Argumentative Essay: Dependence on Computers
Computers are by far, the one of the most important inventions made by man. A device with a language of its own and the capacity to calculate faster than a human brain ever can, computers have taken the world at a stride. Beginning as huge machines filling up entire work stations, computers can now fit into a person’s pocket (Mumford). The reduced amount of space has not limited the power of a computer. It can be used to analyze data and synthesize information, or even create complete digital worlds filled with its own digital beings with their own unique identities (Mumford). A computer can be used to communicate, to create art, to make new scientific discoveries and design and invent new theories and equipment. The manner with which computers have impacted daily life is wonderful in itself. Here is a device that only understands binary language, the language of zeroes and ones or true or false. Yet it has the power to take control of many essential activities that people do on a day to day basis. With so many benefits, it is quite possible that there be areas where computers may seem to overrule the independent nature of humans. It is such a habit forming machine that one turns to a computer for the slightest of information one requires. Sitting down with books, pen and paper is a thing of the past. All one needs to do is booting up a computer, loading the appropriate program and fulfill the requirement. It is a highly addictive innovation. The following paper discuses about the developing dependency of people on computers and how real this dependency is.
Computers are versatile machines, with capabilities of performing any number of tasks that require calculation and information processing. However, they are highly habit forming devices. This is so because of the way the modern lifestyle has become because of the advent computers from laboratories into kitchens and pockets. A computer can do anything, from storing and maintaining records to rendering large scale drawings of applications and projects. They can be a source of entertainment or of information, as movies and news can be viewed through a computer as well as music played on a computer. They can are a powerful means of communication allowing people to not only send letters in the form e-mails to each other but also to interact with each other directly video conferences via the internet. With such flexibility computers have replaced many traditional methods of doing things. There are ample of examples where computers have become a preferred tool instead of the traditional ones used for the same purposes. The following paragraphs discuss the ways computers have replaced general way of working in some walks of life.
Maintaining a kitchen diary and a pen or pencil was all that was required once to keep track of the amount of expenditure was done, how much was required to be done, to-do lists etc. But with the increase in sophistication of software and applications that manage the kitchen records depending upon the entries provided to them, people may never need to even think about their expenditure on the items required in the kitchen at all (Postman). Apart from this maintaining a recipe diary is no longer required, as all sorts of recipes are available online. However, this has led homemakers to lose interactions with other homemakers, conversations that would happen over a discussion of recipes or exchange of spices.
Art work and photography have taken to computers in a highly significant manner (Winston). Art and photographs need not be stored in hard tangible versions anymore. However, this also means that the authenticity and use of the art or photography is under jeopardy. Anyone can login to a computer, access a picture and manipulate it to produce an art or photograph to produce a new masterpiece. Apart from that pictures have now become now exist in the form of wallpapers and screensavers instead of being adorned on the walls of homes and offices.
Engineering, Architecture, corporates and other innovative trades of sciences and commerce have become heavily dependent on the computers with more and more records being maintained online than offline (Adas). Designs related equipment, tools, and entire buildings are created using rendering software on the computer. Records like ledger are maintained through database software over networks of computers (Korotayev, Malkov and Khaltourina). Manufacturers now prefer using computer operated machines for their efficiency, speed and sturdiness. Business interactions happen over emails and video conferences (Castells). Billing and dispatches happen through computer generated documents, and even salary slips are sent in soft copy through computers to employees.
The entertainment industry is heavily dependent on computers as well. The music industry almost completely operates now on the basis of digital music. Computers are the only devices that can be used to capture and process music in the digital form. This makes the studios much smaller and the equipment requirement less elaborate. However, this has also led to a change in the way how music is produced in a music studio completely. Extended orchestra are no longer required as pre-recorded sequences can be digitally added to the recoded voice etc. with orchestra ever being there. New sounds can be mixed into and synthesized to form a completely different form of music (Winston). This has led to the fact that people have become more accustomed to digitally processed music instead of the analog way of music, all because of computers. Although digital music is as good as analog, even better in performance at times. However it makes one dependent on the computer, because it is the basic device that must be used to listen to such music.
The film industry has a similar story to tell. Movies are recorded in digital forms and processed through heavy editing software to include special effects and bring alive characters that do not exist in the real world. Animation industry benefits the most from the use of computers as they provide real life like characters and produce stories otherwise found in comics or storybooks. The industry heavily depends on computer graphic designing and rendering to create animation feature films that are otherwise a very cumbersome task on paper. One does not need to rent a tape to watch a movie on the VCR these days, many online sources provide direct video streaming services to watch movies right at ones computer desk.
Authors, content writers and editors work nowadays on the computer to create and edit literature that can be used as both online and print media. In fact most of the submissions and editing of articles happens over a computer. Entire newspapers, books and magazines are designed and edited using a computer. In fact, self-publishing, the art of independent publishing, has become a renewed and growing field with more and more writers pursuing it to get their work published. Journalism is highly dependent on the computer these days to produce and deliver news and opinion articles through the web (Postman). Therefore, the literary industry and the print media have both shifted most of their working on to computers instead of on paper.
The education and academic industry is also heavily dependent on the computers. Almost all researches are done online today (McGinn). Studies on public opinion etc. are carried out through polls presented to people online and the data stored and analyzed through a different computer software. Articles and research papers are published online on scholarly websites along with journals in universities and other hard presses (Castells). However, most of these researches require the use of a word processing software and analytical tools, deliverables easily available on a computer.
Video games are one of the biggest forms of modern day in-door recreation (Postman). One can plug in and play games on almost all concepts, and fiction becomes a reality within virtual worlds for players (Adas). However, this industry is heavily dependent on computer graphics designing and physics engines, all possible only through the help of computers. Computers can be used as gaming platforms, although several digital devices exist that provide gaming experience to gamers as well (Winston). Added to this the fact that computers can be used to store such games, without the requirement of additional physical storage devices.
Medicine has taken to computers at large (Castells). Similar to the manufacturing, engineering and research industry, physicians use computers for all forms of document generation and record keeping. Medical practitioners now prefer maintain records over digital media to keep track of their patients’ health (Winston). Computer based testing devices are used to analyze samples from patients and produce detailed health reports for the analysis of the physician. High accuracy image scanning, like CT and MRI scans are possible only through the help computers (McGinn). Therefore, computers benefit the medical industry in many ways as well.
However, with so many facilities and benefits, computers may have certain drawbacks as well. Computers have provided social networking a new platform where people need not see each other in person at all to interact. People have begun spending more time on the computer than in real life, leading non-existent virtual lives (Castells). With prevalence of online facilities to socialize and share, social meetings have decreased and handheld devices have interrupted face to face communication to a considerable extent (Korotayev, Malkov and Khaltourina). A new genre of crimes known as cybercrimes are on the rise as more and more computers get available to people all over the world, Cases of cyber bullying, identity theft, illegal fund transferring, plagiarism, etc. have increased exponentially (Korotayev, Malkov and Khaltourina). Not to forget that constant inaction of the body while sitting at a computer has added to the risk of lower fitness levels. As humans become more and more dependent on computers they lose their human touch and become more mechanized interacting in real life only when in dire need to do so (Winston).
It can be concluded that dependency on computers has increased by leaps and bounds and computers benefit humans in many ways. However, a complete dependence is harmful as it effects the social functioning of humans and therefore the use of computers must be limited to working, research and interactions only and people must spend more time with people in the real world.
Works cited
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