Welcome. You've Got Mail.

I can vividly remember the day my mom told me I was getting a computer.  I was in the sixth grade and had just gotten off the bus at home; I sat down on the couch next to her and listened to her finish up a phone call.  After she hung up she told me that she had just ordered us a computer--I was ecstatic.  A few days later, the computer arrived and I was tasked with setting it all up.  Yes, me, a sixth grader just learning how to type.  I happily pulled everything out of the box: the large tower, the CRT monitor, the wires and cords of the mouse & keys and began matching the colors and plugs.  It took a lot of time and determination, but I finished and turned it on.  It successfully powered up and while we didn't have dial-up internet access, we did have paint, solitaire and minesweep.  I sat there for hours that night playing games and drawing pictures with the mouse.

I honestly am not sure why I remember this so vividly.  Maybe it was because the computer has played such an intregal part in both my personal life and my education that I can't image what life was like before microsoft office and Google or maybe it was because all my friends were getting computers and I was just happy to get one too.  Either way, the computer has only continued to incorporate itself in the many ways I communicate each day.  From the first e-mail I sent, the first instant message I received or the first text message I painstakingly typed out--my time spent on a computer continues to last a little longer each day.

There are countless ways the computer has made my life easier and made information so readily available to me.  I can't imagine not having the power of Google to help me research a paper, or sending a message and getting an almost instantaneous response.  I realize that we are spoiled in the technologies we have that make our way of life easier, but I look forward for the things to come and I'm sure I'll have many more "firsts" where computers and technology are concerned. 

It didn't used to be simpler. It wasn't better before. It's not useless.

When reading this article, the first thing that came to my mind was an image of my grandfather.  Once my grandfather realized it was cheaper to have a cell phone than to pay long distance charges on his home phone he went out and bought one.  It was only a step up from the Zack Morris 'Saved by the Bell' cell phone--the Nokia (you know the one i'm talking about), but he used it faithfully every Sunday as he would make his weekly phone calls to relatives across the country.  He'd get out his address book to hunt down the phone numbers since he was sure he'd never be able to find them in "that phone".  I'd laugh and use this time to tie up the phone line with dial-up internet.

In my mind, I'm telling myself that that'll never be me--I'll always be open to new technology--heck, i'll even look forward to it.  I hope.  Here's the big difference between me and my grandpa:  he grew up in a time of relative constancy as far as technology is concerned; whereas I grew up in the digital age.  I've been bombarded with new advancements in technology for as long as I can remember--from desktop computers that were basically useless unless you liked solitaire, to the internet (AOL), to laptops, to cell phones, to MP3 players, to tablets and the list is growing every day.  I have been forced to keep up.

I'd like to think that i'll continue to evolve with technology, but one thing I have discovered as I "grow up" is that with age comes uncertainty of the unknown.  When I was a child/teen--I had no fear, but now I find myself questioning things I never would have thought twice about.  The author made a reference to foursquare--in my teens I never would've thought twice about "checking in" somewhere whereas now I question whether or not it's safe to let people know that i'm at a movie (meaning i'll be out of my house for at least 2 hours--feel free to rob me blind.).  This is where I find my uncertainty in the future of technology--will I be so eager to learn new technology in 20 years or will the uncertainty get the best of me?  I guess we'll have to wait and see.