- But apart from these minor setbacks, websites are an excellent technology that can be used for almost anything.
Social:
- Websites help me socially by allowing me to keep in touch with friends and family. This can be achieved by going on their blogs or their own websites or emailing them.
- If I like a website and think that one of my friends may like it I can send it to them as a hyperlink through email, instant messenger or as a message on their blogs.
- Another way that websites help me socially, is that if I was not able to go to a website through the ‘URL’ I can go to a search engine such as ‘Google’ or ‘Ask Jeeves’ or ‘Yahoo’ and find the websites from there, such as ‘Hotmail’ or ‘Facebook’.
- I can make meet new people on websites such as ‘Facebook’ or ‘Hi5’. This is not really safe but a lot of people do make friends this way and even go on to be really good friends and meet each other.
Evaluating my Social Needs for Websites:
- Websites are good for my social needs because they help me in a lot of ways, such as, I can send my friends videos or pictures which I think they may like or they can do the same back to me. You can easily make and talk to new people online.
- Websites are bad for my social needs because if someone sends me a hyperlink or videos/pictures/files, although they may not mean it, these all could come with viruses that can damage my computer/laptop.
Work Related:
- Websites can help me with my work by allowing me to carry out research for homework, projects, coursework or essays whether I am at home, school or the local library.
- Websites can be used for research purposes when looking for specific pictures or pieces of information required for that particular subject.
- Websites can be especially useful in lessons when working on a particular project.
- There are now many websites which are made especially for revising online, for example, ‘Bitesize’, ‘SamLearning’ and ‘Virtual Workspace’.
- Their main aim is to help students with their revision, which is done online. This can be useful to many students because some of these websites include exam style questions.
Evaluating my Work Related Needs for Websites:
- Websites are good for my work related uses because they help me carry out the research I need to do a piece of work. They allow me to revise online, which helps a lot because some of the websites I have mentioned do include exam style questions which help me prepare myself for an examination.
- Websites are bad for my work related uses, because, as I have mentioned before, nearly all websites can contain viruses which can damage my computer and/or my laptop.
COMMUNICATION - Mobile Phones:
The second technology I am going to talk about is mobile phones. Mobile phones are now used by almost everyone; age is no limit for some. Mobile phones are an excellent technology as they allow you to make phone calls to anyone from anywhere, whether you are phoning from another country or from next door. But it has now been proven by scientists, that the radiation emitted from mobiles can indeed cause brain cancer, especially in children as their skulls are thinner it is easier for radiation to go into their brains.
Advantages:
- I can make phone calls no matter where I am.
- Mobile phones cost less than a landline phones.
- If I run out of credit and only have around 8p left I can text someone instead.
- I can also play games, listen to music, watch video clips and access the Internet.
Disadvantages:
- Sometimes the signal is not very good, so I cannot hear what the person on the other end of the line is saying.
- If I do not have enough credit to make a call or text someone, I cannot use my mobile phone. The only number I can ring without any credit is 999.
Does the technology meet my needs?
I need mobile phones to help me stay in contact with my friends and family. I also need mobile phones to allow me to make calls if and when there is an emergency. If I am going to be late home, I can call my parents and let them know, so they don’t worry. Furthermore, I need mobile phones fro entertainment purposes, such as playing games, watching video clips or listening to music. However, I use my mobile phone to keep in touch with my family and friends. I also use my mobile phone to call my parents if there is an emergency, or I am going to go home late. I use my mobile to keep myself entertained by playing games, watching video clips and listening to music. So, the technology does meet my needs.
Personal:
- There are a number of ways that mobile phones meet my personal needs. One of which is, I am able to make calls to my friends and family no matter where I am.
- Another way is that I can text whoever I want. This is a lot cheaper than making phone calls from mobile phones. On average, text messaging only costs around 10p per text, but now a lot of companies are doing it for less as they are in more demand.
- Mobile phones can be used to capture videos and pictures. I do not have to keep the pictures on my mobile if I don’t want to, I can send them to my computer via text messaging.
- I no longer have to keep an address book as my mobile can be used as one. I can store a number of contact details on my mobile. I can program each number to tell me whether it is a mobile number; home number or fax number.
- Games are now an essential part of mobile phones, almost every phone as at least one standard game such as “Snake”. You can also download extra games and ringtones.
- Mobiles are now commonly being used as calendars. It helps people to remember important dates such as, birthdays.
- I can use my mobile as an alarm to wake me up in the morning.
Evaluating my Personal Needs for Mobile Phones:
- Mobile phones are good for my personal needs as they allow me to keep in touch with family and friends; take pictures and capture videos; remember important dates and much more.
- Mobile phones are bad for my personal needs because the radiation they let off can lead to me having a brain tumor/cancer.
Social:
- Mobile phones help me socially by allowing me to keep in contact with my friends and family.
- When I am out, my parents expect me to phone if I am coming home late.
- I can text my friends or family for a really small amount of money. They can then send a reply back within minutes. Texts are easy to read and it is quite fast.
- I can store pictures of myself, my friends, and my family on my phone and capture videos of them.
Evaluating my Social Needs for Mobile Phones:
- Mobile phones are good for my social needs because they are a good method of keeping in contact with friends and family. I can take pictures of my friends and then send them to my computer/laptop.
- Mobile phones are bad for my social needs because I can run out of credit and then need to make an emergency call to someone. I can not even send a text message if this happens.
Work Related:
- Mobile phones are not allowed in school but there are still a number of ways in which I can use them for my work related purposes.
- I can take pictures of my work to send to an examiner, but this is mainly only done in art and graphics.
- I can send my friends their homework as a text message if they forgot their homework diaries at home or they can do the same for me.
- Although this is not done very often as mobiles are not allowed in school; but I can use my mobile as a homework planner.
- I can set alarms for two days before an important piece of homework is due in, this would remind me to do it unless I already have. Alarms can also be used for reminding me of important dates of the school year, such as, if there is an exam coming up.
Evaluating my Work Related Needs for Mobile Phones:
- Mobile phones are good at meeting my work related needs as they allow me to remind myself of when important pieces of work are due in. My mobile can act as a homework planner for me if and when I forget my homework diary.
- Mobile phones are bad at meeting my work related needs as there is not a lot I can do with my mobile phone which is any use to my school work.
ENTERTAINMENT - MP3 Player:
The third and final technology I am going to discuss is the use of mp3 players. Mp3 players are used for entertainment purposes but can also be used socially and to help with work. Mp3 players are the much updated version of portable radios/cassette players. They not only play music but can store documents as well. A lot of mp3 players contain more memory than an ‘Apple’ computer.
Advantages:
- Mp3 players contain a lot of memory so I can store a lot of music and files.
- I cannot only store music on it, I can also store documents.
- If I forgot my USB at home then I can save my work on my mp3 player.
Disadvantages:
- Files are corruptible.
- Digital to digital file processing degrades sound quality.
- Full song still requires a noticeable amount of download time.
Does the technology meet my needs?
I need mp3 players to entertain myself with. I also need mp3 players to save my work on if and when I forget my USB. However, I use my mp3 player to download music with, entertain myself. I also use my mp3 player as a USB. I use my mp3 player to store music videos and sometimes even whole movies. I also use my mp3 player to help me prepare myself for speeches or oral exams, by downloading a speech or uploading my own speech onto my mp3 player. The technology does meet my needs because it allows me to do the things I need to do with it.
Personal:
- Mp3 players help me personally by allowing me to burn music that I like onto it and then listen to it.
- I use my mp3 player as entertainment.
- They allow me to save my work on it and use it as a USB.
- I can use it to download music of the Internet from websites such as, ‘Bear Share’; ‘E-Donkey’ etc.
- I also use my mp3 player to store music videos and generally any video clips. If there is enough memory, I can even store a whole movie.
Evaluating my Personal Needs:
- Mp3 players are good at meeting my personal needs as I can download music with it; burn music onto it; listen to music and use it as a USB if I needed to.
- Mp3 players are bad at meeting my personal needs as I can only store a certain amount of music and files on it. If there are a number of files saved onto it, I can not store a lot of music on it.
Social:
- Mp3 players help me socially by allowing me to download music and then send that music on to my friends.
- If one of my friends left their USB or mp3 player at home, I can let them use my mp3 to save their work on. Then, when I get home, I can send the work to them via e-mail.
- Some mp3 players play back movies, music videos, TV shows, downloaded from the Web or videos taken with your camcorder.
- Some can even make their own recordings from a TV. Some of the latest models can share their content wirelessly via a Wi-Fi connection.
Evaluating my Social Needs for Mp3 Players:
- Mp3 players are good at meeting my social needs because they allow me to send work to my friends if they forget their USB’s at home. This is good as it allows them and me to do the work needed to achieve a good grade.
- Mp3 players are bad at meeting my social needs as there is not a lot I can do with it that allows me to be social and to stay in touch with anyone. They are only really good if I want to use them as a USB or a device in which I listen to music.
Work Related:
- There are a number of ways in which I can use an mp3 player for my work related purposes. One of which is, using it as a USB. If and when I forget my USB at home and have my mp3 player on me, I can use it to store my work on so I can complete it either at home or at the next lesson.
- Another way in which I can use my mp3 player for work related purposes is; if I have an oral language (French or German) exam, I can download a speech off the Internet or upload my speech onto the computer/laptop and then onto my mp3 to help me practice the accent and how to pronounce the words. I can listen to this speech via my mp3 player.
- It has been scientifically proven that if you listen to music or documents on your mp3 player, there is a 97% chance you will remember what you heard exactly.
- This can help me with work related purposes as I can store revision clips onto my mp3 player and then memorize it all, as it is being said.
Evaluating my Work Related Needs for Mp3 players:
- Mp3 players are good at meeting my work related needs as they allow me to save my work on them if I forget my USB at home. Plus, I can use my mp3 player to help me revise for an oral language exam.
- Mp3 players are bad at meeting my work related needs as I can only store a few documents on it at a time because they take up a lot of space. Furthermore, I find that in-ear headphones can hurt my ears; in addition to that, I find that even if I turn the volume really low, it still sounds ten times louder than it actually is.
- Besides these few minor disadvantages, mp3 players are an excellent technology.
To conclude, I believe that technology has brought the world to another level. Technology is improving all the time and what we believe now is a brand new invention, twenty years down the line, may not even be thought of because it is so old. I.T Technology now allows me to do variety of things that are related to my home life; my school life and my social life.
