My Digital Literacy Narrative
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When I was in fifth grade, my mom decided it was
time for me to have my own email address, mostly to
keep in contact with my family. Mind you, I was 11 at
the time, so I decided my email would be
special_girl21. I chose special girl because my
friends said I was fairly hyper so I was the “special
one”. My mom says that she let me get one at 11
because I was their first child in life so they didn’t
really know what the appropriate age was. But since I
had proven myself responsible in the past, she
figured we could give it a try. So, I got the email
address and my mom sent it to all my family
members, and the forwards began...
time for me to have my own email address, mostly to
keep in contact with my family. Mind you, I was 11 at
the time, so I decided my email would be
special_girl21. I chose special girl because my
friends said I was fairly hyper so I was the “special
one”. My mom says that she let me get one at 11
because I was their first child in life so they didn’t
really know what the appropriate age was. But since I
had proven myself responsible in the past, she
figured we could give it a try. So, I got the email
address and my mom sent it to all my family
members, and the forwards began...
Responsible at 11 Mom? Really!?
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Forwards meaning chain emails that can have different images or attachments involved. Most of them said things like “Share this with ten friends and you will have ten years of luck”, and “If you don’t share, ten years of bad luck”.
I got maybe 5 forwards a day, at the absolute minimum, and that’s what my email address consisted of for the first year I had it. Then in sixth grade, I realized that yahoo messenger existed and my technology addiction began.
I started with just messaging my friends at first, talking about trivial things, and sending links to google images of Harry Potter characters we were “in love” with. Very innocent, until one day when I was bored and decided to make another account for myself on Yahoo messenger. But under a different name...
I got maybe 5 forwards a day, at the absolute minimum, and that’s what my email address consisted of for the first year I had it. Then in sixth grade, I realized that yahoo messenger existed and my technology addiction began.
I started with just messaging my friends at first, talking about trivial things, and sending links to google images of Harry Potter characters we were “in love” with. Very innocent, until one day when I was bored and decided to make another account for myself on Yahoo messenger. But under a different name...
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I made the account under the name Fred,
and added all of my friends that were on my
personal account. I messaged some of them
saying my name was Fred, and that I was a
friend of Kylie’s cousin. I wish I could tell
you why I thought this would be a good idea
or even what the logic was behind this, but I
still can’t justify it. The one who was really
affected by my stupidity in the end was my
friend, we'll call her Beth. Beth and I had
only started being friends that year, when I
got my email account. But I was selfish and conceited and bored,
and she was innocent and very
trustworthy.
and added all of my friends that were on my
personal account. I messaged some of them
saying my name was Fred, and that I was a
friend of Kylie’s cousin. I wish I could tell
you why I thought this would be a good idea
or even what the logic was behind this, but I
still can’t justify it. The one who was really
affected by my stupidity in the end was my
friend, we'll call her Beth. Beth and I had
only started being friends that year, when I
got my email account. But I was selfish and conceited and bored,
and she was innocent and very
trustworthy.
Like I said above, I truly have no idea what made me do this. I just know that I was not prepared for the shit storm that followed. It started off innocent, almost like I was playing a prank on Beth. I messaged her, saying I was my cousin Nathan, and it was all fun and games... until I decided it wasn't enough. I needed more lies to feel good about myself. So I invented a LOT of other people to keep it going. My main character I portrayed was a boy named Fred (mentioned above) who was a friend of Nathan's girlfriend (who I also made up). "Fred" really liked me and would always ask Beth all these questions about me because he wanted to ask me out. Again, I can not stress enough that I have no idea what the hell was wrong with me.
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Beth ended up falling for this boy (I hate myself for
this) and I got freaked out when she told Fred (aka me)
that she liked him, so I 100% ghosted her. She was
devastated, as any 11 year-old would be, and cried for
days. She would constantly ask me what it was she did
wrong, and how someone could be so nice and then just
leave. I had never felt so incredibly awful before. I
deleted all of the accounts I made (7 accounts, to be
exact), and promised myself I would never do anything
like that again. Don't get me wrong, I was kind of a
bitch in middle school after that too, one of the mean girls.
But after that, I became the nice person I am today.
this) and I got freaked out when she told Fred (aka me)
that she liked him, so I 100% ghosted her. She was
devastated, as any 11 year-old would be, and cried for
days. She would constantly ask me what it was she did
wrong, and how someone could be so nice and then just
leave. I had never felt so incredibly awful before. I
deleted all of the accounts I made (7 accounts, to be
exact), and promised myself I would never do anything
like that again. Don't get me wrong, I was kind of a
bitch in middle school after that too, one of the mean girls.
But after that, I became the nice person I am today.
Technology is an amazing thing,
it has improved how we communicate, and how fast we can do things, but in the wrong hands, can be very dangerous. Not even in the wrong hands, but naive hands. Most preteens (like myself) do not have the capacity to think about how their actions have consequences, some of them long term. This is why technology with kids really needs to be monitored. |
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Above I mentioned preteens, but really all ages need to be monitored. You can go to any public area now and see children as young as one and a half playing with an iPad or their caregivers iPhone. And what is really fascinating is how quickly they learn how to use it. After only a few minutes of playing around on it, they discover how to get to the games or videos they want. But in that short period of time, they can also get into things like messages, emergency numbers, and other apps they shouldn’t have access to.
My two younger brothers are Robby (12) and Rocco (6). Both of them have never experienced a world without iPhones or iPads, and I see everyday how it affects them. Not neccesarily in a bad way, but they don’t know how to live without it, which I think may be an issue later in life. But mostly, I see what they do on their devices. How they manipulate them so easily, without a second thought. I talked to my mom about how she handled my
technology use in the past, and how that is
different or not so different from my
younger siblings.
My two younger brothers are Robby (12) and Rocco (6). Both of them have never experienced a world without iPhones or iPads, and I see everyday how it affects them. Not neccesarily in a bad way, but they don’t know how to live without it, which I think may be an issue later in life. But mostly, I see what they do on their devices. How they manipulate them so easily, without a second thought. I talked to my mom about how she handled my
technology use in the past, and how that is
different or not so different from my
younger siblings.
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“This was 10 years ago and 5 kids later so it’s really hard to remember,” my mom said. “I think we continually had stranger conversations and talked about how it could be anyone that you’re talking to.”
My mom says she believes this method still works for helping keep my younger siblings safe and aware online, but not always. “Things can still be deleted or hidden I think. But yes, I still do phone checks.”
In my personal opinion, all parents should monitor what their children are doing online. Now I don’t mean 24/7 surveillance, where you read every single text message and email and look at every picture they take, but have an idea of what your kids are doing online and on their phones. The best way to do that? Be as knowledgeable as you can about the internet and technology as a whole. In Rhinegold’s introduction, he talks about how his book is for parents who just want to know what their kids are doing but aren’t sure how to. There are so many available sources to take advantage of as a parents to help educate yourselves, including Rhinegold’s book.
“Things can still be deleted or hidden"
I learned not only how to destroy my friends internally through this, but also
how to type faster, how to communicate online (sometimes not appropriately),
how to abbreviate and use acronyms (sometimes unnecessarily), and really
figure out my first online experience completely independently. I learned a lot
through technology, but one of the most important things I took away from my
catfishing experience was that you never truly know who you’re talking to
online.
how to type faster, how to communicate online (sometimes not appropriately),
how to abbreviate and use acronyms (sometimes unnecessarily), and really
figure out my first online experience completely independently. I learned a lot
through technology, but one of the most important things I took away from my
catfishing experience was that you never truly know who you’re talking to
online.