I also use the internet to shop on web sites such as Ebay. Things tend to be cheaper on the internet than the shops because the people don’t have to pay for things like: Land rent, workers, licence’s and bills i.e. electricity. However there is a risk when paying by credit card as someone could use your details and steal money from your account. This is why it is a lot safer to pay by cheque. Microsoft programs such as word and excel are commonly used for homework and research. At a job if you are asked to write a report you are expected to have used Microsoft word to write up the report. You are not considered to write the report by hand.
There are many different types of storage media. DVD’s store a lot of data and work like CD’s except that you can see moving images on them. Video’s are not use or bought as much as DVD’s now. I too have got rid of my Video player because DVD’s offer a sharper picture and higher resolution. They are also a lot lighter and generally have special features on the disks such as subtitle’s and commentary from the producer’s and the directors to help the viewer understand what the movie is about. Zip-disks are also used a lot because they present a fast way to handle the data requirements of today's ever expanding computer applications. They contain more storage than the floppy disk.
Downloading applications like songs of the internet is illegal yet millions of people all over the world use the internet for this. Programs such as Kazaa allow you to do this as you can easily download shared files. Unfortunately you don’t know who you are downloading the files from so you could get a virus by using Kazaa. There are other programs that you can download files of that aren’t shared however.
I think that my home use of these technologies is very beneficial as it helps me a lot with my homework and research. The internet is so widely used and is made up of billions of web pages that you nearly always find the information you are looking for. This helps my need as it can affect my grades in homework or my level of entertainment.
Personal Use
I probably use the computerised technologies for mostly personal interests such as games, digital television and an interest or a fact I might want to pursue. I.e. I occasionally go on web sites like to look at the recent news that is going on around my football team.
Games are now very popular in this modern society. Games are judged by teenagers on things like graphics, game play, and at how realistic they are. The main consoles that play the games are Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo’s Game cube and Nintendo’s Game boy. The one however which makes the most sales is the Playstation 2. This could be because of its superb game play and outstanding graphics. Football games for example such as Pro Evolution Soccer series is just like watching a football match on television it is so realistic. The Playstation 2 and the X-Box also play DVD’s which helps makes the graphics look more realistic and also offers the customer more reasons to buy their product. The Playstation 2 can also play CD’s. I also use the internet quite a lot for games. Yahoo games are what I usually use with my friends to play games like pool.
The playstation 2 is frequently used in my house for entertaining friends and for when I’m bored. Accessories can also be bought for the Playstation 2. The following are just a few of what the accessories are:
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Multi tap- Used to play a game with more than 2 players. One multi tap generally contains four controller slots.
- Playstation 2 screen- Can play the playstation 2 without having to plug it in to a television. It’s a screen that you can attach from the back.
- Memory Card- An essential accessory. Saves your game status.
- Controller- Again an essential accessory. Actually allows you too control the game.
- Eye toy- A camera that shows you actually playing inside the game
- Gun and driving stimulators- gun i.e. instead of using the controller to shoot, you instead use a gun. This makes it more realistic.
You obviously would need a television and an actual Playstation 2 console if you want to play.
At home I also have the use of digital television. Digital television is far better than watching an analog signal because it can carry more data more efficiently. Rupert Murdoch’s sky digital is very popular as you can choose different packages that you want. E.g. If you want all the sport’s channels but don’t particularly want any other channels then you could save money by choosing the sports package. My family’s package is the general one which covers most channels.
Our sky digital box has around 700 channels (not including radio channels) so there is quite a big selection. The reason why we didn’t choose cable was because we didn’t have a connection for it in our area. Some areas like Palmers Green won’t allow sky digital because neighbours are unhappy at seeing the aerial because it looks distracting. Although this doesn’t affect me it can affect other people as although they might be able to afford it they won’t be allowed to watch certain channels.
The main reason why I like sky digital is because it has all the football games. It also keeps me entertained when ever I’m bored or at home. I also use it to entertain friends when they come to my house to watch a football match on sky sports.
Social Use
Computerised systems greatly affect my social life as well. I as all of my friends do possess a mobile phone to keep in contact with my friends and I also use msn quite a lot.
When ever I look for a mobile phone I always look for its technologies, look and what makes it different from other phones. Technology is improving so quickly that when you think you have bought the latest model of one, it will be outdated. My phone (as shown) is a Nokia 7210. I chose it for its style and because it’s got a high resolution of colour and an accessible camera that fits on. It also has WAP GPRS. WAP is like an internet except that it’s on a mobile phone. It’s not as efficient or covers as many web pages as the internet as it gives you general information on things. It can be quite expensive but my sim-card allows me one thousand free minutes a month. I also have fifty free texts a month to for SMS messaging. Text messaging is very popular. It’s also quite cheap and is mostly at 10p a message. I use it more than I ring people as it’s cheaper then a long phone call and because it’s fun to use. SMS messaging works by sending a text message from a mobile phone to another mobile phone. The message leaves your phone in data format, travels through a certain provider network and is sent to the receiving person’s mobile by the same process.
MSN Messaging is also something I use to keep in touch with my friends. It also has email so that I can send and receive mail although I don’t use it as much as the instant messaging.
Basically Instant texting is like text messaging but it’s free and it’s a conversation. You can also attach a web camera and a microphone so that you can see and talk to the person. You also have a username and a password so nobody else can log in to your own account.
My social use of computers is not as important to me as my Personal use but it probably is the one that affects me the most. If it wasn’t for a mobile and msn then the only other way is to keep in touch with friends via my house phone. Although I do use my house phone as well it isn’t quite the same as texting or having your own private line where your family can’t interfere.
School use
At school technology is starting to affect my education in a positive way. The internet and the interactive whiteboard are the main things that have been introduced to my school.
The Interactive whiteboard is basically a board that has images on it projected by a machine. This way you can show a whole class a website or sometimes even a DVD. The reason at why it’s called interactive white board is because you can actually interact with it using an electronic pen that you write with on the interactive white board.
I think that the internet and the interactive white board do effect my education in a great significant way. The internet has so many educational sites that it can sometimes be easier to set tasks from there rather than using old text books as they will be outdated. The interactive white board makes this possible because the teacher could just click onto the web page and then the whole class can work from that.
Conclusion
ICT today is improving at a fascinating rate. Programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel play a huge part in the every day use of computers and so does the internet. The Internet is something that will carry on going for a long time and that will always be expanding. Also for entertainment you have got the digital television and computer games. Education will never be the same again either because of the Internet and the interactive white board. We might not realise it but when you think about it computerised technology is absolutely every where and humans have wisely used electronical systems to benefit our lives.
