While I cannot deny that some of Gilmor’s technological jargon evaded my understanding, I must admit that I found myself seeing my own computer life in the journey to new media that Gilmor described in chapters one and two. In these chapters Gilmor details the development of the computer and the Internet and its interplay with media. As Gilmor went through each of the different stages I saw my family and myself in each stage and our growing familiarity with the Internet.
I was born into a family that already had a computer. My mother, when pregnant with my older brother decided that she should take a class to learn DOS. Then she bought our first Apple, the first of many Macs! From a young age Prodigy was a regular term in my home, though only my mother was the expert. I remember playing all the Broderbund Games (I think that is what they were called); we must have had every Learning Center game they produced! For several years the computer was purely a game pod for me. Eventually, it became a word processor also, as I started needing to type my papers. Yet, I was still scared of this so-called “Internet,” of which only my mother “knew the code.”
When America Online came out, we quickly switched, and interestingly, at the same time, the computer was moved from the basement office onto the second floor, near all the bedrooms. Coincidence, I think not! Finally, I decided to take the jump. All of my friends talked to each other on Instant Messenger, after school, so I too, needed to join. I remember the drama that accompanied choosing a screen name and email as well as a password.
My first experiences with Internet were email, IM, and chat rooms, though to this day I do not understand what my friends and I found entertaining about going into chat rooms and talking to each other, pretending to be total strangers.
As my family experienced different events, we became savvy in the different aspects of this new world of Internet. When my brother had his Bar Mitzvah my parents started a mail list with many relatives. This continued after the bar mitzvah, as family members shared their personal news with one another.
I distinctly remember the first time I used a search engine. My sister had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. I remember sneaking into the computer lab in my elementary school during lunch and typing in “ganglioglioma.”
High school brought a whole new wave of familiarity with the Internet. The idea that the Internet contained research information had been totally unknown by me. I remember thinking how many of my middle school papers would have been easier if only I would have made that realization.
Similar to what Gilmor said, my use of the Internet as a news provider did not really exist until September 11th. Only then did I become an avid browser of the various news outlet websites.
My most advanced Internet experiences have really been my more recent experience in the world of blogging. I recall, about a year or so ago, my cousin sent me a link to his blog, and I honestly had no clue what I was looking at. Yet now, just like with all my other Internet learning, I am once again unfazed.
Though still, every so often there are the new Internet experiences to be had. For instance, I watched my first full-length television show online, just last week!
What Gilmor’s first two chapters have left me with is a similar idea to what I learned from reading the book The World is Flat, that key to being successful in this day and age and understanding and properly using all the technology out there is the ability to be flexible. Everything can change in the drop of a hat and we must be open to new technologies and new technological experiences to live in this world and make sense of it. A prime example of this being my father, who, just a few years ago, at the age of 64 finally realized that he too, must embrace this world, and was the last member of my family to “sign on.”