Monday, May 14, 2012

Computers Everywhere!

Computers have become a part of the everyday lives of the majority of people in the United States. This fact is also true for many people around the world.  They have been integrated into just about every area of our lives. Whether at work, at school, at home, at the mall, the supermarket, the bank or so many other places, there are computers all around. Think about it, atm machines, self-checkout systems, and advertising kiosks are all variations of the computer.

Computers are evident in so many areas and there are even more around us that are hidden. Think of your automobile, the dvd rental box, your smart phone... all computers. Traffic systems, manufacturing systems and so any other systems depend on computers.

Despite the fact that we come in contact with so many computers in our daily lives, there is still a large group of people that are admittedly, uncomfortable working with computers. Many people are just not prepared to deal with the 'technicality' of computers. They can' t wrap their minds around computing so they avoid them except for the most basic operations and tasks.

The fact that people have a slight fear of computers leads to less people having computers in their homes. That is a problem because the entire house hold falls further behind the computer-divide. A household without a computer is a house hold that is denied a major informational resource. A household with children, that does not have a computer puts the children at a disadvantage because they don't get accustom to using the computer and they are prevalent in almost all other areas of life.

Many computer companies are working to make computers more 'understandable' for more people. For example, Hewlett Packard computers are now shipped with support software bundled. They offer greater customer support with greater ease of access. Hewlett Packard has the the HP Assistant  that allows easy access to support and even handles some driver updates automatically. This is all to help make computers less intimidating to people.

Face it, computers are so ingrained in our lives, it's difficult to even image our lives without them.

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