Society has reaped many benefits from using computers. A user is anyone who communicates with a computer or utilizes the information it generates. Both business and home users can make well informed decisions because they have instant access to information from anywhere in the world. Students, another type of user, have more tools to assist them in the learning process.

Advantages of Using Computers

The benefits from using computers are possible because computers have the advantages of speed, reliability, consistency, storage, and communications.

  • Speed: When data, instructions, and information flow along electronic circuits in a computer, they travel at incredibly fast speeds. Many computers process billions or trillions of operations in a single second.
  • Reliability: The electronic components in modern computers are dependable and reliable because they rarely break or fail. Consistency: Given the same input and processes, a computer will produce the same results — consistently. Computers generate error-free results, provided the input is correct and the instructions work.
  • Storage: Computers store enormous amounts of data and make this data available for processing anytime it is needed.
  • Communications: Most computers today can communicate with other computers, often wirelessly. Computers allow users to communicate with one another.

Disadvantages of Using Computers

Some disadvantages of computers relate to the violation of privacy, public safety, the impact on the labour force, health risks, and the impact on the environment.

  • Violation of Privacy: In many instances, where personal and confidential records stored on computers were not protected properly, individuals have found their privacy violated and identities stolen.
  • Public Safety: Adults, teens, and children around the world are using computers to share publicly their photos, videos, journals, music, and other personal information. Some of these unsuspecting, innocent computer users have fallen victim to crimes committed by dangerous strangers.
  • Impact on Labour Force: Although computers have improved productivity and created an entire industry with hundreds of thousands of new jobs, the skills of millions of employees have been replaced by computers. Thus, it is crucial that workers keep their education up-to-date. A separate impact on the labour force is that some companies are outsourcing jobs to foreign countries instead of keeping their homeland labour force employed.
  • Health Risks: Prolonged or improper computer use can lead to health injuries or disorders. Computer users can protect themselves from health risks through proper workplace design, good posture while at the computer, and appropriately spaced work breaks. Two behavioural health risks are computer addiction and technology overload. Computer addiction occurs when someone becomes obsessed with using a computer. Individuals suffering from technology overload feel distressed when deprived of computers and mobile devices.
  • Impact on Environment: Computer manufacturing processes and computer waste are depleting natural resources and polluting the environment. Green computing involves reducing the electricity consumed and environmental waste generated when using a computer. Strategies that support green computing in clued recycling, regulating manufacturing processes, extending the life of computers, and immediately donating or properly disposing of replaced computers.