Unit 3: The Most Important Invention of the Past 200 Years

For me, there is no question that the most important invention of the past 200 years has been the computer, and specifically the Internet. The Internet has completely changed the way we access information, communicate with each other, study and work.

When I was a student, we typed everything by hand, and to get information we had to go to a library and search through file cards and shelves of books. It was a very slow process. Now, research has become fast and easy, and any kind of information you need is at the tips of your fingers.

When I was young, there were only two ways to communicate with someone far away--by letter, which was slow, and by phone, which was expensive. E-mail has changed all that.

When I was young, I had a job as a file clerk; all day long, I filed papers in cabinets or found files that other people needed. This job no longer even exists; all the files are on the computer!

Of course, the computer brings new problems that we didn't have before. The Internet is the source of a lot of lies and junk, as well as wonderful information, and we all have to be smart enough to know the difference. Sometimes people become addicts of e-mail or social networking, and spend all their time online instead of connecting face-to-face with their friends and family.

But, for better or for worse, the computer and the Internet have changed our whole society in the same way that the printing press changed everything around 550 years ago.