Essay/Term paper: Coputers in modern society

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Information Technology

Coputers In Modern Society


Looking around at daily life, I noticed a pattern of computer oriented
devices that make life easier and allow us to be lazier. These devices are in
most daily activities ranging from waking up to an alarm clock that is
computerized to watching the news before going to bed on a computerized
television. All of these computerized facets of our society help to increase
our daily productivity and help us to do whatever it is we need to accomplish in
the day. The computer age is upon us and it will continue to grow in influence
until society revolves around it daily without need for improvement.
In personal computers, the industry has began to create faster machines
that can store much more information. For speed, the internal microprocessor
has been tweaked to perform at high rates of speed. One such microprocessor is
the Intel Pentium chip that is the fastest commercial microprocessor on the
market. In addition to internal speed and to allow faster hook- up to the
Internet, faster telephone lines, most notably the fiber optic lines, have been
added, for an extra charge, to transfer data about 4 times faster than
conventional phone lines (about 28,000 bits per second has been quadrupled to
about 128,000 bits per second. As speed enhances, memory and storage space is
needed to hold excess information. EDO RAM is a new, faster memory module that
helps transfer RAM data twice as fast as normal RAM. For long term storage of
large amounts of data, hard drives have been under a constant upgrade of
performance, and it is not uncommon to find hard drives about 8-9 gigabytes on
the market.
Along with technology, an ease of use factor has been instilled in the
modern day PC's. The most notable ease of use enhancement is a GUI(Graphical
User Interface), which allows the user to see a choice instead of reading about
the choice. This is accomplished by using pictures and windows to simplify the
choices. Windows 95 and the Macintosh OS both use GUI to simplify use. Another
change in technology has been in almost putting manufacturing of typewriters
into extinction. Offices are more and more turning to computers instead of
typewriters because the computers integrate many office tasks in one machine,
most notably the use of word processors. With the use of word processors on a
computer comes the use of spell check which is only offered on a few typewriters.

The most growing part of the computer-oriented world is the Internet.
It allows users to send electronic mail (E-mail), faster and more conveniently
than conventional, or "snail" mail. In addition to text sent, the user may opt
to send a program or picture attached to the letter. In addition to electronic
mail, the Internet is also used to give information on almost any topics. It is
a tool now common in college research because it offers millions of sources and
there is no limit to finding information. It is not only a tool for research,
but also a tool for business. Businesses use it to advertise and to try to sell
items on-line. These companies set up their own web sites and place the sites'
addresses in their television and radio ads. Business use is not limited to
advertising and selling, but also to sell and buy from other companies faster
than conventional methods.
Technology is all around us and there are many practical applications of
computer technology. For example, the government uses the superhighway to
verify drivers' licenses and Social Security numbers. The Internet is used by
congressional committees to conduct research related to their current problems.
Technology is used in automobiles to calculate the right amount of gas to air
mixture in fuel injected cars. In auto garages, the technology is used to align
the wheels and to find electrical system problems. Another example is radio and
television, the two most important things in many lives. These devices would
not be able to do what they do without the help of mini-computers that decipher
the incoming signal. On the digitized radios and televisions, there are
computers that control volume level. Banks are even installing technology into
their operations by using Automated Teller Machines (ATM's). These machines
take the place of human tellers and process transactions faster with built in
logic control to prevent overwithdrawal. Even businesses use technology during
non-business hours by having automated telephones that continue to do business
long after the last person went home. They accomplish this by using prerecorded
messages and a logic control to allow the dialer to get information if they have
a touch-tone phone. This increases business productivity with minimal
maintenance costs. So by using computers, the businesses have educated their
consumer without having to manually speak to them.
There are many possibilities for future uses of computers to simplify
daily life and enhance the life experience. The first which is already under
development is highway navigation. This lets the cars drive themselves and
should make the roads safer. To enhance the personal life, video phones will
let you see who you are talking to. This technology will depend on how we
develop data transfer and deciphering capabilities that are too expensive to use
now. We will be able to use almost every major household luxury on a PC that we
have now. We could watch TV, listen to the radio, and talk on the telephone.
These technologies are under development and are available in limited form,
except the radio which can be used in final form now.
Society is changing rapidly. This change is attributed to ease of use
of computerized manufactured goods. These luxuries that will become standard
living tools are creating a society in which computers will rule. We will
continue to develop technology until life is as automated as it could get.
Almost every daily task will be computerized and computers will dominate the
world.