Discussion Essay

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING COMPUTERS

It’s an undeniable fact that, in a short period of time, computers have flooded our homes, our schools and our jobs. The arrival of the World Wide Web has been a turning point in the humanity’s history. But computers aren’t perfect and we can find loads of arguments supporting or against them.

On the one hand, computers are one of the symbols of the progress. They have created thousands of new trades and some companies live repairing computers, selling in the internet, advertising or charging money for sharing their information. Furthermore, computers have changed the meaning of the word “communication”, giving the opportunity of talking with people in the other side of the world instantaneously. You can talk with your family or your friends wherever they are, you only need a computer connected to the web. They have also made a new way of teaching and learning, with the biggest amount of information ever seen.

But, on the other hand, there’s the dark side of computers. All of this technology needs a lot of energy and resources, which aren’t obtained in a safe way for the environment. Computers become obsolete in less than five years and there’s no chance to use them again, generating a lot of rubbish. Moreover, most of the information in the internet isn’t true and loads of web pages aren’t reliable. Then, information becomes disinformation and the users must be very careful to recognize it. Another problem is that some persons become addicted to the computers, they are stuck to the screen and they need a treatment to live without their gadget.

In conclusion, there are good points and bad points about computers, but I think that nowadays there are more bad arguments than good ones. In my opinion, the idea of computers is good but, in practice, it isn’t well carried out. Otherwise, most of the problems are possible to solve and I hope that, in the future, computer will be one of the man’s best friends.