My experience with communication technology

If i think waaayyy back to when I first started using our family's PC I was probably about 11years old. I first used our computer for the simple things like games already on our computer, word and paint for entertainment and typing up information for school projects. The summer holidays from when I finished year seven and before I started highschool, I got my dad to set me up my very first email account. He was the 'tech-head' of the family then. He set me up with Yahoo and I sat with him so I could choose my unique email address. I didn't yet know anyone with email and so I was instead bombarded with junk mail.

When I started highschool I discovered hotmail and the beauty of msn messenger and couldn't wait to chat to my friends (who I had just spent all day at school with) on the internet. I learnt how to navigate my way through the World Wide Web and use google as a source for information and entertainment.

Now I have multiple email accounts for which I have different purposes such as social for messenger, one I created when job hunting, a school email account, now I have a University account. It is obvious that my generation has been evolving with the evolution of such internet technology and that such methods of communication make many tasks alot quicker and easier in relaying information.

My first Myspace account was made for me by a friend in year 10 and I quickly became addicted in up dating my status, photos and page layout. I would trawl for hours across friends pages commenting on their profiles and photos. I think at the age of 15, this serious internet addiction made me rather withdrawn from my 'real-life' family and I was often moody and became aggitated easily. I broke the habit eventually when my senior year became stressful and full of assignments and exams and the time to sit at the computer for hours was not available anymore.

When I graduated school, Facebook was the new trend and it was out with Myspace and in with Facebook (only because all my Myspace friends were now on Facebook). In order to keep up with my friends that were now out and about in the big wide world, Facebook was there to help me connect and catchup.

Now with the introduction of new social networks such as Twitter, I'm finding it hard to keep up. I suppose one day all my friends will be using a new application and so I will have to follow to stay in contact, but then what ever happened to phone calls?

Privacy is an issue on some sites I find, and I am reluctant to reveal everything about me. Some friends express themselves constantly and openingly, and it's intriquing to know what people are up to in their spare time. I choose not to reveal too much and prefer to use private messaging to talk to my friends about catch ups and more personal details. I find the best way to combat privacy issues all comes down to how much the individual reveals.

I really could go on and on and on and on...and on... but I have 10 questions to find answers to in the next 13minutes.

Bye for now.

*Erin*