My mom decided that the computer was definitely the most important information technology that she used in her job(s). She first learned to use a computer in school. First she took typing classes as a young kid and eventually took computer programming classes in high school.
While my mom recalls learning to use a computer as definitely being a challenge, she always took an interest in computers and embraced learning the technology when it became common place in schools and at work. In fact, she actually feels like learning to use computers when they were at such a basic level has helped her better understand how computers and their different programs work now. She remembers using the Word Processing at it's most basic level and having to use all the specific commands and functions to format documents.
As far as using it in her job(s) - she couldn't recall a single job that she didn't use a computer in after she graduated high school. She said that there is no doubt that computers made them more productive, however encountering issues tended to present larger setbacks than they do now because they were harder to troubleshoot then. Additionally, my mom shared that though initially she feels computers helped to make people more productive at first but now she feels that computers have helped to introduce many unnecessary and tedious tasks to most work settings.
I think that it is fitting that my mom felt the computer was the most important information technology in her jobs based on what we've learned in class and how integral computers are to our lives and to truly everything we do. I definitely feel similar to my mom in that I computers are so important to us being productive and achieving things day in and day out. However, I think we've reached a point in that most people are less productive than what we should be with this tool. This is largely because computers have part of personal and social lives in addition to our productive, professional lives. With these crossed boundaries, we've become unable to separate the different uses of computers for different functions in our lives.
The computer is definitely the first information technology for me that came to mind before I talked to my dad. It is so interesting how for we, and our relatives, have come since being introduced to information technologies. I use my computer everyday and, from a student's perspective, believe that life as a student or a worker would be nearly impossible without it. This really makes me think about how different life must have been before these things were introduced. For sure something to think about.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the computer is one of the most important information technologies and is easily one of the most identifiable ones with a lasting impact. Its crazy the amount of different activities one can complete using this information technology. How far we have come since the computer took whole room, and when you did a search you had to have crds that holes punched in them.
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