We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in business, hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in the future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits?
The advent of computers has transformed life altogether. They have become a necessity in today’s world. They are used in buying and selling services and products, job advertisements, and distribution of information all across the world. They are helpful in crime detection through their face recognition and location services applications. This increasing dependence on computers has, undoubtedly, enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and personal capabilities but it is altogether damaging for human beings.
Over-reliance on computers can hinder personal growth and distract people from work and daily life activities. Over-dependence on computers can affect humans physically as well such as causing eyestrain, blurred vision, fatigue, headache, and muscle strain. As far as future use of computers is concerned, they are expected to perform more complex tasks like natural language processing, image recognition, and autonomous decision-making. They are expected to advance in edge computing and conversational artificial intelligence.
To illustrate the increasing dependence on computers the applications of computing technology in hospitals need to be realized. In hospitals, computers are utilized to detect illnesses, to analyze the inner body organs. They are frequently used in operation theatres such as during angioplasty.
Computers perform medical imaging, patient monitoring, and analyze patients’ data. Beyond that they are used in telemedicine in which patients are diagnosed and provided with treatments by means of telecommunication technology.
Computers are often utilized in businesses for communications, research, data tracking and storage, and in buying and selling products all around the world. Google, Amazon, Apple, and Walmart, are some of the predictions of online business endeavors utilizing computers. To talk about the Amazon alone, it is worth over $1.105 trillion as of 2022.
So far the future use of computers is concerned, these telecommunication devices are expected to advance on multiple fronts. Reports say that artificial intelligence machine learning algorithms will likely become even more sophisticated, enabling computers to perform increasingly complex tasks like natural language processing, image recognition, and autonomous decision-making.
Besides, computers are also expected to advance in edge computing. In this technique, data is processed closer to the source of its generation, rather than relying on centralized data centers. This can lead to improved real-time processing. Apart from that, advanced computing algorithms will enable the analysis of vast amounts of genomic, clinical, and environmental data to tailor medical treatments and interventions to individual patients.
However, over-dependence on computers can pose several potential risks as well. For instance, relying heavily on computers for performing tasks can lead to a decline in one’s ability to think critically and solve problems independently.
Also, it makes individuals and organizations more susceptible to cyber threats, including hacking, malware, phishing attacks, and data breaches. In addition to that, prolonged computer use without regular breaks can lead to various physical health problems, including eye strain, back issues, and stress. It can affect psychologically as well. It can cause anxiety, depression, and addiction. Moreover, automation and reliance on computers can lead to job displacement in industrial sectors.
Conclusively, life is nearly unimaginable in today’s world without the use of computers in almost all the fields of life. From medicine to business, from transportation to security matters; computers are used to perform multitasking actions and they assist humankind in their work. The use of computers can be simultaneously beneficial and worrisome as per the famous maxim which says that the computer was born to solve problems that didn’t exist before.
