The Ever Evolving Internet and How I (eventually) Learned to Love It…

My relationship with the internet is simple — the internet mocks me! My inability to keep up with the ever changing and evolving site makes me hate its guts, and yet at the same time the efficiency of the technology and my ability to look up who Kiefer Sutherland is, who is mentioned in my all time favorite show — Gilmore Girls, makes me love it!

My first interaction with the internet was roughly thirteen years ago. I was sitting at my desk in the second grade when I was bombarded by my best friend and one of the popular kids in school, Wyatt, screaming “Did you get it?!” The lack of recognition in my eyes made him continue. “Club Penguin! The new game!” I shake my head no. Wyatt, feeling sorry for me, told me to come over to his house and the two of us created my account on Club Penguin. The account was made and when I finished my homework and dinner, I would sit at the computer and chat with Wyatt via our penguins. Our penguin club soon blossomed with more of our school friends joining. We would come into class the next day and inform the others that our penguins have the newest outfits, new furniture to accessorize the igloo our penguins were living in, and my ultimate favorite when someone reached the next level of a game that was included into the website. Club Penguin was the first online game that allowed me to have the courage to chat with other people in my class via the site, and still be able to hang out with them in person as well. But as the saying goes, “every good thing must come to an end.”

Fast forward to 2010, where it has been two years since the glorious creation of Instagram. I have just graduated from a class of seven in middle school, and am now one of the two hundred incoming freshman at Newport Harbor High School. To say that making friends was difficult is a very large understatement. I purposefully joined volleyball because I was so shy. Before our practices, I would hear the other girls talk about Instagram and their posts, how many likes they got, and the comments they would receive. Oblivious to the enormous impact that Instagram would have on my life, I chose to ignore the social media account. As second semester began, I blossomed and found my niche. After what seemed like trillions of people asking what my Instagram name is and getting frustrated with their shocked responses when I said I didn’t have one, I caved. I posted my first photo on a Thursday in July. The photo contained three baby photos — two black and white photos (one with my Elmo overalls, one in a dress), and one photo with myself and my great-grandma. The caption read “#picstitch #throwbackthursday #littleme #nonnieandme :)” and all in all I received eleven likes. A couple of weeks later, I began to have an impour of friend requests, and reaching a whopping thirty likes instead of eleven.

To this day there are times when the internet confounds me, like when I am setting up a blog in class. Yet, it never ceases to amaze me in the way that it impacts my life and especially my social status. Incredibly grateful for its speed and capability to inform me of the new and hip new apps or social media, I plan to utilize the internet and all its glory for a long time to come.