Use of Technology

I’m studying and need help with a Computer Science question to help me learn.

Computers are everywhere these days. They are in our refrigerators, automobiles, backpacks, and even integrated into our clothes. With such ubiquity, it is easy to take them for granted, or to forget that they are even there.

They are used in so many different ways. We look up information on the World Wide Web. We use them to get the definitions of words we don’t know. We use them to find our way around a city or get directions. But with their continued use, many skills that were considered important just a few years ago, are being forgotten. How recently have you used an encyclopedia off a library shelf, or looked up a word in a dictionary (the book version – NOT an online dictionary)? When was the last time you used a map? (“I’ll always have my phone with me, why should I learn to read a map, or remember Aunt Bertha’s address?”)

Consider how much you depend upon technology, and pick two specific items or services that you usually take for granted. Write a few paragraphs (~400 words total) about how you use those technologies, and describe how much control you have over each regarding their usage and whether you are in charge of the on/off switch. Then write an additional 400 words describing how the sudden loss of those technologies will affect you. What would you do to cope? Will you be able to survive? Then come to a conclusion on how necessary it would be to remember the “old ways to do things” vs. exclusively depending on or using the new technologies.

Total length for the paper should be approximately 1000 words. This paper does not require research.

However, you should put a lot of thought into your analysis and details of your personal experiences. Papers that show little effort or shallow analysis considering the issues will not receive full credit.

You can use other resources you would like to, but very minimum. Please don’t paraphrase exactly what the article is about. My class is so strict about this issue. “You may not copy or merely paraphrase text taken from other sources. In the future, take the information, use it to learn about the subject material, and then write about the subject material using your own words.” – This is what professor commented in my last paper, just to let you know how strict the class is.