Computers & Technology

Computers are a vital part of our lives. From the remotest of towns and villages to the biggest cities, all places utilize computers in some form or the other. Mobile phones, laptops, desktops, tablets are all examples of computers. From calling your friend to making your presentation to influence your clients at your job, everywhere computers have given us the flexibility to do everything in just a fraction of seconds.

A computer is a machine that is used to help the humans perform most of the repetitive tasks faster and accurately. Now the question is that how is a computer different from a human being? Well the answer is, a computer is just like an interesting machine that can do some work only if it is instructed to do so correctly. It would not do anything that it is not intended to do unless we give it the correct command. Talk of garbage in garbage out. A human has its own intelligence, which he/she uses to make everyday decisions. A computer, being just a machine, does not have its own intelligence, and hence it relies completely on us for its proper functioning.

Once we give a correct instruction to the computer, it would do exactly what it is intended to do. This is the advantage of computers over humans since humans can work only for a fixed amount of time, and more often than not they are not precise in their works. Whereas a computer would do exactly what it is supposed to do and it can work as long as you want (unless it requires to be charged or some other technical issues).

Now that we have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of computers over humans, let’s discuss some of their uses.

First, we have automation. This is what a computer does essentially. A computer helps us to automate many of our works. Like in factories, robots and robotic hands designed and programmed through computers have already replaced workers and hence reduced the cost of the factories as the factories don’t need a huge budget to pay for its employees/workers. Automation has many advantages. It reduces time that is consumed, labour for the work and expenditure of other things. However, even though we have so many advantages of automation, there are a few disadvantages too. Let’s go back to the factory example that we had. Assume that the factory required 20 workers, and each of their salary is 20,000 INR per month. Installing robots and automating the factory was beneficial for the employer and the customer as it saved time and money by a lot. 20,000 INR for 20 workers would be 400,000 INR per month for the employer to pay to the people as salary in the factory. Automation was beneficial for the employer because it saved a lot of money for him. However, the downside is for the workers since they are now out of jobs. This also saved a lot of time for both the customer and the employer because the production with robots is much faster than human workers. Essentially, all it basically is that automation reduces production time, production money, and labour and enhances effectivity and efficiency for the task that it is supposed to do. Hence, it teaches us as our world is changing and continue to change for as long as it exists, we need to adapt to that change. So, with the same example, all of the factory workers can now look for other jobs that they can do to support themselves and their families.

Next is entertainment. This is by far the largest use of computers or technology by us humans. We humans use computers, mobile phones, tablets etc. for our entertainment the most. Entertainment is good until a specific amount of time that we spend into it, but once we spend excess time in entertainment, it is just a waste of time. Perhaps the happiest person amongst would be the entertainers whose content we watch on the internet.

Then comes productivity. Computers are the easiest method of enhancing your productivity. It makes it much easier to start from zero and then build even till trillions. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, SpaceX, etc. are companies who have already crossed $1,000,000,000,000 (1 Trillion USD) market capitalization mark. Their creators, Larry Page & Sergey Brin (Google), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Elon Musk (SpaceX) are people who started from zero and all of them are computer-based companies. Hence it is proved that these companies are also contributing to the development of the world digitally. Though starting, owning and running a company is a very tough task to do, but that can’t stop us. Companies are big because of the teamwork of the employees and the executives of the company. But, we can also be productive at an individual level. There are many things that you as an individual can do alone like blogging, YouTube, or use other social media on the internet for your benefit.

There are various other ways computers are beneficial and also problematic for us. But using everything in a right amount and in the right order is the best thing that we as a human can enjoy. The most important thing is that learning to adapt to the continuous change can really make us learn many new things and explore more and more.