(1) Interactivity # 1 - Technology as Autobiography

My top influential and autobiographical technologies

iPod – for the incessant background noise, forever.

Tumblr, Twitter, & Instagram – for the incessant need to share life interactively with others.

iPad, Kindle, or e-Reader – for the escape that we all occasionally hope for.

When reflecting upon technology that has shaped my life, I consider myself to be rather conventional in the sense that I fall in line with the ranks of many of my peers.  Though my iPod, iPhone, MacBook Pro, and various other internet-ready gadgets have overall helped propel me into the person I am today, I reflect on the following specific items within the branch of technology that I feel define me as a person through my own aspects.

As a future educator, I hope to instill the importance of these branches of technology into my students because they each have allowed me with chances for effortless self-expression, individuality, and continual support from an interactive friend that lives within my reality . . . 

As an eternal student, I have chosen music to be the most important technology that shapes who I am, through the now immortal gateway of an iPod.  I fall directly in line with many of my peers in the sense that I rely heavily on my iPod.  I may not consciously think that I do, but I have it on hand virtually everyplace I go during the day barring my ability to listen to it at work or while sleeping.  I also feel that it is endlessly able to fit my personality because my music style changes all the time.  It is simply amazing to have all one's good times with music trapped inside a tiny little machine.  I need my iPod while at the gym to get my fitness on.  I need it to keep me going during the droll that is grocery shopping, and I use it in between for every walk, jump, or hop from place to place during the day.  I rely on my iPod as the soundtrack to my life.  I feel that the music needs to be playing to support the dialogue and experiences that one endures while living.  Many think that life oddly resembles a movie with the love affairs, occasional stupor, and enlightening (eureka!) experiences.  I simply say, “Let the music play, and let it keep playing”…

We can all admit that we fall endlessly to the hands of Social Networking sites and applications.  I may not “Like” Facebook or participate in its structure, but I honestly fall prey to Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram sites galore when an opportunity presents itself.  I have categorized these each as one technology because their premise is the intent to network with others socially.  Each of these sites has helped me incredibly come into my own person.  They each have helped me to assume my own identity and self-creative natures, and continue to do so effortlessly.  I may come across a funny moment and have to “post” it on my Tumblr, or Instagram to simply interact with people I know and various people I do not.  I often find myself relearning valuable pieces of information and find myself rewording it quickly to fit the 140-character allowance on Twitter. Though each of these have redesigned my personality with new and interesting ways of expression, they each have revolutionized the way that I interpret media, news, and influences upon my own life as well as others.  These networks have showed me that I share various interests with others and when I may feel alone in thinking or believing something, they have indicated that I am not alone, at all.

The final influential technology is books on the go via iPad, Kindle, or e-reader.  Though I am more firmly rooted in reading books the “old-fashioned” way as they were intended in either hardcover or paperback, I do recognize the important role that e-readers play in many lives today, including my own.  The ability to read any work from one’s entire library of books, virtually anywhere, is highly important for the occasional escape we all wish to take.   The very portability that technology supplies us with as a civilization is the most important aspect of its existence.  While waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the supermarket, or at the doctor’s office, reading through one of these devices serves us our own personal portal into the lives of others rather than nonsensical lie-filled tabloids about who’s doing what, and with whom.

Many of these technologies have immensely enriched my mind but have also hindered my understanding of how technology has its limits.  This has probably been my hardest lesson to learn; the extent to which technology works and when it becomes ineffective in a classroom or any other setting as well.  Where I may have learned about myself, might have hindered my relationships with others to some level.  The most important aspect that I am continually working toward and learning is for a moderation and balance of technology in my life.  The journey continues...

Technology fuels our minds constantly.  Even with the slightest little things it can set our minds aflutter. I am enamored with technology through these objects, and consider my life much more enriching by them being part of it.