My Experience with Technology

I cannot remember a day when technology was not a part of my life. Although I did not always depend on many of the technologies in the way I do today, it played a key role in my development. From watching Sesame Street and Barney on TV to learning all the digital coloring book programs and Oregon Trail in my elementary school's computer lab, these simple technologies serve as some of my earliest memories as a little girl. At the age of 7 my father purchased a huge, bulky, Hewlett-Packerd computer with access to the Internet through AOL dial-up. Aside from downloading pictures to color and playing online games, I was quick to take advantage of the communication opportunties AOL had to offer. I spent a lot of time on the computer in the many kid chatrooms that were created for Mary-Kate and Ashley fans and for countless other reasons. Since my parents were divorced and all of my friends lived in my mom's neighborhood, these chat room allowed me to meet plenty of girls my age to keep me entertained while I was away from my friends.

By the time I got into middle school, the communication abilities through the Internet were being used by even more of my friends. A lot of the people I knew had AOL screen names and had created their own online profiles for everyone to see. Because my mom still did not have a computer at this point, most of my free time for socializing was spent on the Internet at my dad's house since I did not have the opportunity to use it elsewhere. However, by this time I had my own phone in my bedroom as well as my own six disk changer stereo, VCR, and television. Technology was beginning to become more and more important in my life.

Once my dad got high speed Internet and a newer model computer with a flat screen monitor, this technology became very important in my social life. By then I had learned to make profiles on websites such as Buddy4u and create my own homepage through AOL. Although I was unsuccessful in creating computer graphics on my own, I took advantage of others' creations and decorated all of my pages with tons of glittery, colorful graphics and pictures of me and friends that photo developers were able to put on a Kodak CD-Rom so that I could put them on my computer. Along with spending most school nights on AIM, I was fully engaged with the current technology of that sort and was very curious to learn more.

By my sophomore year in high school, I created a Myspace account and my communication capabilities became even greater. Although this was the time each profile could only add about 8 photos and the convenient comment back button did not exist, I embraced the new technology. My page was filled with graphics and pictures from my new digital camera and it quickly became one of my main sources of communication aside from the color screen cell phone I got for my 8th grade graduation.

Of course this technology grew and more social networking sites such as Facebook became popular. By the time I graduated high school, I was completely dependent on technology to keep in contact with my friends and to do all of the research needed to complete school projects. Now that I am sophomore in college, technology still plays a similar role. With a cell phone that can text message, email, surf the internet, access my facebook, take pictures, act as a GPS, as well as perform its other many capabilities, most of my use for technology can be done from the palm of my hand. Although I am not a technological wiz, I am very comfortable with most new technologies. I am very curious to learn how to use and take full advantage of the new capabilities provided by technology and will continue to use them to help benefit and enhance the quality of my life.