Digital Digital...Let's Get Down!!!

If this were a map, there would be a little arrow pointing to a dinosaur and it would read:

You Are Here: The beginning of computers.

As I look back on my first computer, the 50 lb. Gateway monitor with an equally as heavy tower, I giggle. That’s what we computer nerds call a "dinosaur" and it could not support the programs we use today. However, I had to start somewhere.

My mom was literally, the bee’s knees when she said she was going to buy a computer. The day that cow printed box arrived I thought I was going to be one of those super cool computer hackers hired by the C.I.A. Well, little did I know I was nowhere near grasping that fantasy. But, this computer did put me in the gateway to a future of technology that nothing else of that time could. My feelings of excitement made me want to learn every intricate detail of this new machine. I would stay up until the wee hours of the night tapping at the keyboard, clicking at the mouse, which by the way I thought was the coolest name because it really did look like a little mouse in some geeky way. I was wowed by the games I could play, the programs I could explore in, and inevitably the problems that pop up in error boxes. This was the beginning of my life as a digital native. My mom would poke at the contraption as if it were a dead animal of sorts, not sure how to approach it or how to handle it. She would call me to help her if there was the slightest delay in her request or if she was unfamiliar with a program. I was forced to teach myself ways to communicate without words to this machine. With these vital tools, I became the go to girl in my family.

You are here: The World Wide Web.

My family thought just the tower and monitor was a challenge, they decided to add the internet which opened a gateway to a whole new can of worms. They were excited about the immense research they could accomplish, as if their brand new set of encyclopedias didn’t do the trick. Who were they kidding? Research! At this time, the internet was a huge scare, no one wanted turn themselves lose to the World Wide Web. There was so much scare about the things that were on the internet that I was barely allowed to engage in its wonder. My monitored visits were similar to those children have after a bad divorce. My mother hovered over my shoulder (and yes, if you were wondering, my mother had accomplished the talent of hovering) making sure I wasn’t looking at a half naked girl prancing around a pink room. I think I was around eight and the only naked girl prancing around in a pink room was my Barbie and I’m pretty sure she didn’t have her own webpage. I was more interested in the clicking, if you clicked on this link you here and then there and then here and there, and before I knew it I didn’t know where I was. This only instilled the idea that you can go anywhere on the web. But soon after we grew comfortable with the internet and all of its many gateways, pagers and car phones came into our reach.

You are here: smack dab in the middle of driving while trying to have the least accessible phone conversation in your life.

Cheesy car phones that were more like walkey-talkies than anything, which was the new amazing invention. You had to hold down the button while you were talking and then hurry and let go so you could hear the other person, it was not efficient in any way shape or form. But, it laid the ground works for cellular phones.

You are here: the brick era.

The original cellular phone, bigger than everyone’s hands with an antenna that could pick up alien frequencies, nice. The people that had those phones, whoa, they were so cool. Of course, back then, those phones didn’t look nearly as nerdy as they would now. No one would be caught dead lugging around one of those bricks. Technology had a way of working it's way into my hands. My pops was lucky enough to have two steller daughters who (with their mother's help) got him a cellular phone. For me, it was easy to catch on to what was put in my hand, but my pops, he was lost. When the phone would ring, he would hand it to me and ask me to shut it up. Obviously, answering the phone never came into his mind. This cell phone is a mockery of our new fancy technology. This dinosaur changed to a new tech packed piece of machinery. Phones change daily and it’s almost impossible to keep up. When I got my first camera phone I was so pumped, I filled up the memory in the first two days. Suddenly, I was tuned on to the essence of photography and the digital world I was growing up in.

You are here: the single lens reflex movement.

I had my first digital camera when I was a senior in high school. I ate, drank, and slept with it. Every moment was a "Kodak moment" to me. This is where I saw my future with technology heading. I wanted to be the person who took those priceless pictures. As far my family was concerned, I was. At all family gatherings (which, with my family was just about every weekend) they would hollar at me to get my camera. My uncle and my cousin both were in to photography as well, and then they started doing short films and commercials. That sparked my interest as well. They would show me some of their work and I wanted to jump on that technology train.

You are here: Recording. Watching.

It was exciting to press a single button, look through a tiny eye piece, watch people's movements and then watch them on TV, knowing you created this small masterpiece. My future plans started to jummble with every aspect of my life going digital. Pictures weren't always tangable and then...music went digital.

You are here: 80GB.

I was threw lugging around a CD player (oh, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with such terms, a CD is a compact disk, it's a round device that holds music, you insert it into a player designed for reading it), all of my music was at my fingertips and I didn't have to worry about it skipping. Digital pictures, videos, and music caused a need for computers that could only expand these features. My interests require editing programs, big screens, a lot of memory, and a sleek appeal. Guess where my techonology obsession led me? Mac, and I'm not talking about the golden arches.

You are here: In a PC's dream.

Mac computers play an intricate part in the digital era I have been living in. Any kind of editing is done on a Mac and if you aren't Mac savvy, you are lagging. It's a little scary entering the world of Macs, most people grew up on PCs and these two computers are vastly different. But here, in the world of Macs, music can be made, movies can be put together and pictures can be perfected. All of these amazing tools are at my hand, and I can create beauty in an instant.

With all of these new technologies changing new ones being created, I can't help but ask....

WHAT IS NEXT?