My Technological Narrative (rough draft)

Technology was always part of my life as I look back; the radio, t.v., even electricity. It wasn't until I was introduced to the computer that technology changed my life. Around 12 years of age I stopped reading books and started surfing; surfing the Internet that is. A new chapter of my life began with the introduction of this new technology, the computer.

As a child, I loved to read books. All types of books; The Babysitters Club, Goosebumps, Nancy Drew, autobiographes, fiction, science fiction, mystery, I thought they were all great. I even won a summer reading contest when I was eight years old, reading 300 books in one summer alone! I was in the newspaper and everything-my parents were so proud of their little book worm. My brother thought I was nuts. My brother Jimmy and my father loved the computer. They were always hovering over the desk starring at the monitor. I thought it looked so hard to use a computer. Little did I know how drastic my life would be in a few years because of it.

I kept journals all my life, I bought cute little notebooks with hearts or butterflys on them and wrote in them religiously. To this day, I have stacks of journals. Sometimes I wrote so much my hand would hurt. In school, I remember my teachers reminding the class to use our best handwriting for papers, essays, and homework that were assigned. Somtimes the teacher would require script, which we hated. Today, my professors remind the class too except the reminder isn't to write neatly it's to use 12 point, Times New Roman font, and double spaced with 2.5 inch margins.

Computer technology definatley changed my life. Around 12 years old my father showed me a comuter program called America On-Line and I was hooked. I no longer read as many books. My mother didn't have to yell at me to go to sleep when she would hear my footsteps scurry across the living room floor to swap the book I just finished for a new one. Instead, she would have to find compromise between Jimmy and I when we fought over computer time. America On-Line was a huge part of my life when I was about 13 years old. When my friends would come over, we would go on the computer. IMing seemed to replace phone calls and e-mails replaced letters. I could spend hours on the computer without even realizing it. To this day, that is still the case; it's timeless!

As time went on, my teachers started to give us the option of typing our assignments. Today, it is mandatory. I no longer write in my journals or read many books. I browse the internet instead, I even have the internet on my phone! Various programs are utilized in today's society such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Works, Powerpoint, and Word Processors (etc.). These programs aid in professional writing and presentation. The tools such as spell check, wizards, and thesaurus help our documents be the best that they can be, not to mention they're much more attractive. I picked out my best writings from the journals I kept, typed them in a Word document, and editted it. Then I printed out a titled coverpage and put it all together in a blue, three-ringed binder. My writing went from scraps of scribble on a notepad to a potentially publishable work of art!

Although computer technology replaced my reading of books, it has helped me in so many other ways. I mean I still read, there's plenty to read on the Internet. There's billions of readily accessible information just a click away! I made a resume on the computer through resume wizard and my hand no longer hurts from writing with a pen or pencil. Data is stored on the hard drive so editing couldn't be easier. My mother would tell me stories when she was typist that if she or one of the other girls made ONE mistake, just one, she would have to start all over. Now, we can just backspace. It's a wonderful thing. Computers are a wonderful thing and I am proud to be a native citizen who invented such a useful technology. My household contains three computers one of which is mine that I am on at least 3 times a day when once upon a time I was oblivious to this technology.