My digital literacy really begins back in grade school. I became the fastest typing first grader in my class. An odd title to have and hold on to, I know. Not long before that day came, I was the fastest talking kindergartener in my class, so with the age of computers, I guess it had to follow. I remember the idea of a computer made me feel powerful, creative, and independent all at once. It wasn't until much later, maybe recently, that they instead sometimes make me feel insignificant, inept, and misguided.
I guess that is a start for me to look into a little deeper. As a young child, an interactive interface, a single click game like Donald Duck's letter hunt, built my confidence by building my literacy skills. This is easy to compare and contrast with today's educational world for the young child which is abundant in computer technology. For instance, whereas 20 years ago when I was 5 years old, there was no such thing as a children's section in the library providing computers specifically for children's use only. Now, this is common and standard. I notice recently, that my son's own confidence is highly affected by his ability to use and interact in a digital world -- i.e. games and activities at online websites, etc.
As I got older, of course, my choice of programming with digital technology became more advanced. I moved from my Donald Duck game to a plethora of new activities and games like Prince of Persia, Wheel of Fortune, and Carmen Sandiego. I was also busy creating holiday and birthday, playing endlessly with paint, and all this pre-Windows operating system mind you. Still young, but probably having reached about the age of 10 years old, digital media was not only positively affecting my confidence, but my independence, and creativity.
Then, a entirely new world opened up for me with...the Internet. My family first bought dial-up AOL connection when I was in middle school, ripe in my tweens. One of the first things I remember doing was creating an AIM screen name, Pickle381 (after my obsession with Pickles, from the food, to a band, to a band I made myself, and finally the screen name). With my new screen name ready for action I must have hopped into an innumerable amount of Chat Rooms in that day. Chat rooms and instant messaging became almost like an obsession, as I remember clocking ridiculous online hours at those tasks, something not unlike 5-7 hours a day sometimes! Being such a new and exciting form of communication and myself bursting at the seams with prepubescent curiosity, the Internet was a much more limit defying thing than my parents probably ever realized at the time.
My current internet use has shifted quite a bit in the past 14 years for many reasons. The first shift came with higher speed technology. I could watch videos now, download tons of music, and search for any items faster than ever. Then in my teens, computer use other than the internet fought a tough battle to my desire for online communication. Livejournal is an online phenomena spanning about 3 years of my life. I also sought out a sense of community online in many different ways, from searching for local conferences with like-minded individuals, and registering at the earlier versions of social networking sites such as MakeOutClub and Friendster.
So, where am I at now with my relationship to digital media? Well, thankfully, the endless hours of downloading music and writing self-absorbed daily updates in an attempt to somehow validate myself has ended. Somewhere along the way, a few times, the internet took me into a vortex and tried to swallow me whole. I sometimes feel like it still does that, which is why I mention the negative effects of digital media possibly leading to feeling insignificant, inept, and misguided. However, that is an issue of self-regulation and perception. It is not easy coming of age in a digital world, and certainly confusing for a tween in today's world with basically the world, seemingly at their fingertips.
There was a funny musical on Broadway called Avenue Q with a song entitled, "The Internet is for Porn". I think the modern user of the Internet needs a sense of humor and parents and other adults to realize this a different type of world than the one that existed before the World Wide Web and instant download. When you can do that, you can really apply all the positive aspects of the new digital age into your life, of which there are many...I just didn't really get to them in this autobiography. I'm too busy looking at porn! j/k :)
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