Technology Narrative

When it comes to computers, I have learned to appreciate them through time.  Unlike many people, I do not remember in detail the first time that I saw a computer.  In the past couple of weeks, I have been attempting to recall my feelings but find it to be difficult. Why do I feel this way?  Because my feelings toward the computer increased over time, I found it hard to recall something that was just there and not a daily concern.
          My first encounter with a computer was when I was about eight years old. I remember my dad coming home with this huge brown cardboard box with a foreign word on it; “Macintosh”. Our whole family stood around this new desk that my dad bought while he excitedly opened the box to reveal this big box with a black screen.  Not only this, but there were extra elements that went with it.  There was something my parents kept calling a “keyboard” but all I knew was that it looked like my mom’s typewriter and the other half of the typewriter was called a “printer”.  Whatever this “computer” thing was, I wasn’t interested.  It had a boring black screen with green letters and nothing fun to look at.  I actually remember getting bored while looking at the screen.  To me, this was a parent tool and I was more than happy to return back to the basement to play my new Nintendo game called “Mario Brothers”.  This was way more interesting than that boring “computer” because it actually had colors and I was in control of that little plumber on the screen.
          For the next couple of years, I didn’t really care too much for the computer.  My parents were mainly the only ones who really used it, except for my older brother (and then only once in a while).  My parents would do work on it while my brother was able to find a game that he found intriguing.  No matter how “fun” that game was, it wasn’t in color, didn’t have a remote control, and it didn’t make cool noises; all aspects that made Nintendo better (in my mind). 
          Then one day, while I was watching television, my parents came in all excided.  My dad called to my older brother to come help him get something out of the trunk of the van and our whole family brought this new box (very similar to the first one- but now it said “Apple” on the side) up to where the current computer was.  I wasn’t too excided, because I never used the computer, but the minute it was turned on, I was impressed.  It had color!!  This time, I could actually find more positive aspects to draw in my attention.  First of, it was interesting because of the different colors that were displayed on the screen, and secondly, it actually had a game I enjoyed.  This game was called solitaire.   Quickly I was obsessed with the game and so was the rest of my family.  At all different times of the day you could find at least someone from my house on the computer, but no matter what Nintendo (and now Sega) were still top of my ‘to do’ list. 
          At this time, I was in forth or fifth grade and I was getting assigned papers to type on the computer.  Because I was only interested in the games of the computer, I didn’t really know how to type the appropriate way.  In other words, it took forever for me to type four words. Since this was the case, I would beg my parents to type for me but sometimes they were busy and would say that I needed the practice.  To their surprise, after two hours they would come upstairs and I would have only two paragraphs done and three more to do.  I was really typing challenged.  I hated the typing aspect of the computer.  Why did we have to type papers?  Why couldn’t my handwritten copies work?  I had really good handwriting and it was way quicker than typing.  The one element that was fabulous about typing on the computer though was spell check.  Wow, who knew that original wasn’t spelled “origional”? Not me!
          Then one day when I was in sixth grade, I went online and saw this icon on the computer that said “America Online”.  What is “online”?  How can America be “online”? 
Little did I know that my life would be totally altered from that point on.  I quickly formatted something called a “screen name” and exchange my “screen name” with friends from school.  Suddenly I had access to talk to my friends “online” and the computer became more important in my social life.  This new technology could have been the best thing for my typing skills.  How?  In order to keep up my online conversations with my friends, I couldn’t take ten minutes to type two sentences.  If this happened, my friends would never wait for my comment and the conversation would quickly end.  Something had to happen, and that something was for me to practice typing.  Through my typing class, I learned the proper way to position my hands while typing, and all I had to do was practice while online. 
My typing skills gradually increased and when I was in high school I was very quick at this skill.  I almost considered it a talent of mine.  At this point, more was required of me and now I was to taught how to do research online from my teachers.  I was instructed on what appropriate sites to quote and what were were not reliable.  I was also introduced to the online thesaurus and dictionary.  What wonderful tools.  All I had to do was type the word and the results would show.  This was much easier and quicker than sifting through hundreds of pages in a book to find one word.  What a terrific invention. 
Now four of my five classes require internet access and all five require typing.  I still find it amazing that I can type a paper and easily research my topic by just pressing a button. I have noticed that my writing skills have increased through time and that
The computer has now become a daily tool.  It is hard to think about what life is like without a computer at my disposal.  Who would have thought that first day that my dad brought home that large brown box that it would change everything forever.