This is the first assignment for my communication studies course. The assignment was to answer the following questions: When did you first use the 'net? For what purpose? When did you first log-on yourself with your own account? How did you use it? What technology did you have available and how was it different than what you use now? What place or role did the 'net have in your life when you first began to use it, and how has that changed for you now?
When I look back at my own personal history of the internet I have to go back to seventh grade. I remember sitting in our unfinished basement on the computer. I cannot recall what brand it was but the screen was fairly small with a big bulky monitor which sat upon a horizontal tower. It had a CD-ROM drive and 3 ½ floppy drive. The main reason I would use the computer was to go onto the Sports Illustrated for Kids website and play their games. It wasn’t long after I was able to access the internet in my home that I got an email account because all of my friends had email accounts as well. It was on juno.com since that was our internet provider. After we switched our internet provider, I set up my hotmail account. I have no idea what it was but it was probably something very silly, but obviously sounded awesome at the time. I remember sending emails back and forth between friends and family and myself.
Around ninth grade I upgraded and got my own AOL instant messaging screen name since my other friends had their own. After that, I spent the majority of the time on AIM. For awhile I had the music sharing program Kazza. I thought it was so cool that I could find my favorite songs and music videos. After hearing about viruses that could be downloaded from the files, my dad made me get rid of it. That was a sad day for me, but probably for the best.
The first computer we had was not very powerful. It also had a bulky monitor and tower. When looking back at the first couple of years we had internet access, it was so slow but seemed like the greatest thing since sliced bread back then. We had a dial-up modem so I was only allowed to be on the internet for 45 minutes at a time. If the incoming call alert popped up I had to click the “answer” button no matter what I was doing; even if I was in the middle of a conversation on AIM. I remember getting upset whenever that stupid alert would pop up and I was talking to a friend or two on AIM. If I wanted to talk to people uninterrupted I had to do it late at night on the weekends.
During my sophomore year we got a new computer. It still had a tower but had a flat screen monitor. I thought it was cool that the monitor didn’t weigh a ton and wasn’t overly bulky. It wasn’t until I came to college that we got a cable modem. I thought it was so awesome that we had cable internet because I didn’t have to wait forever for a webpage to load. I could also stay connected to the internet AND have the phone open. I was so happy! Now I have my own laptop with wireless internet capability. My laptop is more powerful and has more storage space than our family computer. We also bought a wireless router for our home during my junior year of college. I was ecstatic when we got it hooked up. I remember turning on my wireless radio and walking into our living room and checking my email. It was such a cool experience to be able to check my email AND watch a movie. What was interesting about the experience was that I was sitting in the same spot that our first computer had been, except this time our basement was finished and I was able to set my computer on my lap and be connected to the internet.
When I first started using the internet I didn’t spend a lot of time online because I was highly active in sports and enjoyed being at practice and outside. I also would spend most of my time after practices working on my homework which was mostly worksheets (I miss those easy assignments). Occasionally I would spend time online for projects that I had to finish. Near the end of my high school career my school started putting our grades, lunch accounts and some teacher info online. I would occasionally check these, but not as much as I do now that I’m at Luther.
Now that I am in college I find myself spending more time on the internet than I did when I was in high school. I spend the majority of my time out of class on the internet. When I come back to my room I check my email, facebook and sign on to AIM. I also spend a large portion of my time online doing research for papers and reading news websites. At nights when I am back at home I am online for a few hours a night. After my family goes to bed I do downstairs and watch TV while chatting online or play random games I find on various sights. Sometimes I also use the internet to watch TV shows that I have missed the previous week or old episodes that I want to watch again.
Since the first time I logged on to the internet up to the present moment, I have noticed a significant change in how the internet is used and the technology we have to access it. It has gone from the crawling speed of dial-up to the blazing speed of the newest internet connection.
