I think it depends on what you're using the computer for. If you're using the computer as a means of earning an income, however modest, then it becomes a lifeline. I know that if my computer is acting up, then I'm a very unhappy camper until I can get it fixed. I wish I wasn't so attached to it, but I am. Just knowing that I can get online and do my activities lets me know that everything is going to be okay. People use all kinds of things as friends these days, food for example. I can see people being too attached to their electronics. Maybe friends in the real world have let them down.
What do you mean jewel, food as friend? Yeah, if you're working on the computer only, that's hardly calling it a friend because it's your income on the line there. But if you use it to socialize, for gaming, for virtual relations, I think it's pretty much a friend.
I think it has become our best friend already because we do everything in front of it, it has actually replaced tv, radio and social interaction now. You can also even make money off of using your pc, so I think it's an all-around, multi-purpose device. Of course, it also makes our life more better, but some people absolutely can't survive without being in front of it for a long period of time.
I love computers and technology, but I don't let it overrun my life. It will be a sad state if computers becomes man's best friends. Computers and technology should be tools only. There is a set of novels by Asimov where a group of humans became very dependent on robots (machines and computers) that they couldn't function. There was a side story of a man who died because he was so dependent on the robots that he couldn't even perform human functions when his robots broke down. This is very extreme, but it's not wise for humans to get overly dependent on computers.
You brought up a very interesting point, and I have to agree. I think nowadays the computer has indeed become man's best friend, and I doubt that if computers were somehow made illegal tomorrow, that people can just let it go easily and not cause a riot. I think we've become a little bit too dependent on computers, and whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not exactly sure, but I can appreciate the fulfillment it brings now since I find it highly amusing and comforting that we're able to find things out within seconds and even earn money without leaving the house.
I'm using computer and Internet to do my work so it is so normal that I'm with a computer during working hours. But when I'm with my family and friends, my computer is turned off no matter what. It might be true for some people but for me, this is really depends. We just need to be smart enough to divide our time between reality and virtual world.
I think that is something important whnuien, sure that we need the computer as a work tool, but we need to have a real life as well, real people to be with, because it's really easy to be in several forums or virtual communities and forget that the rest of the world exist.
It's a good and a bad thing I think. I'm sure if computers were illegal it wouldn't really change people's usage. If they feel strongly enough about something, they will do/use it anyway regardless of what the law says.
I think that technology advances and that is a good thing, but the use we give to it just might be bad sometimes. I mean, it's fine to work at the computer, but to prefer playing at the computer every single night instead of going out with friends it doesn't make much sense to me.
I wouldn't say that we lose touch with 'real reality', but rather the computer and the virtual reality has became part of our new 'real reality'.
Being on a computer is still "real reality". I do not understand what the difference is between being in a room with someone, and talking to them on the internet. I guess its a matter of how you grow up and what seems "normal" to each of us.
There is a difference but it's not really a bad thing. I think it can be but the internet is what you make of it. It's just that talking to someone on the internet is more anonymous but maybe it depends on how often you do it.
That's really interesting what you say Josh, when you mention that you don't see the difference between being with someone talking face to face and do it at the computer, times have really changed and you already fidn that normal. I am not saying it's not normal, but it's not the same, especially if it's someone you don't even know if it's real or not.
It might as well be man's bestfriend. Not just the computer either but smartphones and tablets. Most of us now are glued to our phones and it certainly makes our life so much easier. The technology nowadays is really making our life so much different from the older days and i feel like the technology is ruling our lives now.
It's certainly a bit of both. Whether we like it or not, many people have become anti-social as they spend more time online and/or other modern gadgets than they do interacting with others. It's becoming common ground even with children, who if you don't monitor can spend the whole day cooped up in their rooms playing games. I personally don't know how we survived without the internet. I can get lost online for hours on end. This has become worse ever since I started working online. Sadly, sometimes when someone nips over for a visit I'm counting down the minutes willing them to leave to allow me to go back online and work!
It's definitely both. When, before computers, could you hang out with thousands of people at once, every day, talking about the things that interest you. Without paying for it and travelling and preparing for it lol. When could you click a button and have any information your brain yearned for flash in front of you to absorb and keep? Everything we do is better now. I'm no longer just cooking the meals passed onto me from past generations, I'm cooking meals passed on from everyone's past generations lol.. and if someone comes up with a new one, I know about it and find it right away. I find new recipes every single day. Before computers, it wouldn't have happened. My grandmother clipped them from newspapers once in a blue moon, but her main menu remained the same until the day she died. The men in my family and myself are learning obsessed. When my grandfather died, I was going through his books and found so many that had clippings from the news taped inside at parts they coincided with. He was researching.. it was like looking at ancient internet lol. I was looking at a very reduced version of something that takes me seconds to do today and I can go further than my grandfather ever could have dreamed of. What we take for granted today, would have made us geniuses back in his day. So I get what some people are getting at, but we socialize more today, not less. We learn far more, say far more and the world is but a neighbourhood. I stinkin' love it
The computer has helped people in many ways that has been ever changing. I believe that evolution of computer has been increasing and growing for ever. It has always been the man's best friend and will always be.
For me personally I really think that it is a bit of both because I will admit that I do spend lots of time on the computer but that is only because I do a lot of work on my computer and most of my business operations are done there so I really have to spend the time on it. Sometimes I will tell you that I am at the computer so long that I begin to literally lose track of the time and the world around me.
It all depends on your lifestyle. I assure you that for many people who make their living using computers and the internet, the "real reality" -as you call it- is quite tied to the one they experience through their PC. In addition, many others who do not necessarily earn their living with computers, rely on their devices to keep the rhythm to life outside of them. News, online banking, keeping the schedule of face-to-face meetings, to name a few of so many important possibilities.
