Mary O'Donnell
WRH 205
Dr. Ray
1-26-12
Technology Comes Slowly to This Nerdy Girl
I wasn't always the nerdy girl siting at her computer
downloading shows and movies, and using Facebook and reading e-books
and fan-fiction. I hadn't always wrote my short stories and novels on
a word processor. I'm older than most students that I attend classes
with, who can't remember not having cell phones or internet. I had
graduated high school without ever having a computer in the house. I
did learn how to use a computer thanks to a business writing course
that I took in school. But even after that class I only used my
computer basically as a sophisticated type writer. So what has
changed when it comes to technology in my life? To be honest,
everything has changed.
The first sign of change emerged when I got a cell phone about six
years ago. Until then there was only a land line in my life. The cell
phone opened up my eyes to really what technology was becoming, an
extension of people, like another appendage. It was creepy to me at
first but it wasn't long before I was on board since I could see how
nice it was to be able to communicate instantly by text and telephone
at any time or anywhere. After that there really was no stopping the
technology freak that was lurking underneath the surface of my brain.
After a cell phone for going back to college my husband got me a
laptop. However it never got even opened until another two years
later. When we go wifi at the apartment the laptop became a new and
exciting place.
After exploring the web and getting to know what the laptop and
wifi could get me, I started download music and shows and even
started to share my short stories with friend's on line. It was a
slow process but sharing stories and made a Livejournal account. Live
Journal tended to be too complicated to post in for me in the
beginning though and so I stopped and just tended to use the instat
chat and e-mail. All I did on the computer for the next few years was
writing, watching shows and e-mail. But then something else changed
in order to open up the internet for me. I found Facebook and Google
Docs.
First to come and dominate my life was Google Docs, and this did
this by allowing me to share my stories easily and even letting me
give other people permission to edit the work. The easy of sharing
made it possible to write with another person and so thanks to Google
Docs I started to role play with some friends online. Role playing is
just basically writing together taking turns writing different
characters and making up the story. It is constant and addictive
because the story never ends. So instead of blogging I do more
creative writing as my on line addiction. While other people have
gaming addiction issues my problem is staying up until way to late at
night replying to a friend's section of the story and expanding it. A
few months after I started role- playing on GoogleDocs I found
Facebook.
Now I know I am a late comer to Facebook, most young people have
had Facebook since they knew what a computer was. But I was afraid of
the ability it had to connect me to so many people at once. When I
found out that my best friend I grew up with in Florida had facebook,
that was all it took to get me to be brave and make an account. Now I
talk to family members that are far away and friends as well as share
photos and experiences. It was exciting to share parts of my life
again with far away friends and family. Now Facebook adds to many
late nights and tired mornings along with the role-playing.
I am proud of how I went from not even owning a computer for
years to the technology nerd that I am today. Like most people I am
addicted to my technology, I like my internet and e-books, and
cellphones. They give me the ability to be entertained and to
communicate with friends and family in an immediate way. For me
however it was a slow process, and I'm still not sure if it's
completely a good change or not. However, I can't deny that most of
my late nights are spent typing on the keyboard writing the latest
part to the role playing story, or chatting on and sharing on
Facebook. I enjoy every moment of my addiction.