Essay, Research Paper: Computer Culture

Computers have a great effect on the way we live our lives today. From writing documents to banking, computers are integrating themselves into our daily tasks more and more every day. There are several important aspects of the computer age, including the internet, banking and communications.
The internet is the fastest growing economy in the world, mostly because of its ease of use, and its vast audience. For the last seven years, the internet has more than doubled in growth and profits every year. Every day, there are new companies being created and making profits over the internet. This is because of the low cost of setting up and advertising. The internet is also rapidly becoming the major means of purchasing for millions of people all over the world. This number is only going to increase as more people become computer literate. A major concern for people purchasing products or services over the internet is security. Most people think that using credit cards on the internet is unsafe, when in reality it is more safe than using it at a local grocery store or gas station. This is because when a person submits their credit card information over the internet, it is encrypted and sent securely, while when they use it at a grocery store, anyone can view the information. New uses for the internet are being discovered all the time. For instance, the digital music revolution is in progress right now. There are major lawsuits being issued by major record labels against certain internet organizations such as Napster and MP3.com. Almost every person who knows about electronic music uses it, so this makes a major impact on the sales of CDs and cassettes. Other than electronic music, almost every other industry is benefiting from the internet. For instance, the internet auction company EBAY is one of the biggest companies in the world now. They offer the advertisement of products and services to be auctioned to everyone. This means that millions of people can buy and sell anything they want, with a broad audience of consumers. Another industry on the internet that has become big is ticket sales. The monolith company Ticketmaster now offers sales of tickets over the internet. This makes it easier and more convenient for people to buy tickets to events.
Banking is another aspect of the computer industry that has become a standard in the life of many people. The invention of the debit card has made purchasing without cash a much easier task than it was ten years ago. Most people use debit as their main source of payment, while others still prefer to use cash or cheque. The use of cheques and credit cards were common ten years ago, but they are slowly becoming obsolete due to the ease of debit cards. Another advance because of computers is online banking. Now people can check their balances and pay bills over the internet, which saves great amounts of time. A decade ago, paying bills and checking balances was commonly done at the bank, but now people can do this with the internet. Electronic transfer of money is also easier now. Instead of getting a pay-check and having to go to the bank to deposit it, some employers employ a system called direct deposit. The employer can directly deposit money to an account instead of wasting the time of printing checks for every employee. This increases reliability and ease for paying employees. It also saves the employee time because they don t have to go to the bank to cash their check. There will be more advances in the way of electronic banking in the future, and eventually cash will become a thing of the past.
Communications have probably advanced the most because of the computer age. Telephone systems have become completely electronic over the last decade. Companies such as TELUS, AT&T, and BELL can now introduce technologies such as voicemail, called id, and other various features because the companies don t have to use switchboards to direct calls. Everything is now controlled by computers and with the exception of operators, most customer service representatives are now replaced with computers. The disadvantage of this is that when a person calls the telephone company for assistance the person has to talk with a machine instead of a normal person, which sometimes can be hard. Communications have also evolved due to the invention of electronic mail and real time chatting. Now, people can communicate with text instead of using the phone, or sending standard mail. This increases speed of transfer of information, and in the case of real time chatting it allows people to talk to anyone in the world for free, without paying long distance charges. There are many other advances in communications because of computers, but these are the main ones.
The internet, banking, and communications are three of the most important aspects of the modern computer era. As more people become computer literate, the use of computers in every day life will continue to grow and make new innovations. This will lead to an easier and more interesting way of life.