Technology Autobiography

My first computer memories are of my dad bringing a laptop home from work, back when laptops were the Big New Thing.  I remember my brother and I sitting in the floor playing with clipart on it and making pictures for his office.  I had my first experience with a computer lab when I was in the third grade and we finally had one installed at my elementary school.  When we got our first desktop computer at my house, it had Windows 3.1 on it, and it had quite the vast selection of arcade-style games.  We upgraded to Windows 95 shortly after it came out.  It's been downhill ever since.  My handwriting might have suffered a little because of my preference for typing, but I feel most of the time like I type faster than I hand-write, and typing is cleaner and easier to edit.  I honestly don't leave home without my laptop.  (It'd be nice if I had a smaller one--the tank that I got through UCA is pretty heavy to lug around.)  Between me and my brother, we're constantly having to show my parents how to use the internet, the printer, Photoshop...rather basic things, in my opinion, and while my dad's gotten better at it, my mom is something of a luddite.

I have unfortunately not yet had the opportunity to have a smartphone of my own, and because of lack of need I was something of a late adapter to the cell phone, but now that I have one, I - like everyone else, I'm sure - never stop texting.  I still have a pretty cheap little flip phone, a pay-as-you-go, but I want a Blackberry like nobody's business, and I've gotten pretty savvy playing with my friends' iPhones.  (I wouldn't want one, personally; they're a little clunky and I do not much care for their service or Apple in general.)

I've been around gaming systems for most of my life, even though I'm not that much of a gamer.  My brother bought an N64 when they were new, and prior to that, I'd played on my friends' Sega and SNES systems.  We have a GameCube and a PS2 as well, though the PS2 is sort of falling apart.  I had a Game Boy Colour in the fifth grade.  (I still have it, and I still play Pokemon Blue on it.)  My brother got a Game Boy SP when they came out, and he got a DS shortly after they were released, which I at some point commandeered and have had ever since.

I personally don't consider myself the most technologically savvy person on the face of the planet, but I think I'm pretty adept, considering my generation and our experience with computers.  I'm an internet addict, especially when it comes to media like Twitter.  I have more email addresses and blogs than I know what to do with, and I honestly don't keep up with most of them.  I have more Twitter accounts than I can count, most of them for roleplay.  I check Tumblr every day, and while Facebook isn't my favourite, I do keep up with it as well, since most of my friends seem to prefer it.  I'm still an oldschool adherent to Windows Live Messenger, to the point that I still refer to it as MSN.  I've used Skype, but I don't very often, since my webcam is crap and Skype slows down my computer.  My friends give me odd looks for it, but I still prefer Microsoft Office over open-source alternatives.  I know how to use image editing programmes like Gimp and Photoshop, and I really enjoy playing around with them.  Technology is my friend, honestly.  I don't shun it, I fight with it on occasion, but for the most part, I don't know what I'd do without it.  I'd like to learn a lot more than I know currently.  Maybe one of these days.