Online Techno Junkie

One thing that became apparent to me in the past week is that technology will let you down. My computer was unbelievably slow, the scanner wasn’t working, the internet was having connection problems and to top it all off…my machine crashed just before I could get a chance to save my work. Yes, Murphy’s Law, this will all happen when you least can afford to be offline. It got me thinking how dependent we have become on technology and the internet.

More children are being taught at a younger age the use of computers and the World Wide Web at school, being computer literate has become a vital part of a child’s curriculum. Computers and the Internet have given the option to students to remote computer based education and many class notes may now be found on the institution’s intranet. When in doubt on how some piece of technology works…ask your younger generation.

Gone are the days of paperwork and pigeon messages, adults who weren’t taught computers are playing catch-up with the fast evolution of technology and being more productive. The ‘work smarter not harder’ concept has manufactures making inventions such as the Bizhub – your all in one printer, scanner, fax machine, it allows you to browse the web, connect your USB and email.

Our mobile phones now allow us to check emails, blue tooth information and images, connect to social networks and do some internet banking, all in a day’s work. The lists of social networks are growing…Facebook, Twitter, Wiki, MSN Messenger, Fringe, Mxit and then of course you have sites to keep tabs on all the sites that you belong to. Our messages and noise pollution is being distributed to the world at an alarming rate.

Criminals too have taken the plunge to become more techno savvy. In a society that already has a perception of a high crime rate, not only do we need to worry about crimes in the street, top management corruption, illegal activities etc but also crimes online too.

The vital question that has me thinking is ‘Is technology a friend or foe?’ Without a doubt, technology is brilliant; it makes my day more productive, I get to manage my time efficiently that is however if everything is working as it should. Now that I have admitted how fantastic technology is, I would like to request that it never has an ‘Offline Day’.