Digital Me

Note: crooked photo taken with MacBook's "Photo Booth" program.

Here’s a list of the digital media/communications technologies that I use fairly regularly along with how/why each is used:

MacBook
This lovely amalgamation of “bits” is probably the one piece of digital technology that serves my needs the most. It is a tool that helps with school, professional, and entertainment needs. I have my CS software to help with my design stuff, as well as word processing programs for anything else. Another important feature is the iCal calendar (which I can also view on my iPod) with all my important due dates, appointments, and upcoming concerts and art gallery openings/events. This is also the tool that connects me to the internet so I can check my emails, watch TV/movies, and research everything from how to get somewhere, to what the hell Sea-Monkeys are and how they work, to seeing what new music is out there.

Scanner/Printer
This helps for mainly school and professional needs. The scanner is a big help and even has a few direct input slots for camera memory cards.

iPod
I have to admit, if I didn’t have a computer, then I don’t think I would see the point of owning one of these. Not only do I use the computer and this for managing all my music, but my iPod synched to my iCal on my MacBook so I’m able to view what I need to do and when I need to do it while on-the-go. I rarely ever use the games that are on there. I think I’ve only played the ball and brick game once or twice. Music is incredibly important to me. If I’m not required to listen to anything or anyone, then there is a very good chance that I am listening to music. One of the few times you’ll catch me without headphones in my ears is when I’m skateboarding with friends. Skateboarding alone, now that’s a different story. However, I even listen to music while going to sleep. I have been falling asleep with music on for as long as I remember, and I think that because of this, I find it difficult to fall asleep in completely quiet situations. Hopefully my future wife doesn’t have a problem with this.
(PS I was listening to music played through my iPod throughout this assignment.)


Stereo/Record Player (maybe that is analog?)
When I’m not listening to my iPod with my headphones, then it is plugged in to my stereo. I also have a way to connect my MacBook with the stereo so the sound comes from those speakers instead of the terrible little speakers. I’m not sure if this counts as “being digital” but I consider my record player very important as well because when I do spend money on music, and it’s not a live performance, then it’s when I purchase vinyl.

External Hard Drive/USB Thumbdrive
I am kind of a pack-rat and don’t tend to throw many things away. My external hard drive is 500GB and has music, documents, photos, and movies on it from as far back as 2001. The 2GB USB drive is very convenient for quickly storing things and transferring them from one computer to another.

Cell Phone
This thing is a piece of crap, and I really don’t care to get anything more advanced because I’m already using this one enough as it is. Other than with my MacBook, this is how I communicate with people through phone calls and texting. I also put important reminder alarms in the calendar section. Oh, and there is really annoying audio bits sent out, pretty loudly, in the mornings that wake me up.

All of these “extensions” of me, and “commingled” bits would definitely lump me in to the multimedia user category of “being digital.” Without them, my day-to-day life would be much more simple, that’s for sure. However, with the life I live as a college student in San Francisco, I need them and they need me in order to exist. As Don Norman said “together, we are a more powerful team than either of us alone.” But to anyone else who falls in to this category, does that make us all “slaves” to technology, like McLuhan had alluded to?

If so, then one person I know who definitely isn’t a slave would be my grandma, more commonly known as Mama Aida. Mama Aida is the sweetest 70something year old woman from Chiapas, Mexico that you will ever meet. The only computer she’s ever had is my family’s iMac (yes, one of the very first blue/teal models that Jeff Goldblum did the commercials for), which actually didn’t go in to her possession until about a year ago. Even with that, she only uses it to check email, which is brought to her by a Dial-Up internet connection. That computer was so slow that she gave up on it and now it just sits in her house, always off. Basically, it is 1996 inside of my grandma’s house with regards to digital media/communications technologies. I kid you not, last week she called me for the first time from her first cell phone. The only reason she even decided to get one was because a friend of hers had a heart attack and at the time they didn’t have a way to contact 911. She lives a simple, retired, and analog life (for the most part). The only time I come close to being as analog as her, is when I’m out skateboarding with my friends. No computer. No iPod. Just my board, conversation, and laughs with my buddies. Now that I think about it, that’s usually when I am happiest.