Should we be more suspicious of the benefits that Computer Dependency brings - Essay Example

?Should We Be More Suspicious of the Benefits That Computer Dependency Brings? We live in an a world where technological evolution dictates the next level of the evolution of the human race. Computers are at the forefront of each activity that is a part and parcel of our daily lives. From waking us up in the morning to heating up a bag of popcorn, the computer has taken over even the most menial tasks that used to define a person as a human being. Just like any other piece of technology or equipment that becomes an integral part of our lives, there are certain risks involved each time we use the gadget. It is this percentage of danger that the detractors of our society's dependency on computers use as the basis of their anti-computer campaigns. There are quite a number of valid yet controversial points of view when it comes to the benefits that we reap from the existence of computers versus the consequences that we face as a society as we become more and more dependent on software, hardware, and servers for storing and usage of our vital information. With the steady rise of computer crimes, hacking, identity theft, embezzlement, and fraud one cannot help but wonder if our implicit trust in the benefits of computer usage is not a misguided result of a well financed PR campaign. Looking deeper into the crimes and other problems associated with computer dependency, it does seem like the use of computers encourages crimes against the economy and man. The first argument against the growing intrusion of computers into our private lives has to do with online privacy concerns. We are storing more and more personal information on the internet in order to access the services that we need. Everything from our full name to our social security number floats around in cyberspace, waiting for us to use the information. That is if the information is not hacked from the system and used by other people in our name. Computer hacking has become one of the greatest concerns for those of us who have become reliant on the internet and computers for the accomplishment of tasks such as paying for our bills and updating our medical records. Cybercrime has become such a high profile problem for our country that the highest echelons of homeland security have become part of the government forces trying to secure the internet by combating internet related crime (Bell, Josephine Computer Economics A Great Dependence with Explicit Consequences) . On a personal level, computers have been proven to be beneficial to our society as it has given people a venue by which they can freely air out their grievances and demand action from the political leaders. It has allowed the masses to become empowered even as dictator governments try to crack down on them and silence their voices. The advent of social media has ensured that every man will have a voice that can and will be heard across the globe. Thanks to computers, changes for the better were seen this past year in the Middle East. That is a good thing. The whole world saw their struggles and pitched in whenever they could in order to insure that change would indeed be effected for the benefit of many in that region of the world. Computers have seen to it that a new era has dawned upon our society. We now live in the age and time of computers. Due to the multitasking capabilities of computers, we have seen the machine take over various work roles that were originally deemed to be done only by human beings. The technological advancements in the world of business has resulted in the loss of jobs of people due to the more efficient ways and means that computers manage to execute tasks. The loss of jobs to technological advancements have resulted in the fast changing pace and face of our society in the 21st century. These advancements were not all positive and neither were they all negative in the way that the existence of social networks have changed the way we interact with one another. The bad thing, is that the anonymity that is offered by social media sites such as twitter and Facebook, has also given rise to a new phase in human bullying known as cyber-bullying. It is this virtual society that has helped make people wary of the benefits of using computers. The mere fact that the internet and computers allow us to practice free speech in disguise has proven that as a society, we are still too immature to use such powerful, life changing tools to our benefit. The freedom of speech allowed by the existence of computers and the internet did not translate into a more responsible society over all. Instead, it gave the oppressors a chance to ramp up their attacks without having to worry about getting caught. It's such a pity that it had to happen that way, computers were originally meant to help bond societies and families after all. Computers were then seen as the great equalizer of society (Alkhater, Ali The Dependence on the Computer). Although it is true that computers have managed to open the doors of information and knowledge to the public regardless of his status in life, there have been instances wherein the information being shared with the public seems to have come from malicious or slanted sources. It that aspect, one might say that computers have become a tool by which large conglomerates have been able to control the thoughts and economics of a person. Due to the numerous sources of information available via the internet, it has become next to impossible to verify the sources of information being used by other members of society as taken from its internet sources. Therefore, one cannot confidently say that the information gleaned from the use of computer technology is actually accurate and informative. Sadly, that is not the only learning problem that those who oppose our dependency on computers have used against what they believe to be the dubious existence of the technology in our lives. Medical experts have come to believe that our dependency on computers has caused a rise in medical problems for its users. There has been a steady rise in sleep disorders, back pain, and headaches among the heavy computer users. These symptoms are believed by the experts to be the result of heavy computer use. Computers have altered our state of mind and physical well being because computers encourage a sedentary lifestyle. (How Computers Affect Our Health). These days it is more common to see a person parked in front of his monitor, stroking away on the keypad as he talks to someone virtually over in South Africa. Computers do not encourage any physical activity at all. Instead, it encourages people to become lazy. That is because just like anything else in our daily lives that we do in excess, too much computer use produces negative effects as well. But who is to actually say that all of these negative outcomes of computer use were the result of the mere existence of the technology? Even the lack of qualified teachers in our classrooms to teach our children has been blamed on computers. Opponents of computer based learning always argue that computers have caused a whole generation of children to develop a poor attention span thus limiting their ability to learn while encouraging them to constantly multitask. Students easily get bored these days and do not stay concentrated on one topic for too long. But this failure to concentrate has nothing to do with the fact that computers can do several things all at once. Rather it has everything to do with the fact that man has always had a limited attention span. It was only given more of a spotlight since the issue of computer dependence took center stage. I would rather choose to believe that the technology was, just like everything that man invented for his benefit, misused and misappropriated by those entrusted with the greatest task of all, using computers to help benefit mankind in general. One needs to only look around at how far our evolution as technological society has come since the computers were first used to help store our information on ticker tapes. That is how long computers have been a part of making our learning and work loads easier to handle. Computers have redefined the way that we live. It has given us the creature comforts that we have always longed for while allowing our society to continue to flourish and benefit from state of the art technology meant to help ease almost all of the transactions that we do in our daily lives. As Griffith once mentioned, thanks to the existence of computers we have managed to develop a society that has managed to create easy access to information, enhanced growth and development on both a social and economic stage, and the creation of a global village (qtd. in Alkhater). Therefore, it is my opinion that although we have valid reasons to consider being wary about the benefits of computer usage in our daily lives, we have reached that point where we must trust in the computer the way we place our trust in God. We may have questions about its existence, we might not even like the way it has transformed the way we conduct our lives, the fact remains that regardless of certain dubious aspects of computer usage, our society would have ceased to develop and evolve until the machine was developed and placed on the road to perfecting of the technology. Works Cited Alkhater, Ali. “The Dependence on the Computer”. Discussions. Educate Yourself On the Issues. 16 Mar. 2011. 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