kboudreau

= **Katie Boudreau** =

**__When Technology Failed Me__**

My first venture into the land of smartphones was the Blackberry that I got as my graduation gift from high school. I was so excited to have a phone that had internet and GPS navigation. I spent days looking at that little screen after I got it. During that summer, my mother and I went to New York to move me into my freshman dorm room at Sarah Lawrence. We were staying in Yonkers close to the school, so we had to take the train in to Grand Central in order to get into the city. I didn’t know New York at this time since I had only been there twice as a tourist before that, so I knew that my brand new navigation was going to be invaluable on this trip. It turns out that six years ago, smartphones weren’t as reliable as they are now. I couldn’t seem to get a signal from anywhere that I needed it. As I tried to use my GPS to get us from place to place, I was continually let down and frustrated. Eventually we had to give in and get directions the old-fashioned way; we asked other people. This did make me realize how extremely nice and helpful New Yorkers could be despite popular opinion.

My mother and I got lost a lot that day even with the help of the locals though, and I believe that one person did point us in the wrong direction purposefully. When we were heading back to Grand Central, we were two blocks away in Time Square (which I know now as resident), but when we asked someone pointed us in the opposite direction, which lead to us walking around aimlessly for about an hour. My mum and I were completely exhausted by the time we returned to our hotel in Yonkers, but funnily my GPS was working in Westchester to get us from the train station to the hotel. Luckily smartphones have become more reliable over the years, and I still use GPS regularly. Now I know not to think it infallible though, and I always know that I can ask someone walking by if I really need to.

**__My life as a technology user: From dial-up to a computer in my pocket__**

__Late Elementary School:__ First computer: Giant box compared to today and the dial-up was unbearably loud.

__Birthday just before high school (14):__ My first cell-phone: It was super basic with just a few games on it and texting. That made it really easy to learn how to use it. I used it to call and text friends and family. I was and still am not huge into talking on the phone for hours at a time though. I painted this phone purple with silver polka dots using my nail polish and had it until I graduated high school.

__High school (9th-11th grade):__ Enter myspace. This was the site to be on in high school. Everyone was constantly talking about what background we were going to put up and what people were posting. I lived on this site for several years. It was my intro into how to truly play around with web-pages.

__High school (11th and 12th grade):__ Change to facebook. Facebook was the cooler more grown-up version of myspace. I started using it when it was still mostly for college kids due to the school I was attending having close connections with the colleges in our area. You had to have a .edu address in order to access it still at this time. Facebook quickly took over my life in myspace’s place. It was how we extended ourselves into the world around us.

I had to get a laptop for my junior year of high school, it was a PC that the school suggested. This was how we completed our assignments and did our research as a boarding school. At the beginning, it was really cool to me to have a laptop, but after a few years the PC became sluggish and kept breaking down. Toward the end of my time with this PC, it began making a very loud whirring noise everyone time it was on and kept getting overheated. After my first year of college I gave it to my mother and bought myself a Mac with my summer earnings. Becoming a Mac person was the best technological decision I have ever made!

__High school graduation:__ My blackberry. This was my first venture into smartphones. I could go on the internet, check email, use GPS navigation. It was amazing! I was constantly on this phone.

__College:__ I got my Macbook after my freshman year of college. I was obsessed with it! I loved all of the Mac applications like Photobooth and iMovie (which I didn’t use until years later, but I liked knowing that I had it). I loved how easy it was to use and that I didn’t have to worry about viruses like I did with my old PC. I have been an ardent Mac supporter for the past 5 years, and don’t think I could ever switch back.

Increasingly more advanced smartphones also dominated college. From my blackberry, which was cool but limited and more for work, I moved on to my droids and have maxed out at my Samsung S4. Smartphones I have found are something you learn to use through playing around with them and seeing how your friends use theirs. The longer I have had a smartphone the more I rely entirely on it. My navigation has been my saving grace on a constant basis. I use it for facebook, pinterest, emails, etc. My phone has become my computer when I am not home (and sometimes even when I am home). It is the technology that I rely on more than anything else in my life.

During college, I also started following blogs, podcasts, etc. Although I know how to create these things, I have never felt the need to actually do so.

__Teaching:__ As a teacher, I was forced to learn how to use a smartboard (although I’m still not as talented at them as some) and my elmo/document camera. These are regular parts of my classroom, which have been extremely useful with student engagement and modeling. As part of grad school, I also learned to use iMovies and create a website. They were easier to do than I thought (although iMovie is highly time consuming). Creating a website was a lot of fun though, and I want to try to create a classroom website next year for my students.