Pre-Writing Questions (Part 2)

by Tameya Robinson

Think specifically of computer technology. Try to remember a specific computer technology that excited or angered you. Why did this technology have this specific impact on you?

    • I can recall having to learn social media when it first became a thing. So MySpace and AOL chat were the first two things I learned. I loved AOL chat because it was extremely user friendly and easy to learn. As a pre-teen/teenager, I didn’t have too many people I could IM with or send chats to because we were still young and my parents weren’t too fond of the internet. At that time, the internet was still relatively new and a lot of people (including my parents) weren’t tech savvy so new technology scared and worried them into extreme sheltering of their families and children. I loved MySpace – it was Facebook before Facebook was even thought of. I was able to connect with my friends, share pictures, add music and backgrounds to my page. I felt like I was a genius when I finally figured out how to use MySpace. Now, I still didn’t have too much access to it, because my parents were very overprotective, but when I was able to use it, I made sure I did all I could while I was on the site.

 

2. What early experiences with technological devices or artifacts can you recall? What do you remember about your earliest use of technologies? Or what stories do your parents tell about your interactions with technology? What were the popular gadgets in your house while growing up?

    • Our first family computer. I can remember it like it was yesterday. The heavy box with a dial tone that could wake an entire town up as it dials into the internet. I was 5, in kindergarten, and I had only seen the back of my teacher’s desktop computer. Of course, as a child, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere near it. That didn’t make it any less intriguing. Now that I had a computer at my house, I could touch it and investigate it all I want. This was my first memory of seeing technology up close and I honestly couldn’t believe what I was witnessing – how did our vast world fit into such a small device? How could you get so much information in such a quick amount of time? As silly as those questions may seem, I was only 5 so my feeble mind couldn’t fully comprehend how the whole technology thing worked. I had seen a TV and I knew that there weren’t little people in our TV or in our radio, both notions were simply absurd. This advanced piece of technology, our new computer, open Pandora’s Box of questions in my mind. The internet – the world wide web – was foreign to me, as well millions of people around the globe. I honestly never paid too much attention to how much technology we had in our house, until we got this strange chunk of machinery.

3. Among your friends, are you considered and “early adopter,” a “late adopter,” or somewhere in the middle? Why?

    • Those closest to me would say that I’m in the middle of an “early adopter” and a “late adopter,” when it comes to learning new technology. I’m not against new things, new apps, new technology, new software, new online services, etc., but I’m also not running around chasing every new fad that comes out. I’d like to think that I move to the sound of my own drum and I go with the flow that I make for myself. I’ve always felt like new technology junkies run after every new craze in technology and they’re never truly satisfied. I’ve seen too many technology fads come and go, only a few have stayed – lasting the test of time and criticism.

I Love/Hate Technology

by Tameya Robinson

Our first family computer. I can remember it like it was yesterday. The heavy box with a dial tone that could wake an entire town up as it dials into the internet. I was 5, in kindergarten, and I had only seen the back of my teacher’s desktop computer. Of course, as a child, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere near it. That didn’t make it any less intriguing. Now that I had a computer at my house, I could touch it and investigate it all I want. That was my first memory of seeing technology close up. My first memory of USING technology was playing Oregon Trail – one the best computer games of all time. That was my favorite game to play and it was probably the only computer game I could play.

Outside of our new family computer, we didn’t have much technology in our house. We had one cell phone, one TV, and one VHS player(with a billion VHS cassettes). At this time, my father sold computer software for Plato so he was pretty tech savvy for that time in technology. My mother was a receptionist at IBM, so she understood technology since she worked for a computer software company and she had to use a computer along with their software while at work. I started using computers in 3rd grade. We had a computer literacy course that we were required to take until the 6th grade. I was a quick learner and honestly that was my favorite class, besides music. At a very young age, I was fascinated with technology and at one point I actually wanted to have a career in technology; but when the threat of Y2K was looming over the globe, nobody thought technology was going to last.

BOY WERE THEY WRONG!!!

Hello world!

by Tameya Robinson

Welcome to the place where beautiful minds meet!

Too often we roam alone, thinking that no one else sees the beauty beyond our rough edges.

Make way for the adventurers that are exploring new ways of brilliance. Cheers to the strong and beautiful minds that seek to grow beyond their limitations and bad habits. Here’s to the gorgeous ones that choose to inspire and influence for the greater good. And when others say we’ve done all we can do, we get refreshed and do it all over again!