Great Things About Computers #1: The Internet

When talking about computers these days, it is almost accepted that one will be talking about the Internet. The fact of the matter is that there are few if any PC’s sold tod ay th

at are not Internet-ready, and if you are in a position to buy a computer you are in a position, and of a mind, to use it to go online. And the Internet is a huge part of life in general today.

If you are not an Internet user these days – whether an occasional user or someone who spends portions of every day online – then you are very much in the minority in most countries. Indeed, even the bucolic nation of Bhutan, which was computer-free until very recently, now has an Internet infrastructure, although it is a small one.

The Internet allows you to do so many things that would be a lot more difficult, and in some cases impossible, without it. It is now immensely easy to form and maintain friendships over huge distances, to watch TV programs that are not broadcast in your home country, and to arrange transactions that previously would have required you to locate and visit a shop you had never been to.

The Internet has simplified life for many of us, and although it has brought some problems along with it – as any innovation will, unavoidably – it is an invention no less important than the telephone in its scope. Just as the telephone allowed us to start speaking to people in different towns and countries in real time, the Internet allows us to make contact with anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Personal Computers And How They Change Our Lives

There is no doubt that in technology develops faster and faster the more time goes on. As progress speeds up, it also increases the options open to those who want to make it go faster. Unless something gives at some point, people will soon be ordering computers that are obsolete by the time they are delivered and switched on for the first time.

Computers have become a central part of everyday life and they have an influence on everyone, even those who never use them. As the technology involved becomes more refined, the amount we are able to do increases. Chances are that when you were a kid, you imagined you were on the television or in movies. Today, you can make that come true with some very basic software.

There are those who say that along with television, computers have destroyed the imagination of children and adults alike. When we had to sit in a cardboard box and make believe it was a sports car, we really had to work our minds. Now that we can experience a much more realistic simulation using computers, we have got lazy, or so the theory goes.

However, on the other side of things, the Internet has allowed a lot of people to give freer rein to their imagination by creating blogs, photo streams, and websites of real complexity. To say that computers are rotting our brains is to be grossly unfair. One might as well criticise the ancient Egyptians for inventing paper and thus paving the way for tabloid newspapers.

Are There Any More Luddites?

Long ago, when the Industrial Revolution was taking hold in Britain, a group of individuals rose up in protest against it calling themselves the “Luddites” (named after their fictional leader Ned Ludd). They smashed up machines, arguing that these machines would deprive working people of jobs. Ever since, people who stand in the way of progress or distrust technology are referred to as “Luddites”.

One might expect elderly people to be dyed-in-the-wool Luddites. After all, they grew up in a time when computers were still something that pretty much only NASA had. But more and more older people are getting connected to the Internet and using their computers to keep information stored. You can teach an old dog new tricks.

One might assume, given the reputation of the community, that followers of the Amish lifestyle would be likely to reject the computer’s influence on the world.

And while tradition dictates that they will not be on Facebook at 1am if you go to check, the fact is that many Amish families do have computers and are on the Internet.

No matter what social grouping you care to name and think they would be reluctant computer users, there will always be someone who will surprise you. Think of someone who is a real “back to the soil” type, who seeks to embrace nature. The fact is, they will want to get their message out there, and the quickest and best way to do it is through computers. If used carefully, they will not rot your brain.

How Computers Have Fitted Into Our Lives

It was once imagined that computers were and always would be a luxury item. They would be kept in one room in the home, used mostly for work and would be coveted for their game playing facility by the children. Before the Internet had entered the mainstream of people’s consciousness, we could not have foreseen how computers would work today for us.

Social networking is one thing that has taken the computer from the position of esoteric luxury item to everyday accessory. A staggering five hundred million people use Facebook. There are also many millions of Twitter users and other social networking sites that are full of subscribers. Online socializing is huge, and people do it on the bus, at work, and even while getting their hair cut.

Online shopping is another huge deal which would have been hard to foresee thirty years ago.

These days we can have an idea for an item we need, log on and search for it, choose between different kinds and find the best price before paying securely for the item, all without moving from in front of the computer.

There is also a huge importance placed on the information and communication aspects of the computers in our homes. We can send and receive email, and we can find out facts and figures that may be essential for business, educational or entertainment purposes. One sentence we hear a lot less these days is: “Who was that guy who did that thing…?”. These days, we can find out easily.

Computers – The Predictions We Got Wrong

These days, we know where we are with computers. Even some of the most hardened Luddites of the past have come to terms with the fact that computers are not about to rise up and overthrow humanity, and are beginning to use them, if sparingly. But when we first started to explore an information technology world, we didn’t realise just how big it would grow.

Chances are that you or someone you know has an IBM computer. It’s a pretty big name. You might wonder how that came to be when you realize that in 1943 their then chairman assumed that the eventual market for the home computer would extend to about five homes with a computer each. He was a few million off, it’s safe to say. Some homes now have five or more.

Xerox are the world’s number one name in photocopiers. However, they were well ahead of IBM in terms of developing PCs, but shelved the idea when they decided that photocopiers would be more profitable. How different might the world be had they thought differently? We’ll never know. At one time it was assumed that computers would never have a household application because the machines were too big. Now you can fit one in your pocket.

Before computers were even really conceptualized, the commissioner of the US Office of patents told the then President McKinley that “everything that can be invented has been invented”. One can only wonder how he would react to the world we live in today.

Our Lives Without Computers

It was not that long ago that computers were a real luxury, most families did not have one – and those who did had only one – and they were viewed as some awesome example of the future. One day, with computers, we would be able to do… well, the possibilities were endless. And a lot of the predictions have already come true, particularly the way that computers have linked up the world via the Internet. It is now difficult for most of us to imagine what our world would be like without the computer.

Without the computer, communication would be slower and less efficient. Shopping would be a more demanding process. If your sports team was far away and obscure, then without the Internet you would be waiting a long time to hear results of any games in which they played.

Bands would find it very difficult indeed to get any exposure beyond their home towns. And business has been changed irrevocably by the arrival of computers and particularly the Internet.

If the computer was taken out of our lives tomorrow, we would miss it. Even those of us who are self-confessed technophobes would soon realise what had been lost with its departure. And if we sometimes have cause to curse the influence that computers have – which many of us do – then it is at least worth recognising that this is a trade-off we have had to make. The Information Revolution is up there with the Industrial one in terms of impact

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