Effects of computers on society :: Computer Science

Effects of computers on society Internet The internet was a major break-through in computing. It enabled people to communicate and transfer information. The internet has been around for about 30 years and is always changing. It has many different uses. It can be used for video and teleconferencing, finding information, buying products, downloading programmes and music and much more. I think that the internet has helped society a great deal. On the other hand, it does have its disadvantages as anything can be found on the internet, whether it is good or bad. If the internet is in the wrong hands it can be a very bad thing as it could be held responsible for things like rape etc. I am saying this because it is very easy for an adult to go into a chat room and pretend that they are a teenager. They could then arrange to meet up with someone, and this person would be thinking that they are a teenager. This is the disadvantage of the internet, but I feel that the good points over-power the bad. CCTV Without CCTV, crime rates would be higher and many criminals would go uncaught. Thanks to CCTV, this has changed. CCTV allows several cameras to film several different areas at the same time. If someone commits a crime and it is caught on camera, it is then taken to court and used as evidence against them. I think that this is another huge benefit to today's society. Credit Card Use/Fraud Computers allow people to use credit cards to pay for products that they buy in shops. This makes it much easier for people to buy something instead of having to pay with cash or a cheque, which takes a while to clear; they can just pay instantly with a card. Fraud is one major problem faced with credit cards. If the card it stolen, it would be relatively easy for someone to pay for products that they buy with the card, especially over the internet where no signature is required to make the payment. This is another disadvantage of the internet, that anyone's credit card can be used without consent. I think that, although fraud is an issue with credit cards, credit cards still benefit society greatly. Availability of Information This topic links in with the internet, as well as using programmes like encyclopaedias on the computer to find information. The internet has such a broad range of information on it that it would be almost impossible to not find what you are looking for. Almost any word can be typed into a search engine (e.g.