Computer Technology And Its Impact On Society

Essay, Research Paper

Computer Technology and its Impact on Society

By Julie A. Rodgers, For The Paper Store – July 1999

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Most of us are benefiting a great deal from the

technological advances being made in the computer and

industry. Even the writing of this paper would not be

possible, or as probable, without the computer technology

that is available today. From our automobiles to

airplanes, from our employment to our vacations, nearly

everything we do is linked somehow to a computer and the

advancements made in the computer industry. But this does

not necessarily make the technological growth of computers

a good thing for society in general. While it has

certainly given us a great deal of benefits that are

incredibly important, such as life saving devices, it has

also driven us further and further away from living our

lives as human beings, in the purest sense of the meaning.

We are moving further and further away from understanding

what it is to be human and what it is to work and think

independently from technology. This is not necessarily a

good thing.

Back in the earlier days f the computer, we were

truly thrilled with it. Even as short a time ago as the

late 1980.s, we were still unsure of what it was capable

of:

.The advent of the microcomputer has already had

a significant impact on society, but it will be

during the decade of the 1990s that a lasting

impression will be made. Computer technology

took us to the moon in the 1960s, gave us credit

cards in the 1970s, and automated teller

machines and lotteries in the 1980s. Now, at the

beginning of the 1990s, computer technology is

strategically nonexpendable in the corporate

world. The computers that affect the world today

are still mostly mainframes and minicomputers,

but within the next decade the influence of

computing technology will be determined by the

microcomputer. (Helliwell 16).

Much has changed, and not necessarily for the better.

In examining what damage the computer has done, or is

capable of doing, we illustrate a science fiction

scenario. We are all familiar with stories of

civilizations, far in the future, that have incredible

amounts of technology at their fingertips. But in these

science fiction scenarios, we also find that the societies

who have this technology are living off another.s design

and they know little, if anything, about how to operate

the system. They merely enjoy the benefits and live on in

ignorance. Suddenly this society must face a dilemma when

the technology is breaking down, and they do not

understand it enough to fix it. They have lost the

knowledge. While this may seem like a far fetched tale,

it is clearly what many of us are becoming.

Technology, and more importantly, computer

technology, has given us a great deal of benefits over the

relatively short span of its life thus far. We are now

communicating with people, and nations, in ways never

dreamed of. The planet is becoming more and more unified

in many ways, all due to the computer and computer

technology. Hospitals and the health industry have

obtained the capability to help many more people and save

more lives, through the advances in computer technology.

People are able to work at home more now, than they have

in years, due to the communication abilities made possible

by the computer, an issue which may well help many family

structures in the country. But, despite all of the great

advances that have been made with computers, the

disadvantages may well, far outweigh the advantages,

merely because too many people are ignorant and

essentially .go with the flow,. never once examining their

lives in relationship to whether computers have helped

them or harmed them.

To start with, people rely far too much on computers,

much like the science fiction scenario. For example, when

making flight reservations, and even when taking a flight,

we do not stop and consider the fact that we are literally

putting our lives in the hands of a computer. When

computers were relatively new, there were numerous times

when nuclear war between Russia and the United States was

almost a reality due to a malfunction of a computer. When

we turn on our lights, turn on our water, pay any bills,

or pay for anything at the store, we are relying on

computers. What happens if one machine fails. A simple

inconvenience can put us in a situation where we are

literally lost as to what to do. For example, recently in

the grocery store, which is in the town this writer lives

in, was out of milk due to a failure in power

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