Are Computers Changing the Way People Think

The whole human race is under attack. Not from a super virus and not from some end of the world prophecy. Humans are under the threat of not thinking for themselves anymore. Take for instance the smartphone, before its presence I could remember all my friends phone numbers by heart. Important places where followed and memorized by directions written on a piece of paper, or the traditional gas station map. It is becoming more evident that computers are changing the way humans think.

Now, in 2013, almost everyone owns a smartphone or tablet for home and on the go usage. People rely on hand held computers for news, weather, and social updates. Checking for movie times, finding a long lost friend, or downloading the latest song. Computers have been there to help improve and ease work time from hours to minutes. But where does the help stop.

The first computer was created in the early 2400 B.C. it was called an Abacus.

Abacus is a Latin word that has its origins in the Greek words abax or abakon (meaning "table" or "tablet") which in turn, possibly originated from the Semitic word abq, meaning sand". The Abacus was used for calculations beyond the fingers on your hand. Thus in terms the abacus is seen as the first computer to date. Thousands of years later in 1984 Apple released the Macintosh Computer, the first home computer with a graphical user interface. From that point in the 1980's things where set in motion. It wasn't till the late 90's when the Internet connected every owner across the world.

Webster's dictionary describes computer as " An electronic device for performing calculations automatically. It consist of a clock to provide voltage pulses to synchronize the operations of the devices within the computer, a central processing unit, where the arithmetical and logical operations are performed on data, a random-access memory, where the programs and data are stored for rapid access, devices to input data and output results, and various other peripheral devices of widely varied function, as well as circuitry to support the operations.

Remembering when I was younger, my mom used to ask me "What's your cousin's telephone number? I could easily recite it and many others off the top of my head. Today if you ask me the same question I would pull out a cell phone and scroll thru till I found the person of desire. It is reported on pewinternet.org that in 2013 78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of them own smartphones. That translates into 37% of all teens that have smartphones, up from just 23% in 2011. 23% of teens have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population. "The nature of teens' Internet use has transformed dramatically- from stationary connections tied to shared desktops in the home to always-on connections that move with them throughout the day," said Mary Madden (2008): Senior Researcher for the Pew Research Center's Internet Project and co-author of the report. "In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future changes in the adult population."

So in general the teens are the future, and the future continues to revolve around technology, but in the past, computers have tried to integrate since the late 70's and didn't really set a mark. Back in those times computers where still very expensive, which made their general use in education totally unrealistic. The addition of computer use in schools in the 80's at that time didn't gain support from administrators, members of Boards of Education and the community at large was practically non-existent. Systems were too cumbersome and complicated to operate and replicate. Over the past 30 years, educators have been using the computer to affect change and to improve teaching and