Welcome to the Digital Age 1

Welcome to the Digital Age 1

Welcome to the Digital Age:

The Rise of the Computer

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Welcome to the Digital Age: The Rise of the Computer

Perhaps no other modern technology has had a greater impact on the way we live our lives in the 21st century than the computer. Emerging in the 1930s as a tool exclusively designated for government and military use (Campbell-Kelly, 2014), the modern computer has evolved in a few short decades to infiltrate virtually all areas of civilian life. In the 21st century, computers are used for banking and for shopping, for working and for learning, and even for loving and for leaving. The advent of the computer has changed what we do, who we are, and what we can be, both for good and for ill. The computer is simultaneously in the 21st century an agent of profound empowerment and equally an agent for appalling destruction.

One of the most significant impacts of the computer is its effect on professional life. According to a 2015 report in US News and World Report, more than 2/3 of so-called “middle skills” jobs (the largest sector of the US workforce) require some degree of computer proficiency (Soergel). Further, it is estimated that computer and IT positions will grow faster than all other occupations, accounting for more than four million jobs by 2014 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Even for those jobs that are not explicitly tech-oriented, however, computers still play a profound role in the average American’s worklife: computers now frequently power the cars, buses, trains, and subways we take to work. They often operate the machines that make our workplaces productive, the machines that keep our workplaces in business, even if we aren’t the direct operators of the technologies ourselves. Computers keep the lights on in our workplaces; they keep the water running and the air and heat systems humming. For many workers, payroll comes not in the form of a paper check but in the form of an electronic, computerized direct deposit, and most often we spend that money electronically as well, paying bills and making purchases online or via electronic debit or credit cards.

Another important area where computers have changed American life is in the area of education. Online schooling is becoming increasingly popular, particularly for working adults with families who may not have the time or the resources to attend traditional on-ground classes. Online education has also opened up opportunities for others who may never have been able to pursue their education otherwise, including the disabled, the elderly, and active military on deployment. Thus, computers have enabled us to become a more educated society.

This education comes not only in the structured from of the online university, but also in the enormous volumes of information available at the click of a computer keyboard. Now, the world is literally at the fingertips of any computer user. We can live stream videos from the remotest corners of the globe; we can chat and video conference with friends, family, and coworkers on four continents simultaneously, and we can research with depth and speed any subject our hearts desire, from exploring the structure of the Pyramid at Giza to reading Stephen Hawking’s theories on black holes. The only limit to what we can do, learn, or be in the computer age, it seems, is our imagination.

With all the breathtaking possibilities and warp speed advances of the computer age, however, come some distinct and heartbreaking downsides. While computer technology allows friends and loved ones to enjoy instantaneous communication no matter how far apart they may be, computers can create a rift in “real life” relationships, as people, especially adolescents, become so enrapt in their devices that they lose the art of conversation and have trouble connecting to the world and the people around them. Computers can also have detrimental effects on marriages; the ubiquity of pornography online may have a lasting damaging effect on the intimacy between partners, and it is all too easy to reconnect online with long lost loves or enticing strangers, falling into a romantic fantasy that shatters real marriages in the real world. After all, in the world of cyberspace, those real life, real world problems do not exist. There is only the fantasy, preserved safely within the confines of the square computer screen and the face smiling back on the other side of the computer’s camera. Another detrimental impact of computer technology is in the narcissism it all too often breeds. We now live in the age of the “selfie”, with a person’s every move seemingly documented and then widely broadcast via social media. Our sense of self-worth, especially for young people, is increasingly tied to the approval we receive from our social media posts, from the number of likes our posts and photos receive and the number of followers we accrue.

No other technology is playing a more potent role in our 21st century lives than is the computer. Invented only in the 1930s as a government and military technology, the modern computer has since evolved to become an integral component of the average American’s everyday life. Computers shape how we work and how we play; they shape where we go and how we get there. Computers impact how we learn and how we love. For all their enormous benefit, however, computers also have their dark effects. Computers have led to increasing isolation, as users, particularly young people, become too consumed with their devices to invest in the people and places around them. The fantasy world of the online environment too easily leads to strain in real-world relationships, damaging intimate relationships and driving partners to infidelity with loves met or rediscovered online. Finally, the ubiquity of computers, especially in hand-held devices, has promoted narcissism in the age of the selfie, with social media users documenting their every move and seeking validation in the form of followers and friends they may never have even met.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Computer and Information Technology Occupations. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm

Campbell-Kelly, M. (2015). Computer: A History of the Information Machine (3rd ed.). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Soergel, A. (5 March 2015). Want a better job? Master Microsoft Excel. US News and World Report. Retrieved from