Social Impact of Computer on Society

 

Impact of Computer in Society

Introduction

Computers play a vital role in our society. They are the central tools in modern societies. Nowadays, computers are used in almost all the field of society. They are used in education, medicine, entertainment, industries, banks, homes, science and technology, transportation, communication, and businesses. The terms ‘computer’ and ‘society’ are complementary to each other. If a computer is removed from society, society becomes useless. All human activities have a great influence on computers. The progress of any country is measured on the basis of the advancement in Information Technology (IT). But, it has also negative impacts in society, So, we should study the positive as well as negative impacts of computers in society.
Computers are used in various sectors like teaching and learning. Some of the major computer application fields are listed below:

1. Management:

The computer can also be used as a managerial tool to assist in solving business problems.

2. Banking:

The branches of banks are equipped with terminals giving them an online accounting facility and enabling them to information about current balances, deposits, overdrafts, and interest charges.

3. Industrial Applications:

In industry, production may be planned, coordinated, and controlled with the aid of a computer.

4. Engineering Design:

Computers help to calculate all the parts of a proposed design and also assist in the design.

5. Road Traffic Control:

Computers assist to control the traffic lights of roads.

6. Telephones:

Computerized telephone exchanges handle an ever-increasing volume of calls very efficiently.

7. Medicine:

Computers are widely used in hospitals for tasks such as maintaining drugs, surgical equipment, payroll, checkup, and treatment of diseases.
 
Computers have both positive and negative impacts on our daily life as well as in our social life. But the gross development of the nation is faster with the application of computers in industries and education. Both positive and negative impacts of computers are given below:
 

Positive Impacts

a. Employment:

Computer Science has opened many opportunities for present and future employment. Nowadays, the world is computerized and computers have become essential requirements for human life. Because of the development of computers, people get opportunities related to the development of computer software and hardware. So, we can say that computers play a vital role to create new employment opportunities in our society.

b. Education:

Computers have made a direct impact on education. Computers are involved in teaching and learning processes. They can instruct each student differently, animate important concepts, and use interactivity to involve students in the learning process. CAI (Computer Aided Instruction) refers to interactive instructional strategies that are computers to convey and teach instructional material to students. Similarly, CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) is used to convey a vast amount of information in a very short period of time. A computers’ voice recognition capability and its connection to the Internet make it possible for the students to participate in learning activities.

c. Communication:

One of the most exciting and fastest-growing applications of computer technology is communication. The Internet forms a vast web system around the world through which computers can exchange information at high speed. People, by sitting at one corner of a country can communicate easily with different people around the world very easily. Workers use a computer terminal or microcomputer with telecommunication capability to access their company computer networks and databases.

d. E-Commerce:

Electronic commerce is an online activity of the business. It is a global phenomenon of marketing in which goods and services are offered through the Internet. The business organizations arrange questionnaires and collect views of customers about products. The advertisement, employment communication, order taking, and supply are done through the computer.

e. Health care:

Computers are used in the medical field for performing a wide variety of tasks. They are used in medicine for diagnosing illnesses and monitoring patients to control the movements of robotic surgical assistants. There are many expert systems to guide physicians and surgeons. The computerized systems automate the billing and other administrative processes.

 f. Entertainment:

 Computers have now become an important part of the entertainment industry. They are widely used to create special effects in movies. They are used in editing movies and multimedia presentations. All films and videos are created by using computers. So, it can be said that there is little chance of entertainment without the use of computers in our society. Similarly, Virtual Reality (VR) and artificial environments seem to really help in playing games and watching 3D movies. 

g. Science and technology: 

Computers are responsible to improve scientific and technological advancements. They are also used in the design and operations of man-made satellites, space exploration, vehicles, rockets, and weather forecasting. 

h. Multimedia: 

The multimedia presentation gives the information to the targeted group using a variety of media like text, voice, animation, sound, picture and so on. Multimedia contents are very clear for viewers to grasp the concept of everything. Multimedia technology is used in our society, especially for the teaching-learning processes and advertisements. 
 

Besides the above-mentioned points, the positive impacts of computers can be listed as: 

1. Work can be done in a very short time. 
2. More information can be stored in a small space. 
3. Multitasking and multiprocessing capabilities are available. 
4. It is easy to access data. 
5. Impartiality.
6. The documents can be kept secret. 
7. It is helpful to produce an error-free result. 
8. It can be used for various purposes. 
 

Negative impacts. 

a. Reduction of employment: 

When computers are installed in organizations, only a few expert employees are needed and the rest are terminated from jobs. So, it creates the problem of unemployment also. Because of the lack of knowledge of computer education in our society, many people are becoming jobless. On the other hand, if our society is computerized then fewer workers are required. This is the negative impact of computers.

b. Computer Crime

Computer crime includes theft of computers and computer software, theft of data, and destruction of data by computer viruses, Many computer crimes involved the theft of money. Computer-related crimes are numerous and widespread. If data is lost or damaged we may not retrieve these in desired time and it creates adverse effects on business.

c. Privacy

The growth of computerized record-keeping brings dangers of privacy. Computers contain important and valuable data and they allow this data to be transmitted, copied, and combined in ways that were never possible with an earlier manual system. So, important data and information may be changed illegally by computer users and creates a problem of privacy.

d. Creativity

Nowadays, people are not using their minds for common arithmetic which gradually results in loss of their numerical ability. On the other hand, people are busy playing computer games instead of outdoor games. This leads to a decrease in physical and creative activities.
 

Besides these points, the negative impacts of computers can be listed as:

1. Highly expensive.
2. Sometimes, huge data and information can be lost. 
3. Fast-changing computer technology.
4. illiteracy of computing and computers.

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