Ok.... I have to admit. I am very slow to warm up to new technology. I wait until something has been around a few years before I reluctantly join the throng. For example: When CD's first came on the scene. My brother came home after listening to a new tech thing called a Compact Disc on a friend's new stereo system. He raved on and on about how clear the sound was. He could even hear the singer take a breath. How cool is that? He showed me what they look like. My thought was, "It'll never last. I like my tapes." HA!
When the internet fist came on the scene... I thought it was a waste of time. Granted... there wasn't much to do at first. All you could do was write TONS of text. Computers that could display pictures hadn't been invented yet. My friend got me into something called "Telnetting". I did it at the local college where I was going at the time and everything was ok. Then I went out of state to a large university. I continued to stay in contact with my friends in our little telnet world. During one of my sessions one of the watch dogs from campus came barging into the room and demanded to know who was wasting computer lab time telnetting... claimed it was against the rules and proceeded to stare at everyone's screens. I was the "evil one" and he didn't see it for some reason. Needless to say, he scared me to death and I never joined my friends back home in our little self made haven again.
Jump about 5 years later and my 16 year old sister-in-law was living with us. She had homework to do and needed to access the internet to do so. At this point the only stories I had heard about the internet were all about viruses. I was terrified to venture into that unknown realm. The only virus I knew about were the kind that made you have a fever, major body aches and you just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until further notice. I heard all about how the internet viruses took over your computer, hackers stole everything on your computer and left you with nothing but a burning blank harddrive. I couldn't see any use for the internet.
So.... About 2 years ago I was introduced to a thing called Facebook. I had already seen something called "Myspace". I thought it was ugly and very hard to read. It listed TONS of nonsense personal information that I didn't want to know about others and I didn't want others to know about me. I never signed up. So a friend is showing me his facebook "wall". Don't know why they call it a wall but there it is. I thought it was a jumbled mess and I didn't know how he could tell who was saying what. Why would anyone want to have that much information coming at them all day.
So... now I have my own Facebook account. I was a little shy to let anyone know I was there at first. I did not put my maiden name on because "that was then and this is now". I hooked up with a bunch of my current local friends and family. I started to get into the whole facebook family thing. One day I wondered what would happen if I put in my maiden name. I was immediately found by a few people from church when I was a kid (granted I had just seen several of them a few months earlier at my dad's funeral. I was fresh in their minds and easy to find). Then I added my high school and -BAM! A few more long lost friends added to my current world. It's strange to combine my life "back then" to my life today. It's really neat to see how my old friends are doing. I get to see who they settled down with and how cute their kids are. It's also fun to see how their personalities panned out as an adult and what type of job they have chosen.
Thanks to Facebook I have been able to hook up with people I have been eager to see how they're doing but did not know how to contact them. I already have plans to make cookies with a former roommate and meet a sister-like friend at a favorite book author's latest book release in a few months. I can't wait!!!
I'm a stay at home mom. I help out my husband with his job where and when I can. I recently gained some basic skills in roto and keying with Primatte on a very labor intensive film FX project. I live in the dungeon of the Tardis. I don't get out and meet very many people. My world consists mainly of people at church, my kid's school teachers, the moms in my daughter's neighborhood preschool group and the bill collectors who seem to like calling us when they want something. Because of Facebook I now have some friends from when I was a teenager, when I was single and in college and a few others I have met along the way.
My world has been opened up because of technology that I was reluctant to grab onto at first introduction. I can't live without my internet now. The medical research my husband and I have been able to do alone make it worth every penny. I love to price shop online before I go out and buy something. Saving me traveling time and money. I print out my coupons, read product reviews (to avoid lemons) and catch up on the lives of family and friends... all while wearing my pj's if I want. I now use the internet to slowly earn a little extra cash (watching ads etc..) so I can afford a few extra's that I would otherwise not be able to ever purchase (Wii).
I don't know if I will ever change. I think I will always drag my feet. I am usually glad I did make the change after it's done. I'm both scared and excited to see what's around the next corner.
