Progressive Reluctance

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Grant Burns

Professor Paul

English 326

9/23/09

My Digital Evolution: Progressive Reluctance

My experiences with acclimating myself with the endless wave of digital advancement has been a slow and steady climb to say the least. I have always viewed technology as something of moderate convenience rather than absolute necessity. I do feel that I have grown accustomed to a few select advancements that I enjoy on a daily basis. However, I must say that my use of technology has been a reluctant one on my behalf. Furthermore, I firmly believe that my feelings toward the digital age stem from my belief that technological advancement has caused a regression of interpersonal communication skills, all the while masquerading as its beneficiary.

The first time I ever encountered something completely bizarre and different than I had ever seen before was in kindergarten when I first used a computer. I could mark this as the beginning of my digital advancement as I played addition games on this box with a keyboard in front of it. When I think about it, those computers didn’t even seem like computers, just machines used for a few simple tasks. I really didn’t see the point in them personally, but as the years went on in school, computers began to play a major role in my education.

I really don’t think it was till high school that I felt the pressure to truly know how to use a computer. I don’t know if that sounds shocking, but that’s how the situation went. I was probably in my junior year of high school when my teachers had said that papers needed to be handed in by way of printed page. I thought to myself “Why is that necessary?” I couldn’t understand why

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they wanted our assignments in such an impersonal way, all typed up in the same format, like ducks in a line. I felt that I was so use to writing things by hand that to type something up would be foreign to me. I must admit it truly was. I didn’t become apt at typing till my freshman year at college. I simply didn’t spend any time on these machines. I mean I didn’t even have an email account until I was a junior in high school and my cousin showed me how. For me this transition was very difficult and I was still attempting to turn in papers handwritten, which had mixed reactions because I have always known my handwriting to be both quick, thoughtful, and a bit untidy to put it lightly (few can translate it).

In my senior year it was truly expected to turn in papers typed and in a certain format. This caused me to be forced into learning how to better use my grandpa’s computer which had dial-up by the way and this was 2005. When I got into using a computer regularly, I did enjoy the professional manner in which information could be presented. I also understood the plight of teachers to be able to grade quickly without showing favoritism to handwriting styles (too personal perhaps). It added up to me that to make it in the professional world, there has to be a standard everyone needs to abide by. This was something that was very important for me to learn as college quickly approached.

I received my first personal computer the summer before I began at BYU. It was a Compaq M2000 which I had been using for four years straight until it met its demise this summer. It was something special to have a computer all to my own, something that expensive that could do so many things. It was an upgrade over my Grandpa’s model and there is much truth in the belief that the things you own arise a certain defense of their merit because you are now associated with them. I learned how to type mainly through instant messaging and it is my belief that many

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others would say the same. I enjoyed the speed and efficiency I could now work with and found handwriting other than for class notes a thing of the past.

My reception of a cell phone was one I partook of with great enthusiasm. As compared to my transition into the computing world, my transition into personal phones was considerably smoother. I felt left out that everyone else around me had a phone while I did not. I felt that in case of emergency or simply for convenience a cell phone was a must. I also attribute my eyes opening up to the world of technology through computers to be part of how eager I was to own this new instrument. I adamantly state that my need to feel accepted socially, especially to the fairer sex, was a major reason why I needed a cell phone. Having one makes you feel connected to others and accessible. I must admit that I received that phone on my 19^th birthday and I still use the same one today, four years later.

This I feel is a point at which I hit a plateau of technological advancement. I later bought an IPod in order to have songs at hand and eliminate cds. However, I still find myself making cds as the IPod runs out of life and I have to resort to older methods. I do like my IPod, but as far as technology is concerned mine is far out dated at this time. I haven’t really kept up in the phone race as you now know. The Razor passed me by, the Sidekick, the IPhone. I own none of these nor have any desire to. I have a quality phone that has never had issues and that’s probably because it’s a function model rather than something sleek and breakable. I don’t have a digital camera and don’t see the need for one really. I think people take too many pictures if anything. Tell me you haven’t seen the endlessly useless photos of people on their facebook pages and you’d be lying. I just now got a new computer for rental at BYU. It is an older model with windows XP on it which I prefer anyway since I hate vista. I really have been set in my ways for

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a number of years and I think that’s how I’ll always be. I don’t think I’m a step behind at all, on the contrary, the wanton spending of money on every new thing that comes out when next month they’re going to put something better out doesn’t make sense to me. In my opinion, we have too much technology. The time we spend caught in the tech companies’ nets of commercialism, causes the loss of deeper and more important skills. Whatever happened to talking over the phone? Younger people can only text each other and can’t seem to formulate full sentences. I was just at a group job interview the other day, competing with high school seniors and college freshman. Tell me eloquence and quick thinking doesn’t have something to do with the fact that I pride myself on face to face relations and almost never text anyone, preferring the direct impact a phone call can have? I believe that the more personal the contact, the bigger the impact the massage can have. Thus, I have tried to remain true to what I believe in, in the face of advancement.

It seems to me that my position in regards to technological advancement, this digital culture we all live in now is one of reluctant acceptance. I will do what is necessary to fulfill what has come to be accepted as forms of information exchange. However, I still prefer and will uphold older forms as better suited and more impactful in regards to interpersonal relations. I have enjoyed the fruits of technology through my few years of experience. Yet, I haven’t forgotten that for so many years I managed just fine and in some cases better, without. Technology in the sense of its current advancement is a luxury, but is something we have been led to believe is a necessity. I for one am sticking to my guns and along the way am hoping to at least have others recognize how communication has been affected in a negative way. It may be a futile effort, but it’s a theory I have seen much validity in.