The Social Implications of Computer's in Our Society
These issues are varied, but I think all important to society as a whole. Now that we have email a whole new world of communication is being created. No more letters, no more telephone conversations, but email. Email messages (I feel) are much different than other forms of communication, and I think it is interesting to look at how email is being used in today's society. Will this have a major effect on how the next generation interacts with one another? Will it change what is considered good/acceptable writing? How is it going to effect how people relate to and communicate with one another? A fascinating world of study, that I really want to learn more about.
Another issue is that of writing in general. I know that when I write I write directly onto the computer, no paper copy. Many people of my age and type do this, this is how we learned to write papers, directly onto the computer. I find that there are definitely differing schools of thought on how to create and what is going on in the different creation methods. I know my mom will never type onto a computer, for her dissertation she is dictating it and having my dad do all the computer work. Many people still write things out by hand. I have actually found that I write a completely different paper when I write something out by hand then into the computer. Some of it may be that I type faster than I write, and this is closer to my thinking speed. Some of it may be the fleating nature of what appears on the screen. Different worlds. To me the neural process and there differences are very interesting, I would also like to find out more about this, and have seen some studies posted to the nets.
Newsgroups, and on-line, up to the minute information is another effect of this computer age. I find that it is another cute little sub-plot in the story of computers in our age. So much information is available, so that one does not need to read a paper or rely on the questionable impartiality of TV news teams. I think it can also be a huge gossip line, for those who want that, and also a place to find gobbs and gobbs of information that one may want. How this information is used is another question, and congress seems determined to have a say, but they really cannot. You cannot set limits on something that already exists, you cannot. You must work within the natural confines and limits of the existing body. One cannot legislate morality, but they seem to be trying.
Really what this boils down to for me is that there is a definite tradeoff in this information age, privacy for information. I must give something up to get something, but some people do not seem to realize this. It is true with credit cards, convince with the price of credit records. I do not think this is bad. I am also sure enough of who I am and feel protected enough to be willing to give up a little of myself for a % of the internet world.
I also have some strong feelings about privacy for others. Not giving away information that is not yours to give is important. I will not give a stranger a friends email address, nor would I post that information without getting permission. It is just not right, IMHO, to assume a degree of intimacy and permission without actually asking first. This is true in many aspects of life, but I think it gets walked all over on the net.
These are some of my feeling, feel free to mail me yours. Once again, sorry for all the spelling errors.
Last Modified: 3 Oct 1995
