My Technobiography

Technology has always played a role in my life. It is likely I would not be alive today without technology as I was born six weeks premature. Looking back it amazing how far technology, especially communications and entertainment, has evolved since I was born. Growing up through the 80’s and early 90’s, I’ve been able to watch the end of several old technologies and experience many of the one’s we now take for granted from their inception. It is astounding how fast GPS has replaced traditional paper maps and a compass. Music went from tapes to MiniDisks to CDs and eventually left the record store my migrating to multitude of electronic formats easily and instantly distributed around the world. I still do not own an mp3 player or iPod, though I probably won’t hold out for much longer.

When I was a kid, computers were not nearly as omnipresent as they are today. My only options for putting words to paper as a kid was writing, as I was not allowed to use the family typewriter for fear I would mess it up. The first time I used a computer was in 2nd or 3rd grade when my elementary school built its first computer lab, full of Apple II computers. We got a family computer when I was in middle school, an IBM with a Pentium I chip that I used to type papers and occasionally play Wolfenstein3D or Doom. Today my cell phone has more memory, a better processor, better graphics, and can play those games! I did not get my own computer until I was a junior in high school, which is also the first time I used the internet for anything personal. Before that, my only experience with the internet was through the school or county library for research. That Compaq computer served me well through my first semester in college when I finally bought myself a laptop with a then awesome Pentium III chip. I’ve watched displays evolve from black screens with green type to gigantic high definition plasma and LCD screens.

Speaking of games, the first computer games I played were on my friends Commodore64. I’ve owned or played basically every home console system available since the early 80’s, starting with an Atari 2600, moving to a Sega Master sysem, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis (with the Sega 32x and Sega CD add-ons), TurboGrafx-16, Neo Geo, Atari Jaguar, 3DO, Sega Saturn, Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, and their modern heirs in Playstation 2 and 3, Xbox and Xbox360, Nintendo GameCube and Wii. Evolution can be circular it seems, as every time I play the Wii I can’t help but think back to the original NES pad and power glove. I still dust off my original Game Boy for a round of Tetris for old times sake now and again.

The ubiquity of communication devices today has changed more than anything. We still had a rotary dial phone when I was little. Unless you were home or at work, there was no way to get in contact with someone. Remember the giant briefcase sized cell phone? My mom had one, it was a blissfully silent device since no one knew to call it and it was for emergency purposes only. I got my first cell phone in 8th grade, a Motorola about the size and weight of a brick, so my parents could check on me when I was out and so I could call home without needing to find change for a pay phone. And phone calls were all it could do, not play video, games, music, or browse the wireless internet that of course did not yet exist. What was once so important, having an actual physical land line in your house, has been usurped and even replaced with cell phones and broadband phone services.

With all the changes I've seen over the last two decades, it is with wonder that I look forward to how things will change as I grow older. It is nice to cut the leash every once in a while though, staying off the computer for a few days, getting somewhere new without googling directions, looking up information in a book, etc. to keep technology in perspective: its purpose is to make life simpler and easier, not more complex and trying to remember the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).