Coins and paper money will soon be replaced by credit and bank cards. Eventually we will have a cashless society which will be safer and more convenient for everyone. Do you agree or disagree? |
With the advent of credit cards combined with easy access to computerized transactions, we are enjoying unprecedented comfort and convenience while shopping or dining. However is not clear whether the plastic money will bring us lasting benefits due to looming concerns over misuse and abuse of the intangible money. I strongly believe that credit cards and bankcards have the potential to have a negative impact on our daily life based on the following thoughts. To begin with, the plastic money is vulnerable to theft or fraud; once the cards are lost or the associated personal information is mistakenly leaked to the wrong hands, large amount of money can be stolen. There have been numerous cases regarding credit card forgery that are still hard to prevent even with today’s state of art technology. In addition, the use of credit cards can lead to extravagant spending due to the easy nature of transactions. In other words, people do not realize how much they have spent until they check their balance. To make matters worse , credit card companies often allow large amount of credit even though the credit card users are incapable of paying it back. Last but not least, the use of electronic money will eventually take freedom away from us by allowing the government to secure more control over our daily transactions. Currently, the technology is nearly ready to record every single transaction we make to support our living; whenever we us plastic money, the transactions are recorded in a computerized database which the government has easy access to when deemed necessary. In conclusion, our infatuation with plastic money has brought us significant comfort and convenience but there is a price to pay. Not using the electronic money wisely, we will find ourselves in a position where the money takes more control over us or even our freedom away from us. Therefore, it is desirable to invest time and energy to weigh up the gains and losses of this double-edged sword. |