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The Impact of Computer s Use on the Environment Environment
A group report by Savior Engineers: Ahmad Ali, Aqsa Intizar, M.Sami Khan, Faiza Saleem and Nuzhat Batool
Assignment of subject Development and Professional Skills DATE: 07 February, 2011
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Contents
Topics 1. Summary 2. Introduction Introduction i. Backg Backgrou round nd ii. Purpose Purpose iii. Scope 3. Results i. Physical impacts ii. Social Impacts Impacts 5. Discussion on Results 6. Conclusions & Recommendations 7. Acknowledgment 8. References References 9. Appendix
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2 Summary In this computers age we are utilizing a large number of technological devices and benefiting from them. We should be known to the negative impacts that are accompanied by our ease and relaxation that computers give. People working with computers must be aware of the environmental impacts of them. Because the use of computer and the Internet is becoming so common it is a basic need to know their physical and social impacts on our environment.
Comp Compute uters rs are a basic basic need need of every every busine business, ss, industry industry and a studen studentt or teache teacher. r. Th This is depend dependenc encee on comput computers ers and intern internet et should should not cross cross the limits limits.. Findings and results included in this report give a broad view of impacts of computers to every user. user. The reader reader can find environm environmenta entall impact of pollution pollution due to high use of computers. Recycling of PCs is a big problem. Only a little portion of computers are are recy recycl cled ed afte afterr thei theirr use use or life life lim limit. it. Many Many crim crimes es or comm commit itte ted d by usin using g computers and the Internet. Socially misbehaving and fraud is common on this media. Harassment and pornography have become leading problems in today’s youth. People are earning on the business of pornography. pornography. Theft, information information security security problem and damaging reputation are some important side effects of using internet. Build Building ing a strong strong patrio patriotic tic youth youth,, giving giving a compl complete ete view view of intern internet et to students is the need of the day. Certain steps should be taken to build ideological base and mental firmness. Misuse of social networking sites must be stopped. We should make ake our our chil childr dren en awar awaree of nega negati tive ve impa impact ctss of thes thesee new new and and fasc fascin inat atin ing g technologies. This study is a detail description of impacts that computers have socially and physica physically lly in our environm environment. ent. Informatio Information n provided provided in this report report gives gives enough enough unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g to take take step step to save save our our envi enviro ronm nmen entt from from nega negati tive ve impa impact ctss of comput computers ers and relat related ed devic devices. es. Intern Internet et use use in today today’s moder odern n life life is makin aking g remarkable changes in the way we live. Many negative aspects have to be considered while using the facilities of internet. Takin Taking g away away the the comput computers ers and bannin banning g intern internet et is not the soluti solution on.. We should work on a more consistent and gradual solution to problems. To our best, we should reach at the root and stop the problem before it begins to spread.
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3 Introduction Background Nothing in this world is without prose and cons. Humans always work for the leisure and relaxation. There are many tools to help do our daily tasks easily that got new and better shapes and qualities with time and need. Our tools and instruments with with their their creation creation purpose do carry carry some some side effects. effects. After After long computatio computational nal knowl kno wledg edgee histor history y and electr electroni onics cs Comp Comput uters ers came came into into exist existent ent.. Th Thee world world is revolutionized. A tremendous change occurred in every field. With these changes and help that these machines brought are associated many negative impacts. Due to the charming view of a lot more facilities that computer provides the negative impacts remain unnoticed. This study is conducted to make these impacts well known to the reader and especially to the users of computers. Purpose The main purpose of the report is to highlight damages the use of computer is making to our environment. The use of modern computes in all fields and the start of internet by more and more people are making a new type of mutual dependence environment-global village. With pollution problem of PCs, the Social networking is also affecting the environment and changing people’s mind. Individuals and nations need to give attention to these problems. Suggestions are made to take precautionary steps at individual as well as national level. Scope Thou Th ough gh the the scop scopee of the the sear search ch was was time time limi limite ted d but but a prep prepla lann nned ed data data collection method revealed good results. Impacts covered in this report are widely penetrated in our society and world environment. Physical impacts include pollution probl problem em.. New New comput computers ers replac replacee the old ones. ones. These These old compu computer terss pollut pollutee the environment because only 10 % of them are recycled. The impact of internet on cultures and society is very fast and amazing. A reasonable discussion from cultural invasion due to internet to recycling problem of PCs is in the scope of the report. Other daily life problems have also increased due to internet facility. New types of crimes are committed with the help of Internet like thefts and hacking. Peoples mind are being distracted due to wrong information on internet. Pornography and habitual use of social networks is also a rising problem especially in teens. Above are some of the significant findings of our report. Results The computer sale has increased around the world. In year 1990,130 millions comp comput uter erss and and in year year 2002 2002 one one bill billio ion n com compute puters rs have have been been sold sold.. Inte Intern rnet et is available to a large community even in underdeveloped countries. The internet has spread to 180 countries and serving 120 million users that is 2% of entire global popul populati ation on (Com (Comput puters ers sale sale graph graph in append appendix) ix).. All All this this mess mess of comp comput uters ers and internet are making new challenges and producing many environmental and social problems problems on our society. Physical Impacts It is found in a UN research report that all the computers cause same level of pollution as the airplanes in whole world. The environmental burden of computers on the world can be estimated from this UN university report: Almost 1.8 tones of the materials including fossil fuels and different chemicals are required to formulate one desktop computer. This energy is much more than, to make a refrigerator or automobile. "For the manufacturing of a normal PC approx. 30'000 mega joules energy are used."
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4 The production process of computer involves many chemicals which damage the environm environment ent badly. badly. For example, example, consider considerable able amounts amounts of brominat brominated ed flame flame retardan retardants ts (BFRs) (BFRs) used in compute computerr producti production. on. Compute Computerr hardwar hardwaree manufac manufacture turer r make use of toxins, carcinogens and oil-based paints in their manufacturing process. People think that from the invention of computers the paper use is wiped through out the world. But this is not the actual thinking, about nine tenth of printing paper are just produced by these computers that we can not use or read. It is evident that all computer hardware is responsible for the problem, for it is the hardw hardware are's 's produ producti ction on that that causes causes the pollut pollution ion.. Piece Piecess of hardw hardware are such such as keybo keyboard ards, s, monit monitors ors,, mice mice etc are all made made out of plasti plasticc which which is usuall usually y not recyclable. About 90 % of the computer accessories go to trash without recycling. Social Impacts Availability of information on wide range of topics from internet makes the work easy for people of every type no matter its positive or negative (Internet use statistics in appendix). Many negative behavior people do crimes with ease and in new ways using technology. The Internet crimes have skyrocketed. Mainly, these crimes include illegal stealing commercial secrets and unlawful transfer of others funds. The United States, where the Internet was invented, the financial sector loses $10 billion every year to the Internet crimes. The Internet is being used as a tool to harm national sovereignty and internal affairs. Dominant cultures impact and mix cultures in inferior positions. The Internet being an English language culture further strengthens the culture based upon it. There are a number of scammers on social networks who may try to steal or use personal information; Information that can be used for potential crime such as identity theft or fraud. Business companies are vulnerable to hackers and hecklers on new found success. We are going away from the actual world where we can fulfill our dreams. We are wasting our daily life healthy activities because we spent too much time on PCs. The most fascinating impact of computer is that they displaced the reality. We have no time to meet our relatives and friends. Since the last few decades of the 20th century, an immense industry for the production and consumption of pornography has grown, due to the Internet. Amateur pornography distributed via the Internet has become widely popular. The pornography industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. combined. Discussion on Results Our approach required substantial data about physical and social impacts of computers and the Internet on our environment, and we selected study areas that met these requirements. From our perspective, there are obvious advantages to using study areas where prior research has developed the required data. Alth Althou ough gh we sele select cted ed well well-s -stu tudi died ed site sitess with with exce excell llen entt data data sets sets,, we encountered problems with data availability. For example, we faced difficulty to find data on impacts of use of computers on environment. Though, our findings and results provided enough information according to our initial data collection plan. Thee topics Th topics covere covered d in resul results ts sectio section n are logica logically lly ordere ordered. d. Some Some of the significant results about physical impacts are non-technical. Most important physical problem is the recycling of computers and other related material like keyboards, mice, camera and USB devices etc.
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5 Teenagers and students are mostly affected socially by use of computers. They spent too much time on social networking sites like facebook. There are about 150 million accounts on facebook (Facebook use graph in appendix). Social networking has opened up many new doorways for cyber-crime. The people on social networks who are completely new to technology, it is more important than ever to make sure people are aware of the risks Ever increasing pornography business as mentioned above is a big problem. Clinical and psychological experts determined that pornography stimulates negative attitudes and has negative effects for individuals and society and that it can impair the mental and emotional health of children and adults. Some Some of the the impor importan tantt recom recomme menda ndatio tions ns and signi signific fican antt conclu conclusi sions ons are provided in the following section. Recommendations Recommendations & Conclusions Conclusions Emerg Emergenc encee of comput computers ers is the most most impor importan tantt event event of 20th century century and brought a significant change in our environment and lives. Further, internet changes the way we do daily life routine tasks, the way we study, do business and interact with people. Every one needs to know the impact of computers and the internet that have negative sides too. Our study was directed to give a detailed analysis of these impacts, discus discussio sion n on signi signific ficant ant findin findings gs and result results, s, and giving giving logica logicall and legiti legitima mate te recommendations recommendations to be considered. considered. Our society can improve its standard of living being positive in the use of computers and can develop positive thinking using social media. On the other hand, we can can’t get get the the desi desire red d resu result ltss if we put put asid asidee the the nega negati tive ve impa impact ctss of thes thesee technologies. Crimes related to use of computers can exploit the society. Furthermore, they also have physical impacts on our environment. Computers damage to physical environment is the pollution of production in larg largee num number ber with withou outt bein being g awar awaree of the the endend-of of-l -lif ifee resu result lts. s. New New and and high high performance computers replace and old computers which go to trash. Governments should take steps to reduce this computer damages, one way to do so is by allocating a certa certain in perce percenta ntage ge of money money to the profit profit of comput computer er produc productio tion n compan companies ies for establishing recycling plants and for cleaning the polluted areas. UN University's University's Ruediger Kuehr and Eric Williams, call for education programmes and bonuses to encourage consumers to think about using second-hand PCs or to hand their old PC over for resale.
Social crimes like misrepresenting, harassment, pornography or increasing at a high high pace. pace. Our Our approa approach ch starte started d from from indiv individu idual al level level impac impacts ts to natio national nal and international environmental impacts. Impact of strong and English based cultures on poor nations is making a difference in poor and rich people of those nations. This virtual world of internet and social networks has driven us away from the real relatio relations ns and love of our families families and friends. friends. We need have a balance to using computers and living life. Social sites can also be misused and we need to take care of our privacy and reputation. Think twice about the way you use social networks. Some important steps should be followed by our countries and policy makers to keep safe our culture and minds of peoples. We need to strengthen our educational programs on patriotism and socialism. We should keep up our mental firmness on ideologies. Because one can get in contact with all sorts of information through the Internet, some positive, some negative, so we must avoid arbitrariness in students. To
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6 accomplish such an educational task, we must rely upon constant work on students’ thoughts at the basic unit level. To reduc reducee the crime crimess relate related d to inform informati ation on securi security ty and other other monet monetary ary computer crimes we should take various technical actions to reduce loss and leak of secrets. First, we must protect the areas where sensitive data resides. Network servers and databases must be placed in safe locations to make sure that unrelated personnel could not reach them. In conclusion, it is impossible to not use computers and be aside from using the Internet to be totally risk free — closing closing the networks. Once the Internet is open, the benefit of it will be accompanied by its negative impacts. Internet applications have penetrated to all the aspects of our nation and to our military forces too. We must control and to our best ability destroy its negative impact. For this we should make sure that while we can fully enjoy the power of the Internet in our nation, education, business and even military as well, we can also destroy the problem at its root, before it even begins to germinate. Acknowledgment This report is prepared by joint work of our group members: Ahmad Ali, Aqsa Intizar, Sami Khan, Faiza Saleem and Nuzhat Batool. Working with multiple students on same results was an advantage because it allowed us to develop a more robust appro approach ach.. Th These ese effor efforts ts were were time time-c -cons onsum umin ing, g, althou although gh we feel feel they they were were very very worthwhile as they resulted in an improved study and more meaningful analyses. Reference List
1.http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp1.http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wpcontent/uploads/Facts_and_Figures_on_EWaste_and_Recycling.pdf 2.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens2.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html 3.http://www.residuoselectronicos.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Kahhat-and3.http://www.residuoselectronicos.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Kahhat-andWilliams-2010-Adoption-and-disposition-of-new-and-used-computers-in-Lima.pdf 4. cid:
[email protected] 5. http://www.it-environment.org/index.html 6.http://www.raymond.cc/forum/general-forum/6501-what-is-the-effects-of6.http://www.raymond.cc/forum/general-forum/6501-what-is-the-effects-ofcomputer-to-the-environment.html 7.http://www.optimum7.com/internet-marketing/social-media/dangers-of-social7.http://www.optimum7.com/internet-marketing/social-media/dangers-of-socialnetworking-sites.html 8. http://www.ictliteracy.info/rf.pdf/CiscoGreenICTreport2008.pdf 9. http://ilookbothways.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/
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7 Appendix 1. Computer Computerss Sale Graph Graph
2. Internet Internet Use statisti statistics cs
3. Facebook Facebook use graph graph
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