Environmental issues
There are concerns that the manufacturing and use of computers has a negative impact on the environment.
To produce, distribute and use computers, resources are required. Metals and plastics are used to manufacture components, and energy is expended in distributing equipment and in using it.
Many computers, such as A computer that serves web pages to users., Domain name system (or server) - an internet service that translates IP addresses into website domain names. All websites have equivalent IP addresses. and Large building holding servers and storage devices., need to be left running continuously. This requires lots of energy. Additionally, businesses, organisations, schools and homes all now have greater access to technology, all of which use energy.
Many computer components are either hard to recycle, or contain toxic materials, such as lead. This is coupled with the fact that users frequently discard computing equipment, for example:
- many people have new smartphones every couple of years
- many organisations replace their computers after three or four years
- many people replace older technology before it fails, simply because they perceive it to be old-fashioned or out of date
This means that the rapidly increasing number of computers have a heavy impact on the environment, and it is unlikely to decrease in the near future. However, many devices are now more power efficient than their predecessors and some companies have come up with innovative ways to save power.
Technology also affects health. For example, people involved in the computer recycling process can be affected by toxic materials. There is also concern about the amount of time that people spend using devices such as smartphones and how this affects themselves and society.
