Computer Chaos

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Today we talked about how as industry developed, we developed a dependency on it. In the late 1800s it was with trains. Everyone depended on trains to get them to the right place at the right time. If trains were late or broken, or somebody missed their train, it was complete chaos for them and a huge annoyance. Today, our dependency on industry and technology is best exemplified with computers and the internet. We depend on the internet for everything, and when it is not working, we feel as though we are incoplete without it and our world is chaotic. I learned this first hand this past sunday as i was studying for my animal physiology test that was scheduled for monday morning. Our professor puts past exams on webct for us to look at. (We also take our tests on webct). We can answer the questions and when we are done, it will give us our score and all the correct answers. However, sunday night the villanova server was down. Webmail wasnt working and neither was webct. Most people in my class were in the library trying to get online and take the practice tests but no one could because of the not-finctioning server. It was so annoying because I was finally feeling ready for the test the next morning and to check my knowledge with the practice tests. Then webmail started working and the class got an email from the professor saying the test was resceduled for wednesday. I was relieved and excited I could stop studying and go to bed. At the same time though, I was mad I had wasted my entire weekend studying for a test that wasn't for 2 more days. All of this happened because the professor was dependent on the webct on the villanova website and needed webct to work in order for the class to take the test. If he had just used a test on paper, this would not have happened.

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