Bolter and Grusin 212-272

While I was reading these chapters, I was having difficulty in deciding what to reflect on, but I began thinking about my own personal interaction with the Internet and computers since I was first introduced to them.
I was introduced to computers when I was in grade school. We used them to play Number Munchers and Oregon Trail in order to learn about addition, subtraction, and multiplication, and the history of what happened on the Oregon Trail. These games were fun and educational. Once I got to middle school, we had the option of turning in assignments typed or hand-written, but we had to type our big papers. This is also when I was first introduced to the Internet, which my family did not have at first, but my best friend did. My friend had an AOL account and we would usually sign on under her screen name and chat with people. Some of our discussions with those people were sometimes inappropriate, but we still had fun. Chatting is discussed in this section of the book and I remembered what it felt like to go into a chat room at the age of 12 and tell people we were 16 or 17 and lie about what we looked like. As I transitioned to high school, my parents finally got the Internet and I had to teach them how to use it. My dad would get online to check his e-mail, which was the only thing he really did. I think he eventually joined a fantasy football league, which he did online. My mom created an e-mail account, but eventually began looking up flights and stuff like that. Now, especially since she is widowed, the Internet is her connection to people she would not normally see or talk to, and she also has started to play online games. While I was in high school I used the Internet for research and e-mail and I used computers to type papers. In my preparations for college, I got my first laptop. I took laptop classes as a freshman in college and I used the Internet, especially AIM, to keep in touch with all of my friends I left in Maryland and that went to other colleges. I also used my laptop for writing papers and creating other documents. Throughout the years I have become more and more dependent on computers. I now have a MySpace and Facebook page, three e-mail addresses, and I still use AIM from time-to-time. I can honestly say that I need my computer. Even though I have backed up my files, it seems like my entire adult life is on my computer. I have all four semesters of graduate school work on both of my laptops, as well as my resume, and even games. In conclusion, I not only use my computer for school and work, but also for fun, which I think was the point of this book, which is helping us realize things that we would not normally think about when it comes to various types of media.