Books and writing had a huge impact throughout my childhood life in terms of literacy. I loved reading the Captain Underpants books,Malory, and the Fudge Series after school between third and fifth grade.I always wrote my writing assignments the fastest in class because of my passion for writing as well.I believed that these experiences all shaped my literacy in a positive way, then digital literacy took over my life in sixth grade.
We all remember that rough time of being in school as a twelve year old, that dreadful year before heading into middle school for the next two years.This year had felt like one of the hardest years that I had to deal with in all of my school years put together. All of my friends got assigned to be in the“cooler” teacher’s classroom for the year, unlike myself.I felt extremely lonely in class all day long because my classmates and I just did not click with one another. Due to this factor, the turning of pages would always happen on my desk too. Also, my favorite,The Outsiders, would usually be open because I did not have anyone to talk to. I just wanted to find a way to communicate with my classmates in an easy way to have a better school year.Then,half way through the year, I learned about an online messaging site that changed sixth grade for me immensely.
Around the month when the leaves started to turn green again during that, year I finally had an idea of a way to find a connection with some of my classmates. One day during that month, I heard two girls talking about something called Aim. At first, I was so confused because I had never heard of Aim before, and I thought the name sounded a little off putting. I then heard one girl saying, “I loved the online conversation that we had yesterday, can’t wait to chat later!” I then figured out that it was a instant messaging website, and I knew that I wanted an Aim right after I heard the girls talking about it. I thought that if I had one because it was “cool” ,then people in my class would finally want to be friends with me.This way, I wouldn’t have to keep my head in a book every time we had a free class moment. After I heard their conversation, I did something that I probably should have thought about little more about before actually doing it.
I went up to the girls who were named Purvi and Amber and said, “Hey you guys should add me on Aim so we can talk after school.” At first they both gave me a strange look like I was crazy for asking this, then they both wrote down there usernames for me.They also asked me for mine. My face lite up like like a little kid in a candy store because they actually wanted to talk to me, even if it was just online. Then, I remembered that I did not have an aim yet , so I did not have an actual username to give them. I quickly scribbled down “rooty6767” ( because rooty was a nickname and had when I was little), and they told me that they would both chat me later.
After school that day, I ran home as fast as I could to make an Aim before the girls realized that I had lied to them about having one. I quickly said “hi” to my mom and darted down to our basement to log onto Aim from our giant , white pc computer. At this time, I did not have my own laptop yet, and my five person family shared this one pc.I really wish that I did because our pc was as as slow as a turtle.My mom was also fine with me getting an aim at this point because she “thought it would help me enhance my social life at school from this online communication.” I clicked the “create a username” botton and prayed that the username that I had given them was available. Luckily, it turned out that the username there, and I patiently waited for Purvi and Amber to message me.
“Bing..” went a chat bubble noise an hour later. I received a “hey :)” message from both of them, and I was thrilled that they had actually messaged me. After our conversation had begun, I knew from that moment on that I was going to love going on Aim for the rest of the year.
Flash Forwarding a few weeks later, my mom remembers that I had become extremely addicted to going onto aim every day after school. “Vicky, you have been on aim for three hours, get off and go do your homework. I wish you never would have gotten aim to chat on,” were the words that would constantly come out of my mom’s mouth. “I will in ten more minutes,”I responded. I knew that she was concerned with me having an aim because I now spent 99 percent of my life talking to different people from my class on it. Also, my books would stay closed now, and I had stopped asking to go to the library because I only wanted to chat online.From staring at a screen everyday for so many hours, my love for literacy had unfortunately become affected.However, after a few more weeks of using this online communication cite, I realized that I should have listened to my mom words and never had gotten one.
Typing a mile a minute on aim was amazing at the beginning of using it. Many girls in my class would chat me first, and we would have some great conversations. Some of these were about annoying teachers and cute boys in our class. (maybe dialogue)They would even talk to me a little during class now, and I would feel so confident walking into my classroom everyday now. I truly thought that I did use this technology in a mindful way because I thought that I actually made some new friends.
Although,even though I thought this in the moment, this sadly had not been the case. After a few weeks, the girls in my class stopped chatting me first.I always had to type “hey” to the girls online first now to have a conversation with them. They would still talk to me a bit on aim, but the lengths of the conversations had become shorter and shorter . The tone of the messages also altered a bit, and the messages were not as “happy” as they used to be. Even though they would still talk to me aim a little, they would barely talk to me in class again. I could never figure out exactly why they did this, maybe they were just trying to be nice to me at first? I was so upset at school now because I thought that there was something “wrong with me” because they did not want to engage with me online anymore.Since this happened, I went back to staring at books constantly in class too. I also took a small break from aim because I could not bear to look at my empty message box anymore.I did not think what they had done to me was right, and I just wanted my “friends” back to have happiness in class again.
I did decide to try going back on aim and sometimes, I would just stare at my aim messenger screen for hours upon hours in hope that one of them would message me first again. As much as I wished every night that this would happen again, it unfortunately never occured. My mom would try to tell me, “Vicky please stop staring at the computer hoping for messages, this is not healthy!” I knew that she had been right, but I just felt so hopeless and could not get myself off of the site. Aim had destroyed my life for quite some time thanks to the actions that my classmates had done, and it just had not been fair in my eyes.
It is now the month where people are constantly by the ocean, and my graduation dimpolia now hung in my house. I now have learned to spend less hours a night on aim, and have gone back to writing and reading quite a lot more.I have also found some kinder people to talk to on aim from my summer camp, and luckily, they still want to be my friends off the computer screen too. This experience has taught me that even though online technology is fantastic, it is not sufficient if one is not using it in a mindful way. Aim also made me realize that that even if people are being “nice” to you online, they still might not appreciate you in person.I have completely stopped talking to the girls that I thought for a brief few moments were my “friends”. Aim truly had been fantastic to go on, but it had not been worth getting addicted to for quite a few months. I’m very much looking forward to middle school approaching soon and to try and stop going on aim completely.
We all remember that rough time of being in school as a twelve year old, that dreadful year before heading into middle school for the next two years.This year had felt like one of the hardest years that I had to deal with in all of my school years put together. All of my friends got assigned to be in the“cooler” teacher’s classroom for the year, unlike myself.I felt extremely lonely in class all day long because my classmates and I just did not click with one another. Due to this factor, the turning of pages would always happen on my desk too. Also, my favorite,The Outsiders, would usually be open because I did not have anyone to talk to. I just wanted to find a way to communicate with my classmates in an easy way to have a better school year.Then,half way through the year, I learned about an online messaging site that changed sixth grade for me immensely.
Around the month when the leaves started to turn green again during that, year I finally had an idea of a way to find a connection with some of my classmates. One day during that month, I heard two girls talking about something called Aim. At first, I was so confused because I had never heard of Aim before, and I thought the name sounded a little off putting. I then heard one girl saying, “I loved the online conversation that we had yesterday, can’t wait to chat later!” I then figured out that it was a instant messaging website, and I knew that I wanted an Aim right after I heard the girls talking about it. I thought that if I had one because it was “cool” ,then people in my class would finally want to be friends with me.This way, I wouldn’t have to keep my head in a book every time we had a free class moment. After I heard their conversation, I did something that I probably should have thought about little more about before actually doing it.
I went up to the girls who were named Purvi and Amber and said, “Hey you guys should add me on Aim so we can talk after school.” At first they both gave me a strange look like I was crazy for asking this, then they both wrote down there usernames for me.They also asked me for mine. My face lite up like like a little kid in a candy store because they actually wanted to talk to me, even if it was just online. Then, I remembered that I did not have an aim yet , so I did not have an actual username to give them. I quickly scribbled down “rooty6767” ( because rooty was a nickname and had when I was little), and they told me that they would both chat me later.
After school that day, I ran home as fast as I could to make an Aim before the girls realized that I had lied to them about having one. I quickly said “hi” to my mom and darted down to our basement to log onto Aim from our giant , white pc computer. At this time, I did not have my own laptop yet, and my five person family shared this one pc.I really wish that I did because our pc was as as slow as a turtle.My mom was also fine with me getting an aim at this point because she “thought it would help me enhance my social life at school from this online communication.” I clicked the “create a username” botton and prayed that the username that I had given them was available. Luckily, it turned out that the username there, and I patiently waited for Purvi and Amber to message me.
“Bing..” went a chat bubble noise an hour later. I received a “hey :)” message from both of them, and I was thrilled that they had actually messaged me. After our conversation had begun, I knew from that moment on that I was going to love going on Aim for the rest of the year.
Flash Forwarding a few weeks later, my mom remembers that I had become extremely addicted to going onto aim every day after school. “Vicky, you have been on aim for three hours, get off and go do your homework. I wish you never would have gotten aim to chat on,” were the words that would constantly come out of my mom’s mouth. “I will in ten more minutes,”I responded. I knew that she was concerned with me having an aim because I now spent 99 percent of my life talking to different people from my class on it. Also, my books would stay closed now, and I had stopped asking to go to the library because I only wanted to chat online.From staring at a screen everyday for so many hours, my love for literacy had unfortunately become affected.However, after a few more weeks of using this online communication cite, I realized that I should have listened to my mom words and never had gotten one.
Typing a mile a minute on aim was amazing at the beginning of using it. Many girls in my class would chat me first, and we would have some great conversations. Some of these were about annoying teachers and cute boys in our class. (maybe dialogue)They would even talk to me a little during class now, and I would feel so confident walking into my classroom everyday now. I truly thought that I did use this technology in a mindful way because I thought that I actually made some new friends.
Although,even though I thought this in the moment, this sadly had not been the case. After a few weeks, the girls in my class stopped chatting me first.I always had to type “hey” to the girls online first now to have a conversation with them. They would still talk to me a bit on aim, but the lengths of the conversations had become shorter and shorter . The tone of the messages also altered a bit, and the messages were not as “happy” as they used to be. Even though they would still talk to me aim a little, they would barely talk to me in class again. I could never figure out exactly why they did this, maybe they were just trying to be nice to me at first? I was so upset at school now because I thought that there was something “wrong with me” because they did not want to engage with me online anymore.Since this happened, I went back to staring at books constantly in class too. I also took a small break from aim because I could not bear to look at my empty message box anymore.I did not think what they had done to me was right, and I just wanted my “friends” back to have happiness in class again.
I did decide to try going back on aim and sometimes, I would just stare at my aim messenger screen for hours upon hours in hope that one of them would message me first again. As much as I wished every night that this would happen again, it unfortunately never occured. My mom would try to tell me, “Vicky please stop staring at the computer hoping for messages, this is not healthy!” I knew that she had been right, but I just felt so hopeless and could not get myself off of the site. Aim had destroyed my life for quite some time thanks to the actions that my classmates had done, and it just had not been fair in my eyes.
It is now the month where people are constantly by the ocean, and my graduation dimpolia now hung in my house. I now have learned to spend less hours a night on aim, and have gone back to writing and reading quite a lot more.I have also found some kinder people to talk to on aim from my summer camp, and luckily, they still want to be my friends off the computer screen too. This experience has taught me that even though online technology is fantastic, it is not sufficient if one is not using it in a mindful way. Aim also made me realize that that even if people are being “nice” to you online, they still might not appreciate you in person.I have completely stopped talking to the girls that I thought for a brief few moments were my “friends”. Aim truly had been fantastic to go on, but it had not been worth getting addicted to for quite a few months. I’m very much looking forward to middle school approaching soon and to try and stop going on aim completely.