The number one benefit of information technology is that it

Hear, O listener, the words of Steve Ballmer, who stood at the heart of the digital revolution and proclaimed with conviction: “The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” This saying is not merely about machines or circuits; it is a hymn to the boundless spirit of mankind, whose genius finds new wings in the tools he fashions.

The ancients told us that knowledge is power, but in this new age, information technology has multiplied that truth a thousandfold. No longer must man’s learning be bound to dusty halls or rare scrolls; no longer must creativity wait upon scarce tools. With a keystroke, the mind gains access to the wisdom of centuries. With a screen, the hand may design, paint, write, and compose in ways once unimagined. Thus, Ballmer saw that the true gift of these inventions is not the machine itself, but the empowerment it grants to the human soul.

Consider the story of a child born in a remote village, where libraries are scarce and teachers few. In ages past, her talents might wither unseen, her questions unanswered, her dreams locked away. But with the reach of information technology, she may now read the thoughts of sages, learn the sciences of the world, and even share her own creations with distant strangers. The machine does not give her greatness—it awakens the greatness that was already there, hidden in her spirit. This is the power of potential unlocked.

Think also of the rise of open-source movements, where communities across the earth, connected by invisible threads, came together to build wonders like Linux, Wikipedia, and countless other creations. Here, men and women of every nation, guided not by wealth but by passion, used information technology to collaborate, to invent, to shape the digital landscape. What was once the work of a few became the shared labor of millions. Creativity and productivity, once bounded by walls of distance and scarcity, now flow like rivers without end.

Yet Ballmer’s words hold a deeper warning as well. For tools that grant empowerment also require responsibility. To be creative without wisdom may produce vanity; to be productive without purpose may produce only emptiness. Information technology offers doors without number, but it is the human heart that must choose which ones to open. The true measure of this gift is not in what can be done, but in what should be done, and whether the power unleashed serves humanity or consumes it.

Therefore, my child, the lesson is this: embrace information technology not as a master, but as a servant of your higher calling. Let it amplify your creativity, but not replace your imagination. Let it expand your productivity, but not enslave your time. Let it teach you wonders, but never blind you to the wisdom of experience. Use it always as a ladder to rise, not as a crutch to weaken your steps. For in your hands lies not just a tool, but the key to unlocking the dormant potential of your life.

What then must you do? Seek first your purpose, then use technology to pursue it. Learn with humility, create with courage, share with generosity. Do not waste the gift in idle distractions, but harness it as the ancients harnessed fire and iron: to build, to illuminate, to protect. Remember always that its true value lies not in the glitter of its devices, but in the human greatness it awakens.

So let Ballmer’s words endure as a guiding star: The greatest benefit of information technology is empowerment, the awakening of creativity, the unleashing of productivity, the opening of potential. Walk in this spirit, and you shall not merely use technology—you shall rise with it, shaping a future worthy of the gift.