8th February 2011
The massive cost our generation is paying for computer use!
After spending many frustrating hours since last night trying to recover from a very bad WordPress disaster which struck me about 24 hours ago, I was reminded not only of the benefits of computers but of the HUGE cost our generation has paid (and is paying) for use of these fickle and fragile gadgets. Hence this post.
Each of us has our own unique history and experience with computers. Mine began over 25 years ago, when computers were very new in India. I began using mini-computers in around 1986, large beasts that used a language called COBOL and printed output on massive dot matrix printers that stood on two large posts.
Keen to learn more about computers, I started dabbling with things like BASIC and read a number of books on MIS and systems analysis, but my interest was more into computer applications, not code. I therefore studied MIS as part of my management studies with AIMA and attended a number of short term training courses such as:
- Introduction to computers and their sectoral applications (1 week) 1987, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi
- Personal computers – MS-DOS and related software (1 week) 1987, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi
- Database management systems (1 week), 1990, CMC Limited, New Delhi
- MIS and computer applications in Government (1 week) 1989, CMC Limited, New Delhi
- Quantitative Techniques in Management: Integration of Information and Decision Technologies (3 days), 1994, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
- Structured Systems Analysis and Design (2 weeks) 1992, CMC Limited, New Delhi
But in addition, I spent hundreds of hours – often into the late night – on the PC-AT which I had procured for my office (it was the first such gadget in a district in Assam – and I later got a second one, free, from the National Informatics Centre – or NIC). In my airconditioned office, often powered by generator given power cuts, I spent zillions of hours learning about DOS and UNIX (XENIX) and all kinds of primitive wordprocessing, database and spreadsheet software.
This led to my proposing a computer strategy for Assam, and becoming the founder Director of Computer Applications in Assam in 1992. I headed a tiny state unit with the goal of embedding e-governance in Assam. Across the country I was one of the few officers at the forefront of this activity.
This self-motivated learning continued apace during my further studies in Australia and USA. In USA apart from upgrading the website of the Economics Department of my university, and taking free computer classes for students, I was a (paid) senior student operator in the university computer lab system and also became technical support for Cinenet, an internet service provider owned by an IIT Madras graduate. At that place I learnt many more intricacies about the internet, including a few basic PERL scripts.
It was the work at Cinenet which helped me establish the listserv india_policy in February 1998. That list effectively sparked a chain of activity that led to the India Policy Institute and the People's Manifesto, pivotal to my plans for political reforms in India. This was also the medium through which I met tens of like-minded people. At at time when the internet was very new in India, this list (india_policy) became one of the largest platforms for Indians to discuss policy matters.
By the time I returned to India and reached Meghalaya in 1999, I was ready to implement major e-governance reforms in Meghalaya in close collaboration with N.Seshagiri, DG NIC – and many others at NIC who were well known to me. I became the founder-head (Commissioner) of the Information Technology department that I had proposed and got created. By late 2000 the Economist Intelligence Unit had identified me as a national expert on e-governance and invited me to a national seminar at just about the time I resigned and left India (I therefore couldn't attend the EIU seminar).
The computer has therefore extended my reach and allowed me to do much more than I could have otherwise done with my very limited resources. It is the tool that helps me reach out to you in India even when I am sitting here in Melbourne. The Freedom Team of India is an example of this reach. This blog is another, new attempt to reach out to you in India.
THE COST THAT COMPUTERS IMPOSE ON US
Let me refer to my experience to illustrate the huge costs that computers impose (or imposed!) on us. I'm sure you can add substantially to this list.
Long ago, my wife said that I seemed to have got two wives – the computer being my second wife. Indeed, I've undoubtedly spent more time with computers than with my family over these past 25 years. Such is the pull of computers – the ability to do things that would have taken a lifetime to do in the past. The cost to family, however, is not what I'm going to count below.
It is the huge health cost, and cost of wasted time that I'm going to highlight.
Health:
RSI (details here) with the most unbelievable pain/burning/ of virtually the entire upper body has been a major cost I have paid – I won't go into details since I plan to write a book on it one day. I've had this problem since late 1999, and it still continues although I have learnt to manage it. .
Eye strain and severe dryness of the eye. I've experienced this since October 2010 and am only now learning how to manage it. Still many steps to be undertaken before I fully master it. My sense is that this problem won't go away. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm currently not very optimistic about this. This (recent) problem took me close to the brink (and tested my psychological mettle) with unbelievably acute headaches and eye-aches. Fortunately, I've read extensively about it, tried a number of things, and now it is under some control (I'm meeting an eye specialist on 17 February).
Time:
It is painful to describe the thousands of hours I've spent fixing one thing or other related to computers. You name it and I've wasted hundreds of hours on it:
Virus problems were particularly acute in the 1980s and early 1990s. A number of times my computers were wiped clean by viruses (requiring fresh installations). Fortunately this problem is now relatively under control.
Loss of data: Most early software (including operating systems) was totally unreliable, so I've lost hundreds of hours of work over the years as software crashed while typing, or working. Then was the problem of floppy drives that would not read (particularly in humid Assam), so one need multiple backups, but even then much data was lost. Despite my data backup strategies I was beaten by viruses and bad software. And so I don't have a complete set of files that I worked on during these early years. Even today, when typing into a blog or email, sometimes one loses data, but this problem is reducing with better software and better data backup management systems.
Breakdown of hardware: In this category the worst offenders were floppy drives and hard disks. I had to learn to open up computers and fix simple hardware on my own – all this in addition to learning a range of software most of which became outdated every two years! Hardware problems are few and far between now but currently my second hard disk (1.5TB) is not being recognised (I use two hard disks in my computers), and I have to investigate – something that will easily take 1 to 3 hours of my time. And I can't even begin to count the number of times laptops have crashed, and the re-installations involved. Computer memory was another huge issue particularly in the initial years – always crashing. While these problems are now reducing, it is clear that my generation has paid a huge price.
Website problems: Internet connections used to be totally pathetic at one time, with constant drop-outs and re-connection of modems. Running a website was a great challenge. More problematic was writing HTML (I used to write each piece of HTML code before HTML editors came on the scene). The internet environment was predatory – with crooks and thieves all around. People would steal your domain if you were not careful (IPI's domain was stolen). Web hosting companies would cheat you or shut down without notice. I lost a considerable amount of web-hosted data once because of that. And now that I have started using blogs, I find that I'm spending inordinate time in learning about the WordPress which keeps breaking down. Fortunately, Mr Google is there to help. But it is all very painful to recall.
How much of my life has been lost to computers?
All in all, I believe I must have put in at least four years of my life (out of the past 25) in fixing problems related to computers. I'm not sure if the benefits of computers in my lifetime will exceed the cost I have paid, but hopefully the next generation will actually start benefiting from these horrendously complicated and fragile gadgets that are "supported" by software that doesn't work, and surrounded with an internet environment that is full of malicious virus-producers and worse – including thieves and other crooks.
I got a computer when I was 10 in 1999. Me and a few classmates with ~5 years experience baffle even our senior teachers (Im now a Btech-IT student). Thats about people who grow up with them! Worms, data loss and hardware breakdowns dont bother people anymore. I grew up with them, people with less years being wired ask me to help. Thats the only thing where “years” matter in the computer world!
And your hands-on approach will shame my own classmates. Even our teachers tell us that you cant do more than 4 years coding. After that, you should take an executive or management post. Anyone who “fixes systems” is looked down on, they say, often as a warning about my low grades. My grades may seal my fate as a “lowly CMC technician who makes Rs10000”. So much for CMC (now part of TCS). NIC is that crash-prone site that publishes exam results. I never knew they used to be glorious.
Its also a change for the better as anyone can set up a blog or media center easily. Do today’s truck drivers and pilots command the respect enjoyed by the pioneer town-builders, war supply drivers or the daredevil testers and fighter pilots? Coders seem to be moving the same way.
I hope new user interfaces saves time and avoid distractions. Gadgets like the kindle should eliminate the neck and eye strains of sitting erect for hours in front of a desktop.
I got a computer when I was 10 in 1999. Me and a few classmates with ~5 years experience baffle even our senior teachers (Im now a Btech-IT student). Thats about people who grow up with them! Worms, data loss and hardware breakdowns dont bother people anymore. I grew up with them, people with less years being wired ask me to help. Thats the only thing where “years” matter in the computer world!
And your hands-on approach will shame my own classmates. Even our teachers tell us that you cant do more than 4 years coding. After that, you should take an executive or management post. Anyone who “fixes systems” is looked down on, they say, often as a warning about my low grades. My grades may seal my fate as a “lowly CMC technician who makes Rs10000”. So much for CMC (now part of TCS). NIC is that crash-prone site that publishes exam results. I never knew they used to be glorious.
Its also a change for the better as anyone can set up a blog or media center easily. Do today’s truck drivers and pilots command the respect enjoyed by the pioneer town-builders, war supply drivers or the daredevil testers and fighter pilots? Coders seem to be moving the same way.
I hope new user interfaces saves time and avoid distractions. Gadgets like the kindle should eliminate the neck and eye strains of sitting erect for hours in front of a desktop.
they are definitely getting better everyday, but the changes are so rapid that it is very hard to adapt to every new thing. I remember studying BASIC and it was not fun. Regarding the data issue, i think there is something called “cloud computing” where the data is stored on a company’s server. But this idea raises too may questions….
they are definitely getting better everyday, but the changes are so rapid that it is very hard to adapt to every new thing. I remember studying BASIC and it was not fun. Regarding the data issue, i think there is something called “cloud computing” where the data is stored on a company’s server. But this idea raises too may questions….
Raj I use cloud computing for storage of all my critical data. I upload all key files to Drive HQ. And I use the free S3 service (5GB) of Amazon for critical web backups (automatic backup of this blog, for instance). I will also be buying a 3 year membership of Carbonite shortly (unlimited storage for just 12 cents a day).
Carbonite will thereafter replace my second hard disk (and two portable hard disks) that I use essentially as a backup. It is cheaper than buying and installing new hard disks/upgrading portable one every two years or so. The only issue is upload speeds for large files (e.g. videos of 13 GB each), for which I’ll initially need to use a multiple backup system (including portable disks) until the internet gets faster.
For all practical purposes, though, cloud computing is now a de-facto standard for backups.
Raj I use cloud computing for storage of all my critical data. I upload all key files to Drive HQ. And I use the free S3 service (5GB) of Amazon for critical web backups (automatic backup of this blog, for instance). I will also be buying a 3 year membership of Carbonite shortly (unlimited storage for just 12 cents a day).
Carbonite will thereafter replace my second hard disk (and two portable hard disks) that I use essentially as a backup. It is cheaper than buying and installing new hard disks/upgrading portable one every two years or so. The only issue is upload speeds for large files (e.g. videos of 13 GB each), for which I’ll initially need to use a multiple backup system (including portable disks) until the internet gets faster.
For all practical purposes, though, cloud computing is now a de-facto standard for backups.
if reading blogs is giving you eye strain, you can check out Amazon kindle. I just got one few days back. It’s almost like reading a paperback. The only downside is that to read blogs or news papers you have to pay subscription fee.
if reading blogs is giving you eye strain, you can check out Amazon kindle. I just got one few days back. It’s almost like reading a paperback. The only downside is that to read blogs or news papers you have to pay subscription fee.
Thanks, Raj. I’m not sure if I read more or write more. Either way, at least 10 hours a day on average but up to 14 hours a day in front of the computer + about 2-3 hours reading/writing paper-based notes/books/newspapers. Basically my eyes have become very dry. I’m doing a number of things – trying out all eye drops I find, using castor oil, some exercise, etc. Things are a little better as a result. But thanks for your advice re: Kindle. I’ll keep it in mind. The key is to blink and not stare at the screen. Not blinking is what causes the problem.
Thanks, Raj. I’m not sure if I read more or write more. Either way, at least 10 hours a day on average but up to 14 hours a day in front of the computer + about 2-3 hours reading/writing paper-based notes/books/newspapers. Basically my eyes have become very dry. I’m doing a number of things – trying out all eye drops I find, using castor oil, some exercise, etc. Things are a little better as a result. But thanks for your advice re: Kindle. I’ll keep it in mind. The key is to blink and not stare at the screen. Not blinking is what causes the problem.
Blinking is necessary. But there’s more:
Compare a white paper and your screen(displaying all white) and dont let your screen get brighter than the paper. Better lighting is the key. Dont align a sceen at right angles to a window (or a table lamp).
Dont maximize documents. Keep them to half of the screen, The requirement is that you can see the entire line without moving your eyes. This is the idea of multi-column newspapers. This improves speed too.
Computer screens cant render text well. Compare this ‘L’and ‘S’. The L is rendered better while the S is blurred as curves are spread over many pixels. A book will get both perfectly. So get a higher resolution screen. A 17” screen at 1400X900 is better than a 19″ of the same resolution (my bad choice!). A Kindle is the best choice as it doesnt glare and has an ultra-high resolution and it never flickers.
Blinking is necessary. But there’s more:
Compare a white paper and your screen(displaying all white) and dont let your screen get brighter than the paper. Better lighting is the key. Dont align a sceen at right angles to a window (or a table lamp).
Dont maximize documents. Keep them to half of the screen, The requirement is that you can see the entire line without moving your eyes. This is the idea of multi-column newspapers. This improves speed too.
Computer screens cant render text well. Compare this ‘L’and ‘S’. The L is rendered better while the S is blurred as curves are spread over many pixels. A book will get both perfectly. So get a higher resolution screen. A 17” screen at 1400X900 is better than a 19″ of the same resolution (my bad choice!). A Kindle is the best choice as it doesnt glare and has an ultra-high resolution and it never flickers.