Although the shared memories of sitting on my parents’ king bed with my little brother as we fought over which of the hundreds of VHS movies to watch that day had developed a deep love of movies, a more formative experience with technology would have to be my very first phone. Unlike others, I wouldn’t say that technology was so prevalent in my life. My family had the basics; a television, a home phone, my parents had the blackberry phones, a computer or two, and that was about it. I remember when my mom got her first iPhone, the 2G; I was about 7 years old. I saw it as something so advanced and high-tech. I immediately associated phones with grown-ups as I constantly saw my dad talking on the phone to customers. I was young though and didn’t give technology much thought as to its ubiquity. However, as I passed from one grade to the next, kids gradually started getting phones. Nearly everyone had a phone by fifth grade, except for me. I was about 11 years old and thinking about it now, that seems too young to be giving a child a phone. However being in the fifth grade, I was at the peak of elementary and finally got the respect I deserved at recess. With this mindset, I felt that getting a phone was very much appropriate especially when all of my friends were getting them too. I constantly begged my parents, trying to display my capability to own a phone by doing extra chores around the house and acting “mature”. They finally bought me one at the end of fifth grade. It was a gray and baby blue LG phone, but it also had a sliding keyboard for texting which made me think I was cool, but also adult-like and responsible. I was finally part of the group and was able to text my friends and keep in touch during summers. It seems obvious that this little device helped with socializing, but it affected my attitude towards every phone I would have from then on and phones in general. It’s something I’m able to share moments with my closest friends and keep updated with their lives and how they’re doing. Especially now with college spreading us across the country, I’m still able to keep in touch and remain close to all of them.

Even though I appreciate my phone for this reason, I do keep in mind the recent issues that have emerged as this media convergence has continuously progressed throughout my life. I use my time on my phone accordingly and primarily for keeping in touch with those important to me. I think that it is important to remember what phones were initially used for. Going back to that feeling of responsibility I felt when I got my first phone, we must be aware of the consequences of using our phones too much and not abuse its abilities in regards to social media and other addicting apps. Mobile phones are for the texts you want to send your best friends or the calls to your parents or any other messages to your people, but we need to be self conscious of how pervasive technology can be if we allow it.