In today’s society, the computer has become part of our lives. It has become so essential to us that we use it in almost everything we do. Owning a computer has almost become a social necessity, such that if one does not own a computer, he is discriminated and considered primitive. It is incontrovertible that the computer is of great use to us; it gives us convenience and power to do our daily tasks more effectively. It is indisputable that the computer has, time and again, arrived like a deus ex machine to enable us to solve the problems we face. However, is the computer truly a great miraculous blessing? Is it truly the gift from heaven that it is made out to be? I, for one, do not think so. Just as any coin has two faces, the computer, despite its advantages, also has its fair share of drawbacks.

I do not debate the fact that the advance of technology has brought a cornucopia of benefits to the world. However, what I am saying is that this very advance of technology also has its drawbacks. Arnold Bennett, the English playwright and novelist, once said, “All change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” Perhaps the computer is indeed a change for the better, but even so, the drawbacks this change is accompanied by are not merely a bagatelle to be ignored.

With the computer, much more can be done nowadays. On the outset, this can be seen as a huge benefit. Productivity improves; our control of the things around us is growing by the day; our knowledge and power are ever-increasing. However, if one explores deeper, he will realize that this increase in power also causes more problems.

Workers today, and even students, are expected to do so much. The computer has raised the bar of productivity to such a great extent that perhaps man is unable to scale these heights. So much more is expected on people today, the burden placed on them is heavier than ever. People are forced to work unceasingly. Even children today are not spared from this pressure. They are expected to produce so much more in their academics. Juxtaposed with the carefree life of the past – the life where the lack of advanced technology meant less competition and pressure – one cannot help but wonder whether we have indeed improved.

Perhaps the old adage, “Ignorance is bliss” does hold some truth. Back in the times where people were not chained by the power and knowledge made available to by the computer, they had the freedom to enjoy the blessings of life. One has to wonder whether that joy of living has disappeared with the advance of technology.

Even if given the chance, children today seem to prefer staying at home using the computer to going out and enjoying the wonders of nature. The young generation spends practically all their time on this device that they are no longer able to comprehend the joy and beauty that nature holds. They do not know the beautiful symphony of a gentle rain, or the warm embrace of the sun. Their world is centered on the computer; all that they know is what is held inside that confined box. Has this new generation truly lost the ability to just step back and smell the roses? If so, this is truly a greatly worrying phenomena. The over-dependence on this plastic cage is truly a problem that needs to be addressed. Our new generation has seemingly no life outside this cage; they have turned into stoic prisoners of that chamber. Surely I am not the only one who finds this troubling.

One might argue that the computer is so easy to use. Rather than doing tasks by hand, asking a computer to do it is so much easier and faster. However, there are a few doubts I have regarding this. It is true that a computer masks tasks easier to perform, but are we perhaps overly reliant on the computer? If this continues, will we one day reach a point where we are unable to perform daily tasks by ourselves and need to rely on the computer to do so for us? I shudder at the thought.

In addition, the ease of use of a computer can be doubted. Countless neophytes to this technology have suffered the testing process of learning how to operate a computer. Look at the number of lessons available on how to use a computer, the number of tutors available to teach a person how to use a computer. If computers were truly easy to use, these would be unnecessary. I myself have seen numerous people struggle in learning how to use a computer effectively. This being the case, is the computer truly that easy to use?

Even if they are considered easy to use, as they are commonly perceived to be, this belief in itself does cause a number of social problems. Those who do not know how to use computers are often discriminated against. These people are often of the older generation. Youths of today tend to discriminate against them, saying that they are old-fashioned and unknowledgeable. Forget the fact that these older people have gone through many of life’s experiences and learnt so much, if they do not know how to use a computer, they are inadequate and incompetent, and not worth spending time on. This is the attitude of many youngsters towards the older generation today.

Is this really what we want our future generation to be like? One can hardly blame them for this attitude; the environment that they have been brought up in has developed this mindset in them. Whether this is a negligible nuisance that can be ignored or a massive malady that needs to be addressed, I leave it to the reader to decide.

As can be seen, the computer does indeed pose many problems to today’s society. Perhaps it would even be better if the world rid itself of this technology and went back to the basics of life, learning how to enjoy the wonders of life again.

Apropos, before you think that I am a deranged fool who is caught in the Stone Age, I would like to say that I do not deny the benefits of the computer. I do acknowledge that the computer truly serves as a portico to a whole new world of information; I agree that it does give us power beyond our imagination. However, as the saying goes, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Perhaps this responsibility is one that mankind is not ready to bear. Until we learn how to harness this power without neglecting the beautiful kaleidoscope of nature; without losing the joy of life itself, perhaps it indeed would be better if this power was unavailable to us. That being said, our lives have become so intertwined with the computer today that it has become a sine qua non of our existence, and it is seemingly impossible to imagine a life without the computer.

However, this only serves to reiterate our over-reliance on the computer, and based on this, as well as all the aforementioned points, I believe that the computer is indeed more of a menace than a blessing, but perhaps it is a menace that we cannot live without.