When I was in third grade my mom turned our downstairs closet into an office. The closet was the size of a pantry so it had space to comfortably move around in. Our first computer was a gateway desktop; it had a huge gray screen with a tilted white box aside white lettering Gateway at the bottom. The room was towards the back of the house and I had to ask permission whenever I wanted to go in. Our dial-up internet connection took at least ten minutes, but once on it ran quickly. My mom and dad would allow me access to the computer long as it was avaliable before 7pm. When the room had finally been settled I had permission to use the computer to play Geopets. Some days I would sit in that room up until 6:55! Geopets was a virtual pet community that required you to play games for you to live. I had heard about the game from my classmates, and wanted to join the fun. That’s when a computer became a habit instead of leisure. I stayed on game sites until my sophomore year in High School when MySpace become popular. I used my computer the most when I had a MySpace account. Not only did I spend hours looking at profiles, but I also had my own that required perfection. The backgrounds were made by codes, found on different sites that had various selections to choose from.
It would take hours to look for a code that had a design that I liked. I had to copy, paste, and find codes for perks like words falling from the screen when my profile is first displayed. Before and after school I would constantly be on the site. The internet started to replace telephones. I stopped receiving calls on my home phone, and started receiving MySpace notifications or AIM messages. Conversations, feelings, thoughts, were all made via internet. The need for the internet increased after high school. Once entering college I found that almost all source of information that I needed could be found on the internet. Assignments, books, local directions, are just a select few of the materials that I can be accessed via web. I have more access now than I did when I was surfing in my family’s office. Wi-Fi makes it easy for anyone to get an connection.
From my iPhone I use the internet to access apps making the smallest things quickly accessible. Lately I’ve been trying to limit my internet use. This is a computer age, and I want more human interaction. I cut myself to one social network and set maximum time be spent on the site. I don’t see the internet as a guide, more as an aid. The social aspect of the internet is not honorable and I wouldn’t take part. Using the internet for more of an information source and less for entertainment purpose, will improve me well.
As a child from the era the Internet had become something larger, I can truly connect with your story of your first time using the Internet. What I find interesting about your post is your choice to limit the amount of Internet time and social media time you have decided to use.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought about this would have to be on the line of wondering why you would choose to limit yourself from such a vast pool of information and entertainment. After thinking about it, I realized just how much I actually use the internet and find that your self imitations is a sense of control that most people don’t have when it comes to the internet.
It’s funny how similar our uses to the Internet have been. You’re talk about using MySpace and AIM to get information from people is the absolute truth. The reliability of them as a teen was important to me too.
The major thing that is difference in opinion is how I find that these social medias are still strongly important to my personal connections. I don’t entirely believe that the limitation of using the social media sites is help. I don’t think I could stay away as well as you do.
You described your first experiences and how the Internet has changed as you grew up and how you use it now, which really makes this a strong article. I know a lot of people can relate to the whole MySpace thing, and always being on the computer. It really got me thinking about how much I was on the computer at that age, and it makes me sick!!!
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of grammatical/punctuation errors in your article. This is one of my pet peeves so it’s hard for me not to point that out. Another thing I would change is the layout of your article; it would have been easier to read if it was separated into several paragraphs. Other than that, you made a lot of strong points.
Some of your best remarks were when you mentioned, “That’s when a computer became a habit instead of leisure.” I couldn’t agree more with that, ever since a young age I would just go on my computer and log onto the Internet by default, like it was part of my daily routine.
I have to say that I disagree with limiting yourself to one social network. I don’t know what your major is, but mine is public relations and knowing and engaging with social networking sites is huge. If our generation doesn’t know how to use all types of social media, it might be looked down upon depending on the field of work you want to pursue. I totally agree with your reasoning though, wanting more human interaction. But at this day in age, that’s like saying you want world peace.