick points as described below:
- Previously known as only ‘World Telecommunication Day’, the day was celebrated for the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 17 May 1865.
- ITU was later instituted by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Malaga-Torremolinos in 1973.
- The original purpose was to raise awareness about telecommunication globally and the impact of new technologies and the Internet on society.
- Also aimed to bridge the digital divide
- Later, World Information Society Day was proclaimed as an international day to be celebrated on 17 May by a United Nations General Assembly resolution, in the context of the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.
- The primary aim was to raise the importance and awareness of these digital technologies as well as many different related economic and social issues that the summit had raised.
- In November 2006 the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference was held in Antalya, Turkey, they finally decided to celebrate both events on 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
What Makes World Telecommunication and Information Society Day so Significant?
In the early days when technology was in its nascent stage, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was aimed to highlight the need to use technology to communicate with each other.
In the recent past years when the whole world was suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, people were forced to remain inside their homes because of lockdown.
In those tough times, only with the help of these digital communication technologies and smart devices, people were able to work from their homes and even grocery items were reachable at their doorsteps.
This day, therefore, marks the advancements in communication and how the internet and its services have now bridged the digital divide.
Theme of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022
Before discussing the theme of this year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022, we are going to see the evolution of people’s mindset around digital technologies through the different types of themes introduced all these years.
Since a different theme is chosen every year to celebrate this day, one of the first themes that were chosen in 1969 was “The ITU: Get to know the ITU”.
Another exciting theme includes “Telecommunications and Health” which was chosen for 1981, “Protecting Children in Cyberspace” as the theme for 2009, “Women and Girls in ICT” was another critical theme in 2012 followed by the 2017 theme “Big Data for Big Impact” and “Enabling the Positive Use of Artificial Intelligence for AII” as the theme for 2018.
Commemorating the difficult period of pandemic lockdown when leveraging digital communication technologies by elders and older generations was the most difficult time as they were cut off due to their limited knowledge of using internet services, the theme decided for this year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022 is none other than, “Digital technologies for Older Persons and Healthy Ageing”.
This year’s theme emphasizes the significance of using telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICTs) to always stay healthy, be connected and be independent on a physical, emotional and financial level.
Conclusion
Hoping to generate more awareness for Digital communication technologies for Older Persons, and educating the elders of our family about the right and safe way of using the internet and how to avoid scammers is the main purpose of this year’s theme.
Ending this discussion on staying safe and healthy, we wish everyone a Happy World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022!
