Credit Card Use/Fraud
Computers allow people to use credit cards to pay for products that they buy in shops. This makes it much easier for people to buy something instead of having to pay with cash or a cheque, which takes a while to clear; they can just pay instantly with a card. Fraud is one major problem faced with credit cards. If the card it stolen, it would be relatively easy for someone to pay for products that they buy with the card, especially over the internet where no signature is required to make the payment. This is another disadvantage of the internet, that anyone’s credit card can be used without consent. I think that, although fraud is an issue with credit cards, credit cards still benefit society greatly.
Availability of Information
This topic links in with the internet, as well as using programmes like encyclopaedias on the computer to find information. The internet has such a broad range of information on it that it would be almost impossible to not find what you are looking for. Almost any word can be typed into a search engine (e.g. www.google.com) and the user will find something relating to the word or phrase that they typed in. There are also programmes like Encarta which can be bought from a computer shop. This programme is basically an encyclopaedia. It is a very good source of information, but it is limited as it is only a programme. I think this is a definite benefit to society and there are not really any bad points about it apart from the fact that there is the rare time when you cannot find what you want on the internet or in an encyclopaedia, but as I said, this is rare.
Ease of Shopping
The internet can be used to buy almost anything. For a disabled person, it would be very difficult to go out and do their weekly food shopping or even just go out and buy a CD, but now all they have to do is go on the internet and buy it from there. There are websites like www.ebay.co.uk which allow people to place their items for sale on the website and then other users bid on that item. All products bought on the internet are usually shipped to the person’s house. This is very good for society, especially for people that are disabled or just don’t have the time to do their shopping. The only problem with it is that it takes time to reach your house, whereas going out and buying a CD from a shop is an instant thing.
Lack of Privacy
One serious problem faced with the internet is hacking. Hackers hack their way into someone’s computer using the internet to access files on that person’s computer. The majority of hacking can be stopped though, by a programme called a “firewall”. This will stop people being able to access your computer. I think it should be essential for every computer to have one.
Dependency
One thing about computers that I do find slightly worrying is the dependency of them. People nowadays rely on computers to do everything for them. I think that this is one disadvantage of computers. They should be used merely as a backup if something cannot be done by hand. Although they are more accurate and neat, if they go wrong, people can run into serious problems. For example, a company could store all their data on their computer. If this computer got a virus or for any other reason was not able to start up, then the company would face some very big problems as to what to do. This is one of the downfalls of computers in today’s society.
Viruses
Viruses are usually downloaded off the internet. They are either an attachment to a file or just a file by itself that, when opened on the computer, does damage in one way or another. Most viruses can be detected by antivirus software, which should be another necessity on all computers. This is another downfall of computers because, as I have mentioned above, if an important computer does get a virus, then a lot of important information could be lost.