Technology has always been a big component of my life. From my childhood where I played video games on Gameboys, DS’s, and the Wii, to my adolescents where my family and I received our first apple product, the iPad. My family and I used these technological devices to bond with each other. We would play a family game of scrabble on the iPad, have bowling tournaments on the Wii, and race each other in Mario Kart. All of us bonded and had an amazing time together because we love to compete with each other.

On one particular instance, my dad, both brothers, and I held a Mario Kart tournament in our living room. It was a random Thursday night, and we were all in a good mood since tomorrow was Friday, so we figured why not. In the settings, we changed the number of races to thirty-two and made the computer players super aggressive. Next came choosing our characters. As always, we fought a little about which character we wanted to be. But in the end I chose Yoshi, my older brother chose Mario, my little brother chose Luigi, and my dad choose Koopa Troopa. As we prepared to start the first race, we smacked-talked each other. Each of us were in such an eager, competitive, and amusing mood, all thanks to a simple video game.

Throughout the first half of the races, my little brother was in the lead with the most amount of points. However, I was close in second, followed by my older brother. Not surprisingly, my dad was basically in last place, although he kept blaming the controller for his lack of wins. As we rounded the homestretch, Rainbow Road came up. To make this dreaded race actually enjoyable, we decided that every time one of us fell off the road, that person had to run around the house. Overall, I ran back and forth roughly five times, my dad ten, my older brother six, and my little brother two. Afterwards, we had just a handful of races left, and although we were all tired, we pushed through and finished. This entire tournament took a little over ninety minutes, but every minute of it was enjoyable.

Although my little brother ended up being the ultimate Mario Kart champion that night, my family and I bonded. We took such a simple game like Mario Kart to help us have fun with each other and joke around. Technology has this kind of power to do so. It allows people to come together and bond with each other on another level. If we hadn’t decided to play that night, we all would’ve been bored and probably fallen asleep. However, technology allowed us to make inside jokes with each other, be competitive, and get to know each other more. For example, I got to see a kid-like side to my dad that I have never seen before. Most of the time he is serious and stressed due to work and other issues. However, technology, and in this instance video games, allowed him to destress, relax, and have fun.

Overall, technology is a beneficial aspect in my life, and without it I wouldn’t be able to bond with my family in an interactive and humorous way.