eXploring computers

It's time for that lovely weekly blog post again. In this case, that means it's time for eXplorations and eXtensions! The wittiness of whoever comes up with things like that blows my mind. Seriously. Mind blown.

But for real. We have some issues. Our society does, at least. The extensive use of computers today pose some major problems for society, especially as we keep moving forward and develop more technologies. Something needs to be done, people. Pronto.

• Problem #1: Computers are stalkers. We have no privacy with computers, it's true, and it's a huge problem. I bet if I looked hard enough, I could find all of my personal information somewhere on the internet. Sure, you give your phone number and insurance to the nice ladies at the dentist's office or doctor's office, but they go on the database and can end up circulating the web. I don't really see a solution to this, I do think computers are logical places to store this information, I just think it's a problem that it's all available to any stranger who has the time to look for it.
• Problem #2: Sometimes it's pretty darn annoying that certain websites are censored. Like at school. I understand that the administrators want to block certain sites (like pornography and some gaming sites) but other sites like Facebook and even some sites necessary for research projects have been blocked. Can you say overkill? Those research sites contain some pretty valuable information. And, while I can understand the blockage of Facebook, I don't think it should be blocked because students either a) don't care enough about school that they would go on Facebook in class and goof off (it's their decision to fail the class) or b) students that work really hard, finish their work early, and have nothing else to do in class and therefore blog (see previous post). It's really quite annoying. Let students decide for themselves what sites they want to waste their time on.
• Problem #3: Computer talk. You know what I'm talking about, when you go to dictionary.com and click on the speaker button to hear the pronunciation and all that comes out is some robotic jumble of a word. Nobody says it like the computers pronounce it. On certain computers, you can highlight a portion of the text and it will read it back to you. I find it really funny when names are included because the poor (haha, yeah right) computer can't pronounce them and stumbles over itself to get out something that vaguely resembles a name. Why do computers even have this function? Is it really that hard to read something out loud yourself? At least you'd pronounce everything correctly.
• Problem #4: Anti-socialism and those who will become crazy cat ladies. Sometime in the very near future, computers will be able to do everything for a person so it won't be necessary for them to even leave the house. There'll be computerized machines to drop off groceries, online shopping, online school. People of our generation will lose the social life they have worked so hard on. Skyping doesn't count. People have got to interact with people and get out of the house and live. That appeal is disintegrating with the inventions of new computers. People need to stop relying so much on computers and start doing things for themselves.

Sidenote: I do very much so enjoy computers.

There's a tidbit for ya.