The twenty-first century is already turning out to be the century of the computer. The computer revolution that started after the Second World War is now developing exponentially and computers are beginning to influence and take over nearly every aspect of our lives. How are computers changing and affecting society? There are two areas in which computers have brought about a profound change in our lives: one is in the economic field, the other in the field of communications.
The impact of computers on our economic and business life has indeed been immense. Businesses now have to be computerised or they risk failure. Every big corporation bases its operations on computing, regardless of which sector they are in. Coca-Cola, the BBC and Levi’s market and sell different products and services, yet they all share one basic property – without computers their operations would collapse. Moreover, computing is an economic dynamo. Japan, China, India and many other countries have enormous IT sectors which drive their economies upwards. The developed world is moving from an industrial-based economy to a computer and IT-based one.
It’s not just in business that computers have affected us so profoundly; communication has been revolutionised totally. Whereas before, people wrote letters, which would often take weeks to reach their destinations, or speak on the phone, which was terribly expensive, now they e-mail. Instead of waiting weeks for a letter now, we can read it instantly, seconds after it’s been written. As a result, people who live thousands of kilometres away from each other can communicate as much as they want and whenever they want using e-mail and/or chat rooms.
In conclusion, computers have had a profound effect on our lives in many ways and it is in business and communication that they have had the greatest influence. In the future, if computers continue evolving at such speed, our business practices