Isn’t technology wonderful? The way we can do so many things now with relative ease compared to how we used to do them back in the day. There are so many ways in which technology has made our lives and the tasks we do daily, so much easier. In fact, the latest generation will most likely grow up without the ability to complete tasks the old-fashioned way. For some, that’s not a problem. However, with the ongoing advancements in today’s technology, there are also issues that can result from failures of that same technology. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of technology versus ‘old school’ methods in greater detail.

Shopping

The internet has truly changed the way in which we shop and do our shopping activities. Consumers continue to be wise with their money but buying products no longer require sometimes a long trip into town to visit the local store or mall. With online shopping, you can buy virtually anything without getting in your vehicle or having the need to leave your house. You can shop any time of day or night and not leave the comfort of your bed. While this is attractive to many, it has hurt a lot of local economies. The upside to that is that e-commerce has become an option for brick and mortar businesses to expand their reach and build a stronger presence. As much as a disadvantage online shopping may be to a small business, it has also become an advantage where expansion costs of constructing new buildings in more towns have been replaced with the extremely cost-effective e-commerce options.

Communication

There was a time when writing someone involved only paper, pen, and the postal service. With email, the writing part still exists but the delivery method of that message has changed considerably. The advantages of email are obvious – no postage and faster delivery to its recipients. You can also carry on real-time conversations with someone halfway around the world with P2P messenger programs like Skype, Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, and others. The disadvantages to email include not being able to send physical objects, such as gifts and there is always the risk of internet intruders, ransomware artists and hackers finding a way into your personal data or email programs which would require computer repair or data recovery if the computer was to get infected. Protecting yourself with a quality Firewall and Antivirus programs should be anyone’s top priority.

Paperless Billing

One of the most interesting changes to come about thanks to technology is the way in which it has contributed to saving the environment. More and more businesses, utility companies, banks, and organizations are turning to reducing costs and paper with estatements. The estatement is an electronic copy of a bill that gets sent to your email rather than a paper bill mailed to your mailbox. The cost saving alone is tremendous. Take for example the number of trees saved from becoming paper products is just incredible. There are disadvantages, though. Email gets lost, sometimes due dates fly by without paper statements as reminders and some people who are not computer savvy suffer from a billing system they don’t fully comprehend.

Data Storage

For many, the era of new technology has become a welcome tool when it comes to storage of data and information. Gone are the stacks of boxes filled with paper fills and neverending piles of archives. Whether you save data for your own bookkeeping purposes or you are in the bookkeeping business, the amount of storage on the average computer makes keeping archived files an easy option. Advantages go behind the capacity of storage on hard drives. Thumb drives allow data to be stored, shared and transferred with ease. However, there are disadvantages as well. Take for example an acquaintance that had a clicking hard drive. For most of us a clicking hard drive spells disaster and with larger and larger storage capacities the fear is real that any kind of loss will have a huge impact. Luckily, there are ways in which data recovery can still save a hard drive that is failing. There are plenty of professional firms and cloud services to choose from, so we’d call that an advantage.

Conclusion

Technology has made things easier overall. The important thing to keep in mind is that although the products are designed to save us time and money, there is always the risk of some kind of failure. So, in a way, new technology and old-fashioned methods do have a similarity in that if something goes wrong, it can be devastating, accidents do happen. The other similarity is that there are always ways and means to correct issues and problems that may crop up when working on a task – either the old fashioned way or with new technology.