Checking e-mail has become an integral part of our daily routine. When asking friends what they would take with them to a deserted island, most of them chose their laptops. But are computers tools that improve us or degrade us?
Schools are increasingly using the internet to replace traditional functions like announcements, which are now posted on intranets. Teachers send notes and test answers to students for them to print out on their own.
Computers have made school life more efficient, and communicating online helps save the environment as we use less paper and ink, but our growing reliance on these machines does have a downside.
The internet distracts students from doing their homework. Whereas there are times in the day when TV stations broadcast out-dated replays that aren't worth watching, the web has new sources of fun at every click.
Not many people can resist the temptation of easy entertainment. It was recently reported in the news that a well behaved and diligent girl was caught illegally downloading TV dramas and selling them on the net.
Online message boards are battlegrounds for people with strange usernames, who write nonsense or criticise public figures, often using foul language.
