Technology has not always been a big part of my life. I remember when I was a child, right up until the first grade, that technology was not such a big deal. It was still the early 90s and people were not as big on technology as they are now. I remember how excited I was in the second grade when my dad bought our first desktop. The desktop didn't have internet access until I was in the sixth grade but it was still something to be excited about. Back then I was able to live without the internet and other technologies and entertain myself in other ways. I didn't even own a cell phone until high school! But thinking about it now, I would never be able to live without technology. The most influential communication technologies in my life at the moment, which most likely will be for the rest of my life, are: 1) my cell phone 2) my computer, more specifically my laptop and 3) my ipad. All of these technologies have the internet and they are three things that are an essential part of my life that I probably couldn't let go of.
All of these technological objects impact every part of my life. At first I would have never thought that this could be possible, but after thinking about it, my cell phone, computer, and ipad are a part of everything I do. These three technologies definitely have a big impact on my social life. When I was younger my social life consisted of playing with my cousins and friends outside on my block, but that has drastically changed. Everything I do that revolves around my social life, is effected by the use of one of these three technologies that I mentioned. My cell phone plays a major part. It is how I get in touch with my friends, family, and how I coordinate my plans with them. Besides communicating with friends and family overseas over social networks, I use these technologies to communicate with collegues and professors, and I even use it to play games and research. Technology has become a big part of my life academically as well. I use technology to complete assignments, write papers, and research. The internet has most definitely opened up the possibilitites to learn more then I could by researching topics in books. I can even do everything that I mentioned on my laptop and ipad as well, and most definitely couldn't live without them. All of these happen to be apple products and I most definitely could not get myself out of the apple world now either.
My experiences with my technologies are extremely similiar to the experiences that the students have mentioned in the videos. Although many students do not contain some technologies at home, such as laptops, computers, etc., they are rely on technology to get ahead both socially and academically. Students have stated that technology is convenient for any use, a necessity especially when it comes to reading and writing, and can change something ordinary to extraordinary. Students feel that technology is a way for them to express who they are, by means of social networks and websites, and it allows them to connect and coordinate with other people and other students. It is safe to say that technology has become a big part of life for these students and that it is better to incorporate it into school curriculum. Teachers need to make sure that they do this and they need to keep in mind that students enjoy activities that involve technology and the internet. I feel that if teachers take this into consideration and actually integrate technology and the use of the internet in their lesson plans in any way they can, then students will have fun and will actually be engaged and want to learn.
