Electric Powered Wheel Chair
As Mr. Green is having trouble with his legs his family bought him a new state of the art wheel chair. This wheel chair is electronically powered so he does not have to use his hands to move the wheels. An onboard computer allows the wheel chair to climb the stairs safely. The wheel chair can safely gain access to any room in the house and can also leave the house without having to be folded up. Another advantage of an electric wheel chair is that Mr. Green does not get his hands dirty while travelling around. One disadvantage is that although he can move freely in the wheel chair he is still finding it difficult to get on and off of it.
Sky Plus
Mr. Green used to have Sky digital however he could only watch one thing at once and sometimes he might miss a programme. With Sky Plus he no longer has to miss anything as Sky Plus can record another channel while Mr. Green is watching. He can also record programmes onto the Sky Plus box. Sky Plus also allows Mr. Green to pause normal TV and also rewind. Another advantage of having Sky Plus is that if Mr. Green’s box is getting full then he can easily have everything written onto a VHS cassette. One of the disadvantages of having Sky Plus is that it is very expensive. It costs £200 a year, not including the price for extra channels.
Cordless Phones
Mr. Green has a cordless phone in his house. Before getting a cordless phone Mr. Green would have to try to get to the nearest phone in the house and as he is in a wheel chair it used to take him some time to find it, by which time the phone might have already stopped reading. The cordless phone allows him to use the phone wherever he is in the house. A disadvantage of carrying a cordless phone around is that there is a theory that the EM radiation released by the cordless phone is bad affects the brain.
Use of Computer
Mr. Green rarely leaves the house and so sometimes he gets lonely and bored. To solve this problem the Green family bought Mr. Green a computer with internet access.
E-books
The internet helps Mr. Green in many ways. Now that Mr. Green has access to the internet he has found that he no longer has to go to the library anymore. With the internet he downloads e-books. These are just normal books that have been written onto the computer, normally using either Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat. A disadvantage to this is that he will be spending a lot of time in front of the monitor which can cause headaches. Another disadvantage is that not every book has been copied onto the computer so he might not be ale to download the book he wants. Also, it can take some time for newer releases to be put on the internet.
Friends Reunited
Another thing that Mr. Green uses the computer for is for finding old friends. Mr. Green has subscribed to the ‘friends reunited website’ (). With this website Mr. Green has found a few old friends that he thought he would never see again. However although he has found a few he is not likely to find many more. This is because not everybody has subscribed to the site and there might even be some friends that do not know how to use a computer. Another disadvantage is that Mr. Green can’t be sure if the person he is communicating is an old friend, they could be a fraud.
E-mail
Mr. Green also uses the internet to write e-mails (electronic mails). He mainly writes letters to his family in Australia. Mr. Green uses e-mails to communicate as it is a free, instant and reliable service. The service Mr. Green uses is MSN Hotmail (). Hotmail allows Mr. Green to store up to 2 megabytes (MB). Mr. Green finds that this is not enough, however he does not want to pay extra money for Hotmail’s extra service which allows him to store up to 10 MB. Another disadvantage is that Mr. Green gets a lot of junk mail. Hotmail provide a junk mail filter however it is not 100% effective. Mr. Green can also send attachments with his mails.
Instant Messaging
Mr. Green also uses the computer for instant messaging services. His instant messaging service is MSN Messenger. One of the advantages of using MSN Messenger is that it is tied into many other MSN features e.g. Hotmail. With MSN Messenger he can have voice conversations with his microphone and video conferences with his web cam.
Mr. Green uses MSN Messenger to talk to his family and friends. Using the programme he can now see his grandchildren in Australia almost everyday.
Chat Rooms
While on the net Mr. Green goes on various chat rooms. Chat rooms are places where many people can go online and talk to each other. Mr. Green enjoys this as it gets him through the day when he is lonely. In chat rooms he can meet new people with similar tastes and also use it for research. The disadvantage of using chat rooms is that you can never be too sure about who is on the other end. Chat rooms can also leave Mr. Green open to inappropriate or threatening messages.
Online Shopping
For Mr. Green one of the main advantages of having a computer is by being able to shop online. He shops with online with Asda (). Mr. Green does this because as he is increasingly losing his ability to use his legs. By ordering online he can get his shopping in the same day. His shopping list is stored on the computer so he just has to load it to order his shopping. Also, depending on who delivers his shopping the Asda staff are even able to bring the shopping into his kitchen. A disadvantage of shopping online is that Mr. Green is unsure about putting his credit card details online.
Recreation
Mr. Green also likes to keep in touch with what is happening in the world so he reads the news online. Also he has a thirst for knowledge and likes to do research to find out about things. Mr. Green uses online encyclopaedias and search engines to feed his thirst. Another recreational activity Mr. Green does on the computer is play games. Mr. Green likes to play games online as he feels this can get him through the day. He not only plays old games like solitaire but also new one that people would expect children to buy. A disadvantage is that staying in front of the computer all day is bad for Mr. Green’s health and could strain his eyes and even give him a head ache.
Specially Prescribed Monitor
Mr. Green has a monitor which is specially prescribed for Mr. Green’s eyes. This means that he does not have to wear glasses while on the computer. Although to Mr. Green this can be an advantage it is bad for visitors in Mr. Green’s house. It would be hard for someone else to look at the screen as their eyesight might be different to Mr. Green’s. If they spent too long at the monitor their eyes would begin to hurt as they would be strained.
Conclusion
With the help of technology Mr. Green can now live an independent life with a lot to do for recreation and also just a click away from family which can be thousands of miles away. Also Mr. Green gets a feeling of pride when he thinks that even though he is 76 years old he can still live an almost normal life by himself. One of the bad things with relying on technology so much is that most of the appliances in Mr. Green’s house run on electricity and would not work if there was a black out. Also technology is constantly being upgraded and every few years Mr. Green might require a newer model of something. Also Mr. Green’s luxurious lifestyle is very expensive and might have to sacrifice it if the Green family get into financial problems.
