Before discussing discussing the benefit of computer to society, the first look at the machine called computer. According to opara (2005), the computer can be defined as an electrical and electronic device that accept data through input devices such as keyboard, mouse etc. process it and give out information as an output through output devices such as monitor, printer, etc. at a speed that surprises that of Man.
Computer has become an important part of our lives especially in information technology. Information technology has made our lives on society more complex. At least transmission of audio or video images of events as they occur to a global audience is an obvious example in the terms of communication. We have:
- mobile phone: Invention of mobile phones has greatly influenced society and the way people live, in the sense that people are accessible to communication to whoever hey want, no matter where the persons are.
- Internet: This is another example where society has benefited through the use of computer in business. They use the internet to carry out advertisements, transaction and e-payment; here sellers and producers communicate with their customers through charting, email messages.
- In Health: Doctors use computer to capture data and record information about patients, it can be used to scan and carry out X-ray.
- In sports: Age cheater and those who take drugs to improve their performance can easily be detected by computer. It also help referees in their jobs. Computerized scoreboard now add glamour to be game of football because of the way information concerning players and officials are displayed on the electronic scoreboards before, during and even after football competitions to capture movements made by players, referees even spectators which most experienced camera men cannot pick.
- In Schools: Computers can be used in library or office to keep track of school records and books. And also compute the result of students.
- In Government: Government relies on computer power to do the huge amount of work it must do in order to keep running smoothly. Government agencies must store and process huge amount of information such as year. Computers have also become an important part of the election process. Registered voters are now listed on a computer report called print out, and heir names are checked on the list before they are allowed to vote. Once a person has voted, the vote is entered into the computer and counted very fast. State and Federal Government also use computers to organize the tax returns. Computers allow the tax analysts to make sure that tax returns are collected correct in a short period of time. Computers are automatically print the return checks and store the tax records on magnetic disk or tapes for future use. The law enforcement agencies like police, immigration and customs use computer to detect crime, such as drug pushers.
Infact the operations of computers are becoming limitless that societies nowadays cannot do without computers.
Implication Of Computer
The rise of the computer in the Western world and its increasing growth of its presence in the developing have changed the face of almost every aspect of society, most notably in terms of economics and clutter. The most obvious effects of computer has been the rise of the internet and its consequences in terms of how we communicate, socialize, learn and do business etc. However, before considering the implications of the internet which is innately linked to that of the computer, I shall look first at some of the other most important features of computer, and what they mean of our society.
Firstly we must not forget that the computer was primary designed as a means of storing data and solving arithmetic and logic problems, the development of computer from these modest roots are the complex machines of today which allow us to store more information and work out more complicated problems in a way that you have otherwise been impossible. This affects our society in two ways. On an individual basis it means that any person in possession of some kind of computer has the capacity to store every document they will ever need in a single compact machine, this means he computer allows people to set up businesses and work from home in a scale never before seen, not to mention talking the human progress a step beyond that of the printing press by removing the need for hand courting for the first time in our history.
On a large scale, it allows scientific progress to accelerate has mathematical problems incomprehensible of humans ear. Be worked out by simple programmed machines, the effects of computer storage capacity is totally change how large scale businesses functions, by assisting inventory management, and by facilitating and expediting the storage of data important of companies, for instance customer preferences of phone numbers.
Another result of computers is the risk of computer Gaines. This has caused serious worries over they affect those who use them and especially their effects on young men. The debate still ranges over whether the large number of violet computer games available influences those who played to mimic such behavior with a host of scientific research been done on the issue. Yet almost as worrying are the statistics which seems link at the highly addicted quality of such games most notably internet based ones. In contrast many have begin to say the potential computers hold as a means of education, since, unlike other traditional forms of teaching utensil, computer’s game based learning has a propensity to entertain the students. Businesses and organizations are already using computers as educational devices, and as technology develops, especially in the field of virtual reality games, more shall surely follow.
Whatever one’s feeling on the growth of this video games, in both recreational and educational formats they are becoming ever more of a reality with the United States military even using one such game as a recruitment device. The effects of the computer are still developing; nevertheless it is already obvious that they aide sufficiently wide reaching to far surpass an answer of this length. I will attempt them to give examples of just a few which I considered to successfully represent to the nature of most of the computer to social implications, as well as the combination of positive and negative aspects which the contain.
Ultimately the internet is a means of communication, the result of this is to make learning democratic. At the click of a mouse anyone with a computer regardless of their wealth status or education, can access a practically the witness supply of knowledge. A benefit of this is that with the correct internet know how