Society too reliant on computers

The other day I was walking down the street away from a friend’s home. It was a bright, sunny day and what caught my attention walking down the road was a cybercafé. A cybercafé full of what some may say look like mindless zombies; all, of them fixated on electrical pieces of metal, plastic and glass called desktops and light that shining intensely on their faces, tiring their eyes. There were really a lot of people sat inside for a long time (whilst I waited for the bus home), and people totally unaware that they were spending too much time in there. It brings me nicely on to what I have to say about these machines.

Computers are for many convenient devices that many use daily. They have become an integral part of people’s lives, allowing them to work from home, stay in contact with friends and family, for entertainment purposes and to keep track of important issues such as finances, stocks and shares, and international news. People can now search for pretty much anything and everything: there is literally a whole world of knowledge at their fingertips as soon as they log on to the World Wide Web.

But we have become too reliant. Everyone who is anyone remembers the sheer panic that occurred throughout the world when the millennium approached - talks of super viruses, and quite literally, the end of civilization as we knew it (as it was known by the dreaded acronym Y2K!). But honestly, now at this time there are computers made for 3 year olds (Yes 3 year olds!)

So, what ever happened to good old fashioned books? Do people even go to the library anymore? Do teenagers even know what a Thesaurus is? What happens to our literacy and grammatical skills if everything we write is automatically spellchecked by our computers?

Relying on computers certainly makes life easier - especially since the launch of Google and Wikipedia - one stop shops for everything yo could possibly want to know. But bear in mind - computers are not fool proof. They crash. They get bugs. They can misinterpret words and give you a different one than the one you wanted. Identity fraud is not something you want either. Companies can spam your inbox. Hackers can steal your money. There are trackers and viruses that can log every key you type including passwords. Personal information can be leaked into the unknown realm of the internet. People can and do become obsessed. What about the