In the 1980s, people were impressed if a computer could calculate a sum for you. Today, there is nothing we are impressed by anymore because our computers do absolutely everything already - or it seems like they do, anyway. Here at J Messenger, we like to keep everyone aware of just how much we rely on computers in our everyday lives so that we don't become complacent and take them for granted. Most people don't realize how much computers do for them, so whether they're HVAC Etobicoke installers or kindergarten teachers, they could use a wake up call. And here it is.

When you want to arrange for a home inspection in Victoria, what is your first instinct? To go on the computer, of course! Most people belonging to the younger generations use the internet as their first (and often only) research resource. All information is just a Google search away as long as you have a computer or smart phone. Computers also allow us to share our own knowledge with the world through websites we make ourselves and community edited encyclopedias like Wikipedia. Soon all of human knowledge will be stored on and searchable through the internet.

Because so many people use the internet, our computers have become our primary communication devices. Instead of telephoning friends, writing a paper letter, or dropping in on them at home, we send them emails, instant messages, and texts. We post on their Facebook walls, share photos, and forward videos to them without ever having to see them, regardless of how far away they live. Many people don't even have telephones anymore, as programs like Skype allow them to call up each other and video or audio chat without paying the telephone company.

Computers have also changed the way that commerce is conducted. Today, everything from Oakville condos to eyeglasses are sold online through web based catalogs, which means that it is becoming increasingly unnecessary for a retail business to have a physical location at all. Even second hand, rare, and hand made items are bought and sold online through auction sites like Ebay, Amazon Marketplace, and Etsy, meaning that you don't even have to know how to program an online store to sell things from your home computer. Stores that don't allow distant customers to buy through their site lose out to those that do. Of course, most service-based businesses can neither sell nor perform their services via the internet alone -- but a sleep apnea clinic may still rely on a website like BetterNightsRest.com to direct new clients to their Toronto office.

And then of course, there's the revolution in data storage. Where once our lives were caught up in physical things - paper documents, photographs, CDs, video tapes - they are now stored as a series of ones and zeros on our computers. Music, video, pictures, and documents, including entire books, increasingly have no physical form at all and are instead taken, shared, posted, read, and stored on computers and handheld computing devices. As computer technology increases, so does the capacity for data storage and the amount of information transferred into hard drives.

To learn more about how we use computers in everyday life and what that means for humanity, explore the articles we have on our site by browsing the topic bar at the top of the page.