Computers in my life
Computer addicts are the
minority of computer users but there is no doubt that more and more young
people are computer literate. Computer studies is a subject in many schools and
many young people have personal computers. About one in three hundred computer
owners spend almost all their time using computers.
Ninety six per cent of them
are males of all ages. All of them spend an average of twenty hours per week on
home computers. The majority of the adults also use computers at work. All the
computer addicts are very intelligent. They have been interested in science and
technology from a very early age and they are usually very shy people who like
being alone.
A survey in a school showed
that fewer girls are interested in computers because girls are less likely to
have a computer. Even if they have one, they use then less frequently than
boys. Possibly it is because we think of computers as something to do with
maths and science, which are traditionally 'male' subjects. Possibly it is
because most of the computer teachers are men, who give the girls less
attention. Possibly parents think it is less important for girls to have
computer skills.
Computer addicts are usually
very shy people. Using computers gives them confidence. They love debugging and
solving problems, develop programs and love learning programming languages.
They learnt to communicate with other users through computer networks and the
people they met in school and work think of them as experts who could help and
advise when they had problems with their machines. A few spend their time
'hacking' and one addict left a message on a computer of Buckingham House. Very
few computer addicts play computer games, but many people use a computer
exclusively for games.
Some parents worry about
computer games because they think their children won't be able to communicate
with real people in the real world. But parents do not need to worry. According
to research computer addicts usually do well after they have left school.
Parents also do not need to worry that computer addiction will make their
children become unfriendly and unable to communicate with people.
It is not the computer that
makes them shy. In fact, what they know about computers improves their social
lives. They become experts and others come to them for help and advice.
For most children computer
games are a craze. Like any other craze, such as skate-boarding, the craze is
short-lived. It provides harmless fun and a chance to escape.
If we didn't have these
computer addicts, we wouldn't have modern technology. They are the inventors of tomorrow.
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