Digital Age

DIGITAL AGE

Digital age also known as information age or computer age or new media age. This is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization to an economy based information computerization. We are now living in digital age, whereby computers have become an essential part of our lives. However, the young people who grow up with personal computers and mobile phones are called digital generation. People use digital devices to access the internet to do research and to communicate with other people around the world.

Mobiles allow people to make voice calls and send text, email people and download logos, ringtones or games. With a built-in camera you can send pictures and make video calls in face-to-face mode. Also new smart phones combine a telephone with web access, videos, a game console and MP3 player, a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a GPS navigation system.

In banks, computers store information about money held by each customer and enable staff to access large databases and carry out financial transactions at high speed. Also they control the cash points or ATMs (automatic teller machines), which dispense money to customers by the use of a PIN-protected card, people use a chip and PIN card to pay for goods and services. So instead of using a signature to verify payments, customers asked to enter a four-digit personal identification number (PIN), this system makes transactions more secure.

In airline, pilots use computers to help them control the plane. Such as monitors display data about fuel consumption and weather conditions. In airports control towers, computers are used to manage radar systems and regulate air traffic. Also on the ground, airlines are connected to travel agencies by computers. Travel agents use computers to find out about the availability of flights, prices, times, stopovers and many other details.

Apart from digital age being so importance for us, also there is fundamental problem for people living in digital age. People and digital aircrafts are different. People struggle to understand and use their computers, cameras and phones. Unfortunately, most of these devices are quite complex, but many features of them are also poorly designed. This is not to blame the designers; they are people living in the digital age too. If designers were more sensitized to the problems people have using digital technologies, they might come up with better designs.

Digital is about to come of age. It has been very successful, whereby the capacity of computers have increased at the phenomenal rate-far beyond anything the early pioneers dreamed of, thus we now have digital technologies that enables people to communicate all over the world. The digital age is characterized by interactivity, whereby they are interactive media-people that alter the behaviors, presentation and content of media through their interactions with them. In interactive media, data is digital so it is transferable between devices, transmittable across wireless networks and transmutable from one representation to another. The stuff of digital media that allows all this to happen is known as software.

BY: KIYABO NELLY

BAPRM-42587