A Brief Biography of My Electronic Companions

I’m not exactly proud to admit it, but I almost have an addiction to technology. My phone is constantly at my side. Three or four years ago I upgraded to a smartphone and haven’t looked back since. At a small addition to my monthly bill, I’m connected to the vastness of the internet 24/7, so long as I remember to charge the phone nightly. Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, and G+ are all at my fingertips through various Apps. I can take a picture with Instagram and send it out to all my social networks at once. My phone notifies me of email the same way it would a new text message and I’m able to chat with pretty much anyone at any time through the use of Facebook Messenger. I’ve had a digital camera in the past, but my smartphone has eliminated the need for this. Capable of capturing in HD, my camera became quickly obsolete. of One simple device which started out as a phone has become a pocket powerhouse.

I’ve had my laptop since I started college three years ago and it rarely leaves my side.  Every morning I pack it and my other doodads into my backpack and they are toted around with me until I retire to my room that night. It even accompanies me on long trips from home where a computer is far from a necessity. The habit of returning home and checking my various website feeds has become a nightly ritual. Even if I’d spent the day socializing and sightseeing far from home, I found comfort in curling up next to my laptop before bed for some good old, mindless web surfing. 

My laptop keeps me connected in the same ways my phone does and more. Obviously all of my social networks are only a click away, but my laptop has much more creative power than my phone. Sure, I could sit down and fight my phone’s touch screen to write a blog post from it, but sitting in bed to hammer away at the keys on my laptop just somehow feels right. I’ve got programs on my laptop whose creation power is only limited by my creativity. And when I tire of reading or producing content, I’ve got access to my library of video games or movies. And when I finish procrastinating, I’ve only to log into D2L to have access to all my classwork.  

My laptop and phone combined can sate any desire I have for entertainment, but that doesn’t mean they are alone in my technological arsenal. I recently added another device to my portable media army: a Playstation Vita. In incredibly lamen’s terms, its a gameboy… But made by Sony.  The potential in my vita is great. It is primarily a portable video game system. It contains the capability for apps, so I can access Facebook and Twitter from there as well. An internet browser is also a feature. What I really love about it though is, given I have a big enough memory card, I can purchase games from the online store and download them to the device, right from the Vita itself. Any game you can buy on a store shelf, you can buy from the vita’s online store. I opted for the Wifi only model, but some users have their units connected to 3G meaning you are connected to a market 24/7. As a final note, it also works as a music player and has incredible battery life.

Aside from my portables, I don’t have a lot going on electronically. I’ve got my TV and everything attached to it, but that’s about it. …Actually, summarizing it like that may be a little unfair.  I’ve currently got a 37” LG TV, a graduation present from my mom I agreed to pay half of.

Connected to it is my Xbox 360. My 360 and I have had a love-hate relationship. My original 360, purchased during my sophomore year of high school died half way through my senior year. I was a victim of the infamous “Red Ring of Death”; an overheating problem all to familiar to 360 owners.  I bummed around, playing games on friends’ consoles until a couple years ago where, after finding out my system was too far gone for repair, my then employer gave me a used system free of charge.  That xbox 360 is currently under my TV and it has enjoyed my company many days this semester.

Ignore the dust. I actually spend a lot of time here.

My Wii is connected to my TV, but I usually just play Gamecube games on it so its not really worth mentioning. It has become my Legend of Zelda / MarioKart DoubleDash machine and it will probably remain so.

I’ve got a PS2 under there as well. Me and that PS2? We go way back—As in it was this console that 12 year-old me played Grand Theft Auto on way back when, under strict parental supervision of course. I’ve got that system and all the games I played as a child, setting right in my dorm room.

Directly above that is another important piece of my childhood. Way back when, I only played video games on a sub-par computer running windows 90 something. My mom and grandmother conspired to change that in the form of a brown paper bag brought home from a rummage sale. In that bag was a Super Nintendo and twenty games. I sunk serious hours into that thing as a child and on up through the years.  I never became obsessed, but every few days a family member and I would camp out in front of the TV to get our SNES on. That very same SNES from my childhood game nights is present in my room, accompanied by the games from that paper bag. Its been my companion of recently. I never beat Donkey Kong Country as a child; it seems like my responsibility to beat it now.