Digital Literacy

When I think back on my use of computers, it starts very early. Some of my very earliest memories are from 1st and 2nd grade. We always had a list of activities that we would move through during the week such as Art, PE, Music, and Computers. I used to love going to the computer activity center, because we would have a small project that we would have to do to get us more comfortable on the computers, but then we would get "free play" and I always knew exactly what I would do with my time!!

 

This was the mother load of all kids art programs at the time! You could make all sorts of fun pictures using paint tools, but there were also stamps and special features you could use. One of my favorite things through was the special eraser. You hit the button and it made a crazy black and white swirl, almost made you dizzy if you were staring at it, and this crazy low mans voice would say " OH NO!" as it erased. I loved it, and will never forget that!

Then, when I got to about 4th grade we started to use a program called The Oregon trail, this was just an education game for students to learn about the people of the Oregon trail, and gave students a first hand view at some of the choices and decisions that people of those times had to make. I will never forget my teacher when we played this game. her name was Mrs. Cullen, she was always very animated, but I remember her acting out scenes in the game by putting desks together and jumping on top of them to give us little shows. It was hilarious,and definitely a fun and interesting way of learning.

I cant quite remember exactly when we got our first computer at home, but being a middle class white family, it didn't take my father long to put away enough money to get our first computer. I don't remember exactly what there was to do on the internet for kids at that point, and between my two older sisters and I, I don't remember getting a ton of time to be on it. But I do remember my very first "screen name" for a teen's chat room I was allowed to use. I called my self "littybit224" I was young, but I do remember how "mature" the content always was in these chat rooms, it is scary to think that those things were happening in "rooms" that were set up for kids 10-14 years old. it scary to think that pedophiles and people who shouldn't be accessing these chats can do it with such ease. 

 Once I got into my late junior high and early highschool years, I signed up for one of the first social networking type activities available which was Live Journal. This was basically a website where you could write all about your day, like you would in a diary. Only difference was that you could share it publicly with your friends. without bringing your diary to school. It was also neat because depending on your mood, you could change your backgrounds for the actual journal, and you could add pictures of yourself, and of your friends.After reading your journal posts, your friends could comment on what you had written, you could always stay up to date on your friends lifes, and almost know more about them then you really wanted to! 

Then, of course, I had to jump on the Myspace bandwagon, also like Live Journal, it was a social network where you could show off the amount of friends you had, and post how you were feeling . The difference, mostly was that you had to keep each update up to only a certain amount of characters. Kids need to know, that they need to be careful on things like this though, because child predators could easily try and seduce a child and convince them to come to their house, or give them personal information. These websites can be very dangerous. 

My final destiny so far in social networking..
FACEBOOK!

And I will be the first to say, I spend to much of my time on this website, and it is the death of any healthy relationship!

I began using Facebook in high school, and it caught on like wildfire. It originally was very similar to Myspace, but it was supposed to be for college students for social networking. But, the creator decided to open it up and allow anyone and everyone to use it. This site, although nice to be able to catch up with friends, and also keep in touch with friends from the past, has ruined some of my friendships, and caused struggles and trust issues in past relationships.I know it must sound silly to say that it can ruin friendships and relationships, but all Facebook did was allow men to contact women they shouldn't and encourage friends to play a live version of the game telephone all the time, it is honestly nothing but a gossip train in highschool. 

  I am so glad that growing up I was able to really experience computers and feel blessed that I was always able to have one at home to use, so I didn't have to go to the library or to school to do projects and enjoy the perks of the internet. It seems crazy to think of a world where internet and computers do not exist because we rely so heavily on this form of communication now. but I do think that eventually the world will step back from this type of communicating, and just like every trend, Facebook will eventually have to lose power by some other "new" trend. I cant wait to see how much my digital literacy will grow in the future!