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What is a digital device?

We use lots of different devices to help us in our everyday lives.

A device is something that has been made to do a task.

Many of the devices we use have a small computer inside them. They are called digital devices.

As they use a computer, they need a list of instructions called a computer program to tell them what to do.

How do we use digital devices?

We often need to give a digital device some extra instructions to get it to do what we want. We can give the device the instructions in different ways.

Let's look at some examples.

Listening to music on a mobile phone

When we want to listen to music on a mobile phone music app, we need to let the device know we want the music to start playing.

We click or tap the triangle arrow on the screen.

What happens next?

When we click the arrow on the screen, the music starts playing and we can hear it through the phone speakers or our headphones.

Making a remote control toy bus move

We want our remote control toy bus to move. We need to instruct the device to start turning the wheels.

We press the GO button on the remote control handset.

What happens next?

When we press the GO button, the wheels start turning and the bus moves across the floor.

Writing a story on a computer

We want to write a story on the computer. We need to tell the device what words we want to see on the screen.

We tap the letter keys on the keyboard in the right order, to make the words.

What happens next?

When we tap the letter keys on the keyboard, we see words appear on the screen, creating our story.

Glossary

Here are the meanings of some important words:

Computer - A device that can follow instructions stored in its memory.
Digital device - A machine that has a computer inside.
Computer program - A list of instructions a computer can understand.
Screen - The part of the computer where you can see images or text appear.
Speakers - A device which you can connect to play sounds or music out loud.
Headphones - A device you can connect so only you can hear the sound.
Remote control handset - An electronic device which controls another electrical device from a short distance.
Button - Something which is pressed to make something happen.
Keyboard - Part of a device with different letter keys used for typing.