Blog 4

Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1

My digital walls are breaking down. No matter where I turn I see something digital. In the grocery store when I buy food and most of the cashiers got fired and there is one left and her/his line is extremely long. Thank goodness I brought one of my children with me. Going to the bank to get some money or make a transaction, but I have to be there before 3pm if I want to talk to a human instead of my ATM machine. And of course, on the phone of any business, which is nerve racking. Sometimes I just keep hitting zero over and over again, but now the company realizes this and say “sorry you have hit an incorrect number”. I guess the joke is on me now. It may sound as if I dislike the technology that we are in but I don’t sometimes I just want to talk to a human. I like ,no, I love my cell phone. I love that I can go on the internet anytime and check my email. I like that I can go on my children’s school web page and pull up their grades daily without having to talk to a teacher, but if I want to talk to a teacher I can leave an email. I like that freedom and flexibility that the digital world brings. As a writer it is much more difficult. Surprisingly, this is my first writing assignment that I did not print first. I did however do my outline in print, but I am taking a huge jump. I was not always this adventurous with my digital life, it has and is a challenge but I am willing to work at it, hence the Cyberspace class.




Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1

I remember my first experience with writing for me was at age 12. Yes, I learned to write in elementary school, but I mean the freedom of writing for myself. It was a challenging time in my life. My writing was my lifesaver. It’s funny what you can remember as a child. I don’t remember my parents reading to me when I was little. I do remember my Aunt Jem playing school with my sister and me. She was a tough teacher and would not let us go to sleep until we read from a book of her choice. My parent left her in complete control with us and she was drunk with power. But she did teach us to read and do math. Aunt Jem was 12 or 13 years old at the time she was our teacher. I remember having all the Dr Seuss’s books. The one book I read and loved was Charlotte’s Web. I loved the spider and the different names she would create for Wilbur so the farmer would not kill him. “Amazing” and “Wonderful” are just a few of the names I remembered. After that reading just became a job, I read for projects, tests, school but not for fun. My Aunt Jem’s school was during the summer because during the school year she had her own school work to do and my sister and I loved that. I called my aunt when I had to do this and we just laughed and talked about her school. She lives in Florida now and is an Executive at Chase Bank. She told me she was happy to be an aunt and wanted her nieces to know most of the work before we attended school. I know she did it out of love but back then it seemed like torture.



Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1
My first digital experience was a job after high school and I was a receptionist. I am laughing just thinking about that job. I was maybe 19 years old, I am not sure, anyway I worked for Kelly Agency and they sent me to Dean Witter or Morgan Stanley, which is a Brokerage firm. This office was in Somerset, New Jersey. So they put me on the front desk and my job was to answer the phone with the thousands of buttons. Yes a thousand buttons, and I was suppose to say “GOOD MORNING DEAN WITTER, HOW MAY I HELP YOU”? But I would say “GOOD MORNING DEAN WITNER, HOW MAY I HELP YOU”? It got so bad that on one phone call the person calling had to tell me the correct pronunciation of the company I was answering the phone for. You could imagine, Dean Witter told me not to come back. That was so funny I just could not get that name out the right way. And I did not even get a chance to do any data entry. I was so busy with the phone calls I did not do any work on the computer. At Kelly Agency you had to train for the positions you wanted, and I was a good data entry person. So that was my first experience with the computer. It should have been at Dean Witter, but it was at Kelly Agency. I love telling that story because no one expects you to train for the phones.
My digital familiarity came from the jobs I held. Most people did not have a computer at home and at the job you were being paid while training on the computer. I remember working at AT&T and the monitor was so big and the screen small and green. There was only one or two people on the computer and it ran so slow. All you could do was enter information in this object that looked like a tv.

Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1

Everything we did was non-digital. There was no digital when I was in school. There was only print. When I moved from Brooklyn to Piscataway, I wrote letters to my friends and family. Sometimes at night I would call, but calling was very expensive. You see there was local, regional, and long distance calling and the rates were high. So my father said “if you have to talk to anybody from Brooklyn just write”, and stamps were just 25cents. I remember our first month in Piscataway and we (my sisters and I) missed our friends so much that we ran up a $900 phone bill. My father yelled so much that he lost his voice. I can tell you that never happened again, and the mailman became our friend.
When my friends got together we talked about boys. Who was cute, who was dating who, who was pregnant, and about fashion. I could only see my friends when my father went to his mother’s house in Brooklyn. That was once every 2 months. But sometimes my Dad said “you guys need to spend time with your family and tell your friends you will see them next visit”. When we were with my family it was a lot of old people talking about the olden days ( I guess now my kids would say the same when me and my family get together). With both my friends and family we just sat and talk and eat and just have a good time with one another. We enjoyed each others company, but if we were at my Aunt Pat house there is no tv in her living room. Just this Christmas we/the family were complaining that she should put in a tv, but she says “you came to visit (talk to her) not watch tv.”

Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1
Now with my cell phone the interaction with my friends and family is completely different. I just text with the ones younger than me and use the phone with the ones older than myself but when I text I forget and write or spell the whole word out. Texting is ok but I like talking on the phone. I mostly text with my children and my sisters, but with my Aunts, Grandmother, Father I use the phone. My younger sister is still trying to get me on my space. I told her just this weekend did you hear that they shut down 99,000 child predators on my space. And her comment was “you are not a child”. I said, “I know I am not a child, but I don’t like opening myself to the world”. She says she uses it for her business (Real Estate), but I am not comfortable with that yet even for her.
I read on the computer for school. Sometimes if I am going out I print and read the material when I am out. Most of my digital experience is for school. My personal life just has the cell and some email. When winter break or spring break or summer time comes around I don’t get on the computer at all. I only use it for school. My kids are trying to convince me to get a laptop, but that is big step for me.
I still like reading and writing in print. I like holding the book and not feeling confined to one set place ( but a laptop would fix that). I love putting pen to paper. I like seeing the page curl upwards after I write on the complete page. And sometimes when I write a lot my hand hurts. Like I said earlier this is my first paper that I am writing on the computer first and not print first. I did my outline on paper. Its ok for example, I don’t have to erase or draw a line through a word, sentence, or paragraph. But my wrists hurts from typing so much.

Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1

Most of my experience is print. The little digital experience I had is from school. For example,I had to buy an ebook for my history class and I think that was a rip off. It was here at Kean and the book was only good for one semester and it was $120. That was highway robbery. If I were to by a text it would be good for as long as I have the book. But the bad thing about buying a school book is that you pay $100 for it at the beginning of semester and when you want to sell it back at the same book store it is not worth $25, then you see it on the shelf the following semester, used for $60. It’s all a scam.
I am still learning the technology of the time. Now if I had to write a paper I would probably do my draft on the computer first, so that has changed. Work and school yes, that has changed, but socially no I am not ready yet.











Suzanne Armstrong Literacy/Technology Narrative 2/9/09 Draft 1
Reflection
Looking over what I wrote about digital or print, and I see may pattern as willing to learn. There is an improvement in digital when it comes to space saving and a more effective writing pattern. But as for reading I like holding the book in my hand. As a writer I see and will use the computer as a positive tool, but as for reading I think I will stick with my books in hand.
My parents divorce is an experience that enhanced my relationship to writing. I think I will still keep my journal as paper but school or work assignments I will use digital. I still see the reluctance to change when it comes to personal things. Like my journal and personal writings. I still have a protective nature when it comes to my deep writing or writing for myself.
I love to write. It is so freeing to me. It allows me to say, be, or do what ever I feel with no consequences. May be one day I will let others read it but for not is by me and for me only.
My personal writings will be done on print for now and I don’t see myself changing but I will keep an open mind.