My Experience with Computers

My Experience with Computers

Walking down the hallway to computer class excited me and made me a little anxious. The world of technology was slowly opening up to me. It was the year I took my first computer class. I learned how to push a button to start the computer, open up a program, and type. It was interesting, but my fear that I would accidentally hit the wrong key and make the computer crash overshadowed my ability to enjoy it. I would have to learn to conquer that fear, as digital technology became a part of my every-day life.

Computers became more common around school as I got older. In fifth grade, there was actually one computer in the classroom. I rarely practiced it, except if the teachers made us do an exercise using it. I picked up the skill more readily when I discovered the Internet.

The first time I used the Internet was at my friend's house. She had gotten it and was telling me about all the people she was meeting on-line in "chat rooms." I didn't understand how you could talk to real people over the computer. I went to my friend's house and we spent hours in front of the screen talking to people from all over the country on America on-line, the popular Internet access. I was obsessed. That was the only thing we did when I went over to her house. I was amazed at the expertise my friend developed at typing; she learned it after having to carry on multiple conversations with different people who instant-messaged her all at once. I was still pecking at the keys one-by-one.

Everyday I would beg my dad to get the family AOL. Finally he broke down and got it. I was glued to it for the first three months. Then the novelty began to wear off. I wasn't so impressed with talking to strangers anymore. I realized that people I met face-to-face I could hang out with, but I had no way of knowing that "kids" I talked to on-line weren't actually 50 year-old men.