Impact of information technology on our lives
Information Technology has changed our life styles like anything. Today, we can do many things relaxing in an easy arm chair leisurely at our own convenience at the click of a mouse. We can pay our bills like electricity, water, gas, Property tax etc. or else can book our travel and movie tickets at the click of a mouse. Much of our conveyance time and expenses have been reduced to the minimal. Today, nobody spends on conveyance unless otherwise it is quintessential.
World has become one village. IT has crossed all the age old boundaries. Today, we can chat with people from Frankfurt to Newyork , from Tokyo to London or for that matter from every nook and corner of the world to any other far remote location. We can learn about every culture, everything at the click of a mouse.
Today, those who lack computer knowledge are considered to be illiterate.
For a populous country like India where there is acute shortage of employment, IT in it’s full-fledged form has snatched away the labor of millions. Robots have replaced human beings to a greater extent.
IT has done away with age old typewriter brands like Facit and Godrej.
Today, an organization can work with minimum labor, say one head for each department. Much of the labyrinthine processes have been done away with.
Multi tasking has become order of the day.
IT brought forth the concept of paperless office. Almost every office has gone green.
If somebody by mistake takes a print out, everybody will raise the eye brows as if some crime has been done.
They may be saving paper. But, who takes initiative to plant saplings and groom them?
In a city like Delhi only ground floor owners can think of planting saplings. But, they do not take any initiative.
If we think about planting a sapling, a gardener would sincerely plant the same for a price and the sapling will be in his own cart after some time. Sometimes it happens like that if not always.
People above forty are not so computer savvy and they are not able to absorb the information technology in their strides. They fret and fume over computers as learning computers is not the cup of tea of everybody. They lack patience and perseverance. Computer learning entails familiarizing with so many technical terms. They wear never say die attitude. They are comfortable with manual work. Those who do not absorb information technology lag behind.
Some private banks take a minimum of eight days even for clicking the mouse on the pretext of processing time for any service request from a customer. Some PSUs take even fifteen days for processing customers’ service requests. Where people have lazy and lethargic attitude, computers will be of no avail. Old habits die hard. They are accustomed to bureaucratic tendencies and tend to procrastinate everything.
Even though, we live in a timeless world, time has no value in our society just as education has no value. Computer has saved much of our precious time. Hence, we should make use of the time saved fruitfully and make optimum use of advantages offered by the computers wherever possible.
Much of the repetitive works can be handled through computers thereby we can avoid monotony of doing repetitive tasks.
With the induction of IT, even technical people work in non technical lines like banks due to lack of employment opportunities.
Basic graduation has no value. They have almost become extinct and has given way for professional courses like BBA , MBA , BCA and MCA.
Today, many people have bundle of degrees, still, they remain unemployed.
When IT was not there, children used to play in the evening which was considered to be a fundamental requirement for proper growth of children. But, as today’s children have no playmates, they resort to playing computer games. They wear electronic gadgets.
Today, almost everybody has a laptop. Perhaps they own it by hook or crook, whether they use the same or not and hang in a specifically designed bag on the right shoulder. Perhaps that’s the fashion. We get tempted to imitate everything that others do, just for get going, moving with the mob. It’s like jumping into a well, when everybody dares .It is like everybody goes to Guruvayur temple, I am also going.
Today, most of the jobs are being done with the use of computers. For example, CAD in textiles and animation. Computerized eye testing, computerized wheel balancing and what not? The list is endless and not exhaustive.
Non technical back office people are the worst hit. Employment opportunities do not get generated in our society in compatible with the supply of labor rendering the labor idle and very cheap.
E commerce has become order of the day. There are many platforms like SAP.
IT sector is fast expanding. It has replaced manual labor like anything.
As much of the manual labor has been done away with, people in general lack exercise which is necessary for our sustenance and the very survival.
Just as Darwin’s theory of evolution, we have already witnessed and surpassed four generations of computers and running in the fifth. From Vacuum tubes to transistors which is an improved version over the first generation with faster, cheaper, less polluted, space saving mode, switch over from binary to assembly language to Integrated circuits on semi conductors like silicon chips to Micro processors with thousands of integrated circuits inbuilt into a single silicon chip and to the creation of current artificial intelligence, we have come a long way rendering the old generations obsolete, e waste. We do not dare to look back.
ATMS and exchange of coins for currency notes etc. are yet another mile stones in banking sector.
World has become so fast that keeping pace with the rat racing world has become a herculean task.
Specifically in winters, time runs faster as days are short.
Many of the cottage industries like potteries, carpentry have vanished into thin air.
Plastic has taken over steel and wood.
It seems like we are undergoing repeat scenes of reformation and renaissance, a Russian revolution sort of things. There is a saying, history repeats itself.
Our age old Rishis and munis led comfortable life. They ate fruits and drank water whenever they felt hungry and thirsty and they were leading a peaceful spiritual life. They had nothing much to ponder over. Today, in the wake of population explosion and severe competition, only the fittest can survive as Darwin puts it “Survival of the fittest”. Human needs and wants have crossed all the boundaries. But, the resources to satisfy those wants are limited. People aim for self actualization by reaching the mars.
There is a saying “necessity is the mother of invention”. Continuous innovation has become the order of the day.IT Giants like Tata Infosys, TCS and Cognizance, Intel, HP, HCL resort to continuous innovations and come out with innovative platforms. They have revolutionized the whole world. The silicon chips technology changed our life styles. Now, the innovation is never ending.
Some of the new technologies which are on the anvil are as follows.
Wireless charging of laptop.
Wireless display in various monitors using a single laptop which will be useful for classroom environments.
Creative desktops : A 3D depth-sensing camera lodged in HP Sprout scans the objects and their size placed on the Touch Mat. A projector on top of Sprout can then reflect the scanned image of objects on the Touch Mat on digital canvas which artists can manipulate by touching the digital canvas and get the same 3D-printed.
Beaming
WiGig a faster version of Wi –Fi will enable wireless video streaming of Netflix from smart phones, Tablet to TV.
Interactive computers
Computers will become more perceptual with a combination of gesture, voice and visual recognition technologies being installed in PCs. 2D cameras in PCs will be replaced by Intel's RealSense 3D cameras with which we will be able to recognize objects and even measure distances between items. The camera's Kinect-like gesture recognition capabilities will also make PC gaming hands free and interactive. Combination of visual, voice and sound, gesture input will recognize human moods and reading habits.
Bio metric sensors will obviate the necessity of remembering scores of passwords for accessing multifarious sites.
The usage of simultaneous processing and superconductors provides room for artificial intelligence. Quantum computation, molecular and nanotechnology will revolutionize interface of computers in foreseeable future.
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.
Of course, computers have saved much of time.
Computer illiterates have been relegated to the oblivion. They fret and fumes, accurse computers as they are helpless to absorb the technology.
Till date computer education has been ineffective as the teachers are not so keen or dedicated enough to ensure that the pupil have understood the concepts or not. Computer education has become too much commercial.
When computers were not there, there was all pervading happiness. Today, it’s very difficult to find smiling faces. Rather, we see frustrating faces. Everybody is under pressure, stressful milieu.
Stress levels have gone sky high as they have to meet invincible dead lines. People find outlets in gyms , some go for meditation, prayers to bust the stress.
E waste generated by IT needs no elaboration. When existing systems become obsolete, naturally they have to be replaced by new ones. Matter occupies space. Life of a computer system is one and two third of year. Thus, computer system’s life is short.
When they have to be replaced, replacement has to be done in group i.e. in bulk rather than individually.
Computers have taken the toll of life as people have to sit before the system for unduly long hours with the mandated extended hours of working. This causes diseases like cervical pain.
