Here you are, staring at your computer or phone again. How many times a day do you think you stare at this screen, looking up information at work, researching for school, or checking social media? If you’re like the majority of Americans, you spend a large chunk of your day squinting your eyes at some type of screen, probably more time than you would care to admit. Although, how much do you actually know about your computer? If I had to bet, you don’t know much.
A few months ago, I was like you, blissfully unaware of how little I knew about technology. I knew there was something out there called binary code that dealt with zeros and ones, but I never gave it much more thought except to know enough to understand nerdy jokes like: There are ten types of people in the world; those who understand binary code and those who don’t. I thought I was clever for getting that one.
Maybe I took my computer for granted because I grew up in the 2000s, when the Internet was really getting big and cell phones were starting to become popular for young adults, and I cannot fathom life without information always at my fingertips. Then, I decided on minoring in information systems and technology, and my eyes were opened.
Now, after only two months of taking technology classes, I have come to terms with how little I know about something that takes up so much of my life. How does Google generate thousands of responses when I only type a few letters into the search box? What even is “the cloud” and how does it save all my personal information? What does it mean that a computer saves everything in 0s and 1s?
Honestly, I have no idea what any of that means or how it works. What I do know is that it does work, almost without fail. Thanks to current technology, I can text family members when they are across the Atlantic Ocean, on another continent. I can FaceTime my mom and have a face-to-face conversation after a long day with the simple touch of a finger. When I really think about it, texting across hundreds of thousands of miles and video messaging are miraculous. Technology is evolving at a rapid rate and every day new ideas and innovations are coming to light. Today it’s hotspots and tomorrow it’ll be holograms.
Together, we are all part of the information age. Knowledge is shared and accessible. Distance is relative. The world is becoming a much smaller place. We are actually overloaded from the amount of information available. So the next time you boot up your device and open up an application, take a moment to think about the significance of such a simple action. Even thirty years ago, what you just did would have been unthinkable for most people and now it’s so engrained it’s not even a conscious action. That's remarkable.
