As kids some of them had landlines but they didn't use them very often because even local calls cost money. You would just go up to someone's house and knock to see if they were home or usually just plan ahead and meet at certain locations.

Once he went to university in 1996 the internet became very important in order to do research. But the connection was very slow because it was a dial up. He said, "I remember being excited about having so much easily accessible information".

Hearing his perspective not only from a different time but from a different country was really fascinating and it seems that he had even less access to technology than maybe some people from his generation growing up. He appreciates the access to knowledge but doesn't seem to feel like he missed out in school when he was young.

I followed up and said that technology doesn't always have to mean computers. She thought about it and mentioned, "well we did use the Dewey decimal system, all on cards by the way. We also had encyclopedias which is sort of the original format of the internet!" Then she laughed.

She said that she got her first phone when she was 17 from her dad and it had 25 minutes a month, "I felt so cool!". She got her first at home computer when I was a baby which would've been 2001-2003 because she needed it for work as a transcriptionist.

I think my mom's relationship with technology and school is really interesting because she had more of the typcial American education experience and was almost an adult by the time phones and computers were becoming main stream. Now she uses technology all the time for work and is a pro at it :)

Another aspect that Jeremy talked about was the fact that he's not sure if having the laptops really added to the learning experience. "I think they offered more a distraction than really a help for students while in school. I don't think personal screens can really enhance the learning experience".

Hearing Jeremy's perspective was really interesting to me because even though we are in the same age group, our experiences are still different.

Other than that technology was not a very big part of my life as a child or a young student. I feel like some of my elementary education was not as engaging as it could have been but I think that was more to do with the very traditional model of teaching and learning rather than the lack of computers. 

There are definitely pros and cons because sometimes online classwork can be very dull and doesn’t engage me at all. But sometimes the work is very creative and inspiring and it makes me very thankful to have technology in my life.