Like any other day, I pulled up a google search to look up who knows what, and in the purple text that indicates a user’s previous search history I read, ‘what to expect when you are four weeks pregnant’.

At first, I was confused, but then my mind started spinning, however, I waited to be certain. Sure enough, as the weeks went by the search history continued to clue me in. My mom was pregnant. After returning from a spring break trip to Florida in April, my parents finally told me. They had me open an Easter basket.

I was especially confused as to why they were giving me one, let alone videotaping me in the first place since I thought I had outgrown this tradition. My hands landed on a golden egg that was bigger than all the other eggs, and my parents seemed to be very anxious for me to open it. Getting increasingly suspicious, I pulled the pieces apart and a sonogram fell out. I was officially going to be a big sister.

July rolled around and with it, a special doctor’s visit for my family. We were going to find out if baby Pond was a boy or a girl. I can easily recall waiting in the obstetrician's office, feeling extremely uncomfortable and a little out of place.

As a soon to be sophomore in high school, I was still uneasy about becoming a big sister. We were called back to the exam room and my mom laid back in the chair. One could probably feel my excitement as I sat quietly in the corner waiting for information that would ultimately change all of our lives.

The ultrasound technician started looking around for the best angle to tell what the gender was. I sat there looking at the computer screen, just a bunch of gray and black lines, but it was the only real connection I had with my own sibling at the time. After a few more minutes of searching for the right angle, the ultrasound technician declared we would be adding a little baby girl to our family. She printed out a few pictures for us to take home, and we were on our way. The only solid proof I had was the photos in my hands.

A few months later, my parents left our house for the hospital. They left me at home, and my grandparents were to pick me up if the doctor determined my parents would not be coming back home that night. It was not a false alarm. Early the next morning, I am shaken awake and handed a cell phone.

My dad was on the other end and I was told that I was now a big sister and that I could come and visit. The only connection I had to my little sister were the pictures coming through my phone and the noise I could hear in the background of the call with my dad. In that moment, even though I had not officially met her, I vowed to protect her from anything and everything. Be that a broken heart, a scraped knee, or our parents’ stubbornness, I would be by her side whenever she needed me.Even before she was born, my relationship with my sister was affected by the presence of technology. There is a sixteen-year age gap between the two of us, so obviously there are things I have experienced that she never will. I grew up in a time of technological transition, whereas Emory, my little sister, will continue to grow up in a time where technology is the everyday norm.

When she was born, I was terrified I would not have a close relationship with her. However, due to the presence of technology in our lives, it has never been easier to stay connected. I will concede and say that there is nothing that can compare to getting a hug from my little sister, but having the ability to FaceTime her anytime I want has reassured me that our relationship will not suffer due to the distance between us since I left for college.

When I started my education, all those years ago, technology was not as essential as it seems to be now. I started reading in hardback and paperback books, I learned how to write long before I learned how to type, and I used paper flashcards to learn vocabulary instead of an online resource. I was being taught how to do things for myself, how to make things on my own, and how to think independently from my surroundings.

However, as I grew up, technology started to become an integral part of my education. A Google search was never far from mind, assignments started being submitted online, and textbooks were no longer hard copies. There were days that technology made life easier, other days it made it more difficult. I look around now and see my little sister who roughly knew how to use an iPhone before she could talk.

Cell phones and laptops will be integrated into her education from an early age, not just the last few years of secondary education as was the case for me. She will be surrounded by a fast-paced environment that has been created since our society began to rely so heavily on technology.

When it comes to my own generation, I personally feel nostalgic when I think back to the days where technology did not seem to run our lives. I was not concerned with how many ‘likes’ or ‘views’ I got on a certain social media platform, I was more concerned with the friends I actually had and those with which I could interact. Now, I find myself having a sense of fear for my little sister.

I am afraid some of those things are all she will be concerned with as she grows up. People in today’s society tend to show off their best life, not their real life when it comes to Instagram and Facebook. So, when I see these perfect posts and compare them to my reality, there are times it feels like I can never measure up to another person’s perfection or even social expectations that almost feel assigned to me. I am afraid that this is what my sister will grow up feeling.

This constant comparison usually negatively affected my self-confidence and my relationships with people my age, and I do not want to that to be the case for her. It is easy for us all to stay connected with our long-lost friends and others we have met over the years, but there are times where it can feel intimidating to talk to them solely based on how they put themselves out there on social media.

I do not want to see my sister exposed to that sense of intimidation. On the flip side, there are times where I hope my own social media presence intimidates others because I do not want to be associated with their irresponsibility or even certain activities they choose to partake on such a broadcasted forum.

So, going forward it will be difficult to teach my sister to be accepting and to not be judgmental towards people. Additionally, befriending everyone is not always the best idea and to be wary of associating with people who broadcast to the world without reservations for responsibility or accountability.

That balance has been difficult to find in my own life, so trying to teach her is going to prove to be a challenge of its own. However, it is a challenge I will gladly accept because I want to help Emory in any way I can. It is very easy to live behind a screen and not realize there are consequences for every action even when things happen through technology, and it is my job to help my sister navigate her way through it.

From the beginning, my relationship with my sister has been affected different kinds of technology. From the screen where I first saw her, to the pictures of the two of us I post on Instagram, we are connected through the technology that we use every day. I grew up alongside technology and Emory will grow up with technology, but as long as we both know how to use it to better our relationship, we will always be able to connect with each other no matter the distance.