Techie Babble from the Cyborg

Technology currently occupies a large portion of my daily existence. It keeps me contained, organized, and connected. I feel as if my life is in my laptop (she's called the Silver Surfer by the way). If I lost her or killed her, I would be slightly upset.

My dad was a gift-giver. It was his love language you might say. And he liked to gift what I saw as technology. He did not use it himself, but he thought it wise to give to me as if I had some special knowledge about it because I was a youngin'. My first memory of technology might be the Speak n Spell. I can hear that robotic voice ringing through my head as I write this and its long-term effect might be that I am still a terrible speller. After that came a tape recorder, an Atari (with Frogger), the Sony Walkman, and the very first tape I picked out myself – Whitney Houston.

Computers started to be used in school and I loved going to computer class where all we did was play Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Every game felt like a new adventure and I am immensely lucky that for some reason my video game obsession ended there – I could have easily become an addict. Even though my friends were all getting Nintendos and such, my mom did not think I needed the distraction. My job was to do well in school, not play video games. Good job, Mom.

I remember typing my senior year papers at a friend's house on the blue screen. I would laugh at how fast the curser could move. I started out with the two-finger typing system and I must say that I was quite quick at it. My advisor convinced me to take a typing course my last semester of school. I really should send her a thank you message on Facebook about that – it has had a tremendous influence on my life as now I don't even like to write by hand much anymore.

Then came my first email account. It was my college email account and I couldn't believe how easy it was to keep in touch with everyone! When I went back to teach as an adjunct at my alma mater, it was a source of pride that I could get back my college email address and be newman001 again. All was right with the world.

Next came my desktop, then a cell phone, a laptop, a better cell phone, a Mac (once you go Mac, you never go back), and an iPhone. In the middle came more and more technology - a car, electronic musical equipment, a flat screen TV, and so on and so on. Before I knew it I found myself involved in social networking sites, website development, and digital music recording.

That brings me all to today. I barely watch TV, I dislike driving, I do not even listen to my voicemail (so never leave me one), and I sometimes even turn off my cell phone. I get annoyed with my inability to find free cloud space for all my GBs of files, with a slow internet connection, and with difficult to read websites.

I feel lucky to be born in 1977 when I was in the midst of a grand tech leap. I could grow up without the plethora of technology we have today. I saw it arrive, was amazed by it, and can still appreciate all it has to offer. I am still even occasionally wowed by it. I have used it and abused it and now it is part of me. I try to separate myself but I don't know if I can anymore. I'm ok with being part Borg. I have paired it down to what works for me. I see technology as a neutral tool – able to be what I need it to be on my terms. I refuse to be overwhelmed or dominated by it. There is always an off switch and before I try a new a form of technology I make sure I know precisely where that is.