iCommunicate

The millennium didn't give us flying cars, but it changed the way we communicate. When I was younger, I can remember when my class offered the penpal program to students in our class. I thought that this was the most innovative and interesting way to keep in touch with another person who lived thousands of miles away from you. This person lived in a place that you may never visit, but you were intrigued to learn about them and about their culture. They were probably just as interested in you, or at least you'd hope they were. This seems like a lifetime ago and, for that point in time, things have changed so much since that point in my life. With the advancement of computers and the invention of the internet, the need for sending letters is no longer needed. The boundaries of stamps and the waiting of weeks is a thing of the past. Now you have a global network of individuals that access the internet everyday. These individuals use social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Now if you want to send a letter, you can send email or send messages through these sites. If you want to be writer, all you need to do is make a blog. Even now, I'm actually publishing myself in a way I never thought I could even ten years ago. It's amazing the way technology has changed the way we deal with everyday life. With the advance of cellphones, we can contact each other in almost any destination. Communication has been refined with the invention of texting and leet speak. I even use my iPod Touch for Twittering and Facebooking. You can find people with common interests through message boards and chat rooms that have to do with particular topics. These places can exist on various websites. (i.e., music, health, movie, art, or technology websites)

The internet helps me learn about subjects that I could never get from just a book alone. I can find articles by just the touch of a button, search down books with just a click of the mouse, and cite my sources by cutting and pasting them into the citation machine. I can purchase my movie tickets, my concert tickets, and hotel reservations all through some little keystrokes. I have learned about Tibetan history and art one day and English history the next just by looking through Google Scholar. I can find the best restaurants in New York City and find directions using Google maps satellite program. You can practically see a bug on someone's windshield with Google Earth. You can see your favorite television show streaming on YouTube or play World of Warcraft on your MacBook while chatting with other players during a battle. The whole Warcraft thing just astounds me. The fact that you can hook all of that through an XBOX 360 and chat on the internet through their while playing the game is hysterical. My husband has now become addicted to the game, and now I feel obliged to buy him a better version of the software. I've heard that people actually meet individuals through that type of media, which cracks me up. I can remember the old Apple computers in the eighties from when I was in the 7th Grade. For those who understand what I mean, the Apple IIC's. I remember how I thought that was advanced technology. How far have we came since then Steve Jobs? HA!

The funny thing is that I was able to meet some really great friends because of the internet. Some of them I haven't been able to meet in person. It's funny to think that you chat or comment to these people on Facebook all the time, but you don't see these people in every day life. This is an extension of your world via technology. You may not know these people if you met them in person, but you know them by username or by name on Twitter. It's a strange cyber-community that exists in a separate space away from your realistic day to day life, but in some way is no less important. Technology and my computer are very important to my school life, and some of my classmates keep in touch with me through the internet. Family and some people who exist in my day to day life are part of my virtual world as well. In a way, that blurs the line almost. Then there is that extension, that world where I have friends that I may not have met, but care about. These people are kind and wonderful. We share common interests and enjoy commenting to each other. Some of these people live here in the United States and some do not. It's really cool that my little computer lets me correspond and make friends or penpals, if you will, halfway around the globe.