BENEFITS OF A COMPUTER-ORIENTED SOCIETY

Our generation strives to be the quick paced society which we are known to be. To do so, our
generation uses computers to their full potential in order to do more tasks and to do them at a
faster pace. Computers benefit the business and personal world by being able to do the following
more efficiently: buying and selling products, communicating throughout the world, enhancing
our knowledge, job influences, entertainment, research, and paying bills. We’re now capable of
creating new, more and better quality tasks via computer technology. Computers also benefit
society with the enhancement of knowledge of medicine which creates more effective treatments
for a healthier and longer life. Computers are improving healthcare through robotics and
research. We communicate operation results and any surgical problems easily and immediately
between healthcare providers all over the world. Using robotics, surgeons can now perform
surgeries in remote and/or distant countries without ever leaving their resident hospital.
Education, computers have changed the way we are able to acquire knowledge and attend school.
In the past, school was a physical building we had to attend. Today, we can "attend" school
completely online, never having to step foot outside of our homes, or attend both online and on a
college campus in what is known as a blended course. We are able to invest our time differently
and accomplish more. The convenience of computers is that we are able to access the computer
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. This gives our society time to expand our
knowledge and create new opportunities for our selves.

BENEFITS

Being crucially important to the human race, computers have ultimately altered the way today’s
society works, communicates, entertains, and educates. There is hardly any field of career left
where technology isn’t essential; every small action performed in a job ultimately goes through
some kind of a computer. In the end, being able to communicate and engage in this fast-paced
manner enhances productivity levels by a great amount. One area this advancement of computers
has immensely impacted is the business field. All businesses use computers to keep track of
accounts, money, or make transactions. No longer will it take days, or even weeks, to
communicate with someone that might not be located in one’s vicinity, as a computer allows one
to easily send and receive emails with just a click of a button.
Another field that has come a long way since the production of computers is the entertainment
area. Without the exceptional special effects put into an action movie with the help of our
advanced technology, the audience would most likely not enjoy the show, resulting in the
potential collapse of the entertainment business. For example, imagine watching the epic science
fiction film, Avatar, but without any special effects put into it…it certainly would not be as
entertaining as the power of computers transformed it to be. Hence, computers are able to keep
both consumers and sellers satisfied, while still continuing to integrate into the everyday lives of
average individuals.

DISADVANTAGES OF A COMPUTER-ORIENTED SOCIETY

With any benefits, there comes a disadvantage. As for computers, there have been problems with
excessive use, security and privacy issues and the problem with a dominant culture. With any
product, any excessive use is bad; in this case the excessive use of the computer may result in a
lack of human communication for face to face conversation and more communication through
the computer. This affects our society’s confidence for when they are in in-personal
conversation. To further add, people have the accessibility to abuse their time whereas people
tend to be more attentive to their internet accesses and making the computer a time-consuming
product. Many of the security and privacy concerns stem from the fact that a lot of our personal
business takes place online. One example of a security risk today is malware. Malware can be
accidentally installed onto your computer by clicking on a link on a Web page or e-mail message
that contains a malware program, such as a computer virus. Once a malware program is
successfully installed, it will typically erase data or bog down the computer, but it can also a
steal sensitive data from the computer such as passwords or credit card numbers. To fight against
malware, a wide variety of security software can be installed which will notify and block any
attempts of malware trying to gain access to a computer. Another very common security risk is
identity theft. Identity theft is when someone else gains access to your personal information and
uses your identity to purchase goods or services. A popular way for identity thieves to steal
personal information is phishing, a fraudulent e-mail or website that appears like a legitimate
business in order to obtain Social Security numbers or other information needed for identity
theft.
Lastly, societies throughout the world compete with one another for the latest technology, pitting
countries against each other, while competition can be a good thing, tension and competition.
Computer use influences our society is that there dominant culture crisis that the cultures,
globally, compete with one another for the latest technology enhancements which create a
stronger ethnocentrism to the countries. As computers become more accessible and create new
ways to be more effective, these disadvantages increase and/or new ones are created.

DIFFERENCES IN ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS

Email

It is obvious that, as the computer has evolved, our communication processes through it have as
well. Emails and social networks have quickly become the telephone of the past; these tools are
not only used in the personal world, but in the business world as well. However, though
computers make it easy and drastically more convenient to communicate with people, it is
important to follow a few simple guidelines and watch the tone while talking. These guidelines
have come to be known as netiquette. Netiquette simply establishes what is and what is not
acceptable when involved in online communications. One needs to remember that though it may
not be face-to-face, they are still interacting with a human being. Act kind, courteously,
professionally, and respectfully. Be sure to adjust your spelling, grammar, and tone of voice
depending on the situation you are in; it may be okay to be casual when in a personal
conversation, but emoticons and abbreviations don’t look to impressive within the business
world. And how can you adjust your tone of voice when communicating by typing? Simply
remember to NOT use all caps, which denote yelling, and watch your use of exclamation points.
Too often exclamation points are used when a simple period is best.

The Anonymity Factor

It is an inevitable fact that, with increasing online communications, there is almost always going
to be a sense of anonymity. Like almost anything in the world, this can be used for both good
and bad purposes. Online, one can be who they want to be. They can have a secret identity, they
can make unknown usernames, and they can say the things they want without feeling the
judgment of others upon them. This can be used for good if it is for true, honest, and legitimate
opinions. Examples of this are reviews, discussions, blogs, and important emails. The freedom of
being a faceless commentator makes the individual feel comfortable expressing how they truly
feel. However, it is important not to abuse this anonymity. People often use it to insult, harm, or
coerce others into fraud. It is essential that one learns how to properly and respectfully use this
gift of obscurity without abusing it.

Diving deeper into the aspect of anonymity on the Internet, we see the need for anonymity and
accountability. Users need to be anonymous in regards to personal information, such as credit
card information but need to be accountable for what they say online. Accountability means that
anyone that partakes in misconduct online will be identified and be responsible for the
consequences. David Davenport, an assistant professor in the Computer Engineering department
at Bilkent University, explains that allowing anonymous communication online ensures that
users of the Internet become unaccountable for what they say. He believes that free speech is not
hindered if users are identifiable online. One reason for anonymity is the need for information
privacy, which refers to the rights of individuals and companies to control how information
about them is collected and used. If everyone online could see the credit card number or the
physical address of individual Internet users then no one would be safe. Professor Davenport
explains the need for anonymity in protecting personal information and for accountability in
identifying users that partake in criminal acts online. Perhaps, in the future, as technology
improves and is increasingly able to identity persons of malicious intent then anonymity will not
be such a concern.

Integrity Factor

Due to the relative ease of accessing virtually any sort of information on the internet, every user
will encounter the scenario of verifying the credibility of that piece of information. It is estimated
that there are over 200 billion web pages, yet search engines cover less than a quarter of that
figure. This leads to the fact that the internet is bound to provide both accurate and inaccurate
information, which therefore places the responsibility of validating what was found on the user.
For example, because Wikipedia provides such an extensive database of human knowledge
freely and the ability for any person to edit many of the articles, it became apparent early on that
there was a sort of “vandalism” taking place. Users would purposefully make false claims
relating to that article for entertainment, and this constant abuse of the system inevitably led to a
somewhat damaged reputation for the reliability of the site. However, over the years, Wikipedia
has improved itself with updated methods of deterring vandalism to provide for more accurate
information.