Besides my laptop, there is only one other computer in my home which my mom mainly uses to watch antique shows, play solitaire, and print coupons. My dad will occasionally browse for news articles, but I am the only one in my family that knows how to fully navigate the web and computer programs. Perhaps this is where my false confidence in my computation skills have originated from. When it comes to how my own technology operates, I consider myself well-versed. If someone asked me how tech-savvy I am, however, I put on an air of humbleness as if I don’t understand technology. Yet when anyone offers to show me a better way or new way to utilize a function on my computer, I claim that I don’t need help or reluctantly agree. Of course, I know that there are numerous aspects of my computer that, if I could learn to utilize properly, would help me perform and understand daily tasks. However, I am resistant to change when it comes to a system that I have had no problems with previously. I have used Microsoft since high school and although I’m pushed to use Google slides and documents for many group projects in college, it will never become the ‘norm’ for me. When I came the first ENGL 340 class, I had brought with me years of experience in using a computer for entertainment and work since elementary school. I was confident in my skills with my computer because I was good at using it to complete what I needed, but I never pushed myself to learn more about my computer than what was necessary.
The command prompt was a foreign concept to me, something that I knew existed but never thought about. If I had any concerns or questions regarding the use of my computer I would turn to Google where I would usually find an answer to a way to evade the problem with the same end result. Although I’m comfortable with where I am with my computer, I find a lot of the different computations we go over in class interesting. The information in The Information is especially interesting and has opened up my eyes to the relationship between computers and humanities which I never gave much thought too before. I didn’t see all the different ways these two things were connected let alone how it connected to basically everything. Although the text is dense with endless information, things such as binary opened my mind up in a way I didn’t expect from an English course. Maybe I should start exploring parts of technology I don’t necessarily need so that I can better understand the world around me.