The Virtual World & Me

I am a bit of a romantic.  I might even classify myself as someone who falls into the “Golden Age” notion of the past was better than the present.  That being said, I am, admittedly, a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to technology and my own digital literacy. 

When I was young, we didn’t have a computer in our home until my mother remarried when I was in the 6^th grade.  Up until that point, if I had homework that required the computer or internet access, my mother would trek down to her office with us after our after school activities, and we would get on for only what was needed and get right off because it was a company computer, and we now had thirty minutes to drive home.  My first real interaction with the internet came with the advent of the middle school social scene taking to Instant Messenger.

I remember that in order to be allowed to use the internet in my new step-father’s house, you had to pass a typing test.  I don’t know if he had software or there was a site we used, but regardless, we had to show progress to be able to do what we wanted to do.  I hated it!  But, I believe that it was one test that I passed that enabled me to create a screen name for AIM, and that was the primary means of communication, and the way I was the most comfortable in expressing my identity as a young teen.  As a shy girl in person, I really felt as though I was given an opportunity to express myself when I spoke with my friends and with boys online.

Even when I did finally have access to the internet, I was completely flummoxed when it came to the idea of “surfing.”  I didn’t understand what it was that people could possibly be searching for, and it all seemed quite overrated to me.  Give me AIM, and I was good to go.  As the years passed, my next major interest in the internet came with the myriad of song lyric websites.  I searched for all of my favorite songs, and made them my screen names, or my “Away Message” on AIM.  And for a very long time (all the way through high school), email, AIM, and Microsoft Word were the only things that I utilized by way of technology.  I even had an old Canon camera with the roll-up film all the way until my sophomore year of high school (which was 2004, by the way).

I loved to communicate over the internet.  It helped me to navigate my youth and adolescence in a way that I didn’t feel I was capable of in person or over the telephone.  I was a different person online; very funny and outspoken.  In person, I was the shy, wallflower type.  AIM gave me the courage to say what was on my mind because no one could see my face, and when no one was looking at me, I was much less likely to blush.  But despite my love of online conversations, I never went into chat rooms; I didn’t have an interest in talking to people I didn’t know.  I never have utilized MySpace; mainly because I found myself disinterested in learning how to navigate my way through a site.  And as far as Facebook is concerned, I did not create my first profile page; a friend of mine did when we were all going off to college, insisting that this was the only way we would be able to keep in touch.

I did learn much more about the internet, and expand my technological knowledge base in my first year or so of college, but even still, it largely consisted of Facebook and the “Chat” feature, therein.  The purchase of my own laptop opened up a world of music in mp3 format, PhotoBooth, and YouTube, however, I have only just recently made my first YouTube video, and that was only because it was a class assignment.  I must admit that I am not all that interested in being a producer of media that can be so closely connected to my likeness.

I still much prefer the anonymity of blogs and chatting.

What about you?