OP-ED

LIVING WITH TECHNOLOGY (OR WITHOUT IT : The growing human dependence on technology

BY As I stare at the computer I sometimes wonder whether it is staring back at me also . Every word that I type on the keyboard of my computer comes up letter by letter on the screen that I am staring at . Pictures come to life in front of me and they make me cry , laugh and hate . I wake up every morning and turn my computer on . Hours can pass by and I am and dragons , flying cars and

spaceships . My computer makes me a God . I create cities and worlds on my computer . I can create a world where there is no pain and suffering , a Nirvana . My computer gives me my own private paradise where I can forget all about my earthly problems . My computer owns me

The technological advancements that come up every hour , every minute and every second make me fear what new thing will come up next . What will my computer be able to do next ? Will it stand up from the table where it rests and come to my bed to wake me up and ask me to play with it ? Will the next generation computers be so fast that it will be humans that will require the next upgrade in to catch up with them ? Will I be forced to do my computers homework or do its research for it because it has become so much smarter than me , that I am useless without it

I am glad and grateful for the technological developments that we have right now , the computer especially . There are so many things that I would be unable to do without the aid of computers . I can no longer imagine doing any report or presentation without the help of my trusted computer . A simple like this , to be done by hand , would be unthinkable for me . My brain ceases to function once I turn my computer off . I feel that there is a wire somewhere that is connected to the computer and that all thought is derived from the computer

At this point technology becomes a scary concept . I fear that the whole world would come to a stop if the computers would fail for some reason because that is how dependent we have become on technology . The threat of the Millennium Bug sent Tremors into every household and business empire throughout the world . People took all of their money from their accounts and dug shelters in the ground stocked up wall to wall with the necessities to prepare for the Millennium Bug bug . Billions of dollars were spent to try and prevent computers all over the world from crashing . Governments spent countless hours creating back up plans if the Millennium Bug did indeed hit . The world held their breath on New Years Eve not because they were thrilled about the coming of the Millennium but because everyone was in anticipation to as to...