Batteries.  Everyone uses them to power gadgets (myself included) but does everyone know about the destruction caused by mining the nickel that goes into making them.  I went on a motorcycle trip to Russia back in 2008 and while checking out Lonely Planet I came across a place called Nikel on the Kola Peninsula right on the Norwegian border.  I decided to go along and take a look. The photo below is what greated me.

Everywhere you looked it was black.  There is no living vegetation within a 50 mile radius of the town and everything within the town is covered in soot (and I do mean everything).  Now I know that mining creates jobs but would you really want to live in a place like this?

Lets now take computer parts.  Once we have finished with our ‘old’ computers we recycle them in the local tip.  They usually get sent off to places in China and south east Asia where people sift through them for reusable parts. A typical scene is shown below.

Would you like your children working like this? Do you think that their standard of life is better?

Closer to home we have pensioners or the so called ‘silver surfers’.  Many older people don’t like using computers because it is so different to what they are used too. While many end up using them they the find that the ‘old’ way of doing things just worked.  A lot even shun using them altogether because they find it too hard to learn.  They then feel excluded from society because they don’t tweet, use facebook  or even use email.

So next time you turn on that new gadget take a minute to think – is this actually making making peoples lives better?

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more

This seriously got me thinking.  Should our children be allowed to get immersed in the technology we use on a daily basis or should we shield them from it, allow them to “just be kids” and sort it out at a later date?

Take my 2 year old girl as an example.  She loves my Blackberry Playbook to bits (it is kid proof by the way!!).  She has learnt how to access apps, switch between them and even load up Mr Tumble on You Tube (parents will know what I am talking about here).  She shows a lot of interest in playing with keyboards, using the Eeepc 701(again kid proof) and just computers in general. She also likes mimicking dad on the phone by talking into her toy phone while wandering around the house (we all do it).  Should I stop her doing all this stuff especially since it was not forced on her but rather she likes it? She still gets to “just be a kid” when she goes to playgroup or just sits and plays with her toys.

There is so much technology around these days that if we were to turn it all off the world would be cast back to the dark ages overnight.  If we like it or not it is here to stay.  To this end surely it is better to get kids used to it and show them how to use it responsibly rather than hide it from them.  Who better than your mum and dad to show you how to do things because believe me there will always be someone else available to show them if you don’t.

IT should also be higher up the school agenda alongside Maths, English (in our case) and Science.  Yes you still need the ‘traditional’ subjects but you also need the IT skills to use them.  For example when was the last time you wrote a letter?

At this point I want to clarify one thing.  I would never allow any of my kids to use Facebook until they fully understood the dangers of using social media.  Social media is fantastic when used in the correct manner but it can also be used to cause great harm too.

So should children be immersed in technology?  Over to you.

 About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

The reason I ask is I was trawling the internet yesterday when I came across an article asking if the Terminator films could ever become real. Could we ever create a system which could turn on us? (the answer in the article was unlikely by the way). It did however get me thinking that the pace of technology at the moment is so fast that some people are getting left behind.  I see a lot of this during my everyday work. For example I get a lot of calls to fix clients computers and when I get there they are riddled with viruses. A lot of people don’t understand that you can’t just go around the internet and download what you like.

When I was growing up if you had a PC in your home you were doing well.  Now there are multiple computers, laptops and smartphones in every home all connected to the Internet where you have people using Facebook and Twitter telling everyone what they are getting upto in their daily lives. Twenty years ago this would have been unthinkable.

We now have military drones which can take off and fly to a target, bomb it, fly home and then land again.  The washing machine in my kitchen has more processing power than the Apollo spaceship which went to the moon!!!!!

Personally I think that all kids should have a better understanding of computers and computing should be given a higher standing in schools (along with English, Maths and Science).  This is the only way they are going to understand the technology that they are using everyday and the dangers that come with it.  As for the rest of us? Google it!!

What do you think?

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.