Personal Narrative- My Laptop
Writing technologies have been shaping the way people live since the beginning of time. In the Stone Age, our ancestors used tablets to organize important thoughts, keep track of daily activities, and pass on their knowledge to future generations. Arguably, their method of writing was inefficient as much effort was being put into carving and preserving the tablet, while the end result contained little information relative to its size. As technologies evolve, we have refined our methods of writing and have come up with newer, cheaper, and more efficient ways to communicate. Living in the age of information explosion, my most intimate experience with writing technologies comes from the use of my royal blue VAIO.
In this essay I will first describe how I have been shaped by my laptop, then provide nuanced detail about my use of it, and finally explain why my relationship with it is interesting.
First, my laptop has shaped my style of living for the better. I believe college is a time of exploration and experimentation, where the breadth of one's participation in various activities is more important than depth of involvement in any single one. Throughout my undergraduate years, I have taken the opportunity to travel and try many new things. Specifically, I have participated in a few three to six month internship / cooperative education program in order to learn more about my own career aptitude. During temporary relocations to Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Taipei, my laptop has always accompanied me and provided great mobility to wherever destination. In the most practical sense, through the use of Outlook Express and AIM, my VAIO helped me communicate with colleagues during the day, and family and friends at night. Beyond that, though, I believe the convenience of relocation that is implied in laptop ownership has vastly broadened my world views and has allowed me to become more independent as a young adult.
Other than being a necessary traveling companion, my laptop has also become an integral part of my life while at school. For instance, I use it to manage mutual fund investments, organize lecture notes and homework, read the news (I spend a lot of time at cnn.com), edit video clips, etc. There are a multitude of other things I do with my laptop, most of which are meaningful and essential, and some of which are purely for fun.
The Civil War had many large technological advancements that would greatly evolve warfare. The war introduced the first ironclad ships, the first repeating rifles and carbines, and the first metallic rifle and pistol cartridges. The military didn't solely rely on this new technology, however. Older weapons and other tools were still trusted, such as paper cartridges and smoothbore muskets.
Through books one to three in Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle distinguishes between pain and happiness, clarifying the endless war that men face in the path of these two extremes. Man’s quest for pleasure is considered by the self-conscious and rational Aristotle; a viewpoint traditionally refuted in contemporary, secular environments.
Macbeth is responsible for all of the actions that drive him insane. This all happens after he receives the prophecy from the witches about becoming king. Before he commits the first murder he says that he sees a dagger pointing him to Duncan's room. This dagger that he sees is a figure of his imagination justifying to himself that it is ok to commit the murder. When they are at the dinner and Banquo's ghost appears and Macbeth is the only one who can see it, but this time Macbeth is having a feeling of regret why he has had his best friend murdered. Even though Lady Macbeth and the witches might of pushed Macbeth to do it, it was actually Macbeth who causes all the madness.
Chute, Lily B. "Macbeth : A Study in Power." Readings on Macbeth. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1999. 126-35.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print. The New Folger Library Shakespeare.
To achieve this topic, I have sectioned my paper into three main sections, in which I have subsections supporting. In the first section, I will provide much information about Aristotle and his beliefs in virtue and obtaining happiness. Using information from his book of ethics I will provide examples and quote on quote statements to support his views. In the second section, I will provide my agreements as to why I relate and very fond of Aristotle’s book of Nicomachean Ethics. In the third section, I will provide research as to why there are such objections to Aristotle’s book of ethics, and counter act as to why I disagree with them. Lastly I will conclude much of my and as well as Aristotle’s views on ethics and why I so strongly agree with this route of ethics for humans.
Many people argue that by using laptops during lectures, students are able to actively participate in the class and they have better communication with the professors despite large class sizes (Fried, 2008, p.2). Through classroom resources such as university and course online platforms, students are able to access the information they are learning about in their lectures. However, students themselves also have a very particular view on this topic, as they are very protective over their belongings and do not want to have their laptops banned from the classroom: “more and more faculty are banning laptops from their classrooms because of perceptions that they distract students and detract from learning,” (Fried, 2008, p.1). Prohibiting the use of laptops in university classrooms is becoming a more common solution to multitasking and student distraction. Universities enforce this regulation in order to prevent distraction and multitasking from impacting a students and surrounding student’s academic
The computer obsession began when the first computer was built in 1939. There are many uses of a computer like the proper way and the negative way. The way Annalee Newitz uses her computer is good and bad. The definition of a good teaching tool is the best way to teach a class or something that is taught. Using a good teaching tool is not always easy. There are many things about computers who make people depend or use too much to stop depending on technology.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press New Folger Edition, 1992
Though being exposed to technologies like computers from an early age may have given us the ability to do things more efficiently, technology has also made us less dependent on ourselves. Claudia Wallis, editor for Time, in her article makes known in The Multitasking Generation, “That level of multiprocessing and interpersonal connectivity is now so commonplace that it’s easy to forget how quickly it came about. Fifteen years ago, most home computers weren’t even linked to the Internet” (63). There are many things that students are able to do on their computer that their parents aren't even aware of or that the parents couldn’t do themselves. My parents always tell of how looking through the library’s card catalog and searching for the books they needed only to find out that they have been taken out. Computers have allowed us to do many things faster for example, write much faster than a typewriter or pen and paper and correct typing errors without starting over. The computers and technology we now have makes it easier to almost anything and with technology so easily at your fingertips it o...
Evans, G. Blackemore. "Macbeth." In The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blackemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mufflin Company. 1974: 1307- 1311
In Macbeth, Shakespeare confronts audiences with universal and powerful themes of ambition and evil along with its consequences. Shakespeare explores the powerful theme of the human mind’s decent into madness, audiences find this theme most confronting because of its universal relevance. His use of dramatic devices includes soliloquies, animal imagery, clear characterisation and dramatic language. Themes of ambition and mental instability are evident in Lady Macbeth’s reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the prophecies, Macbeth’s hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost and finally in the scene where Lady Macbeth is found sleep walking, tortured by her involvement.
Older generations would tell stories about how the technology one now has, did not exist in their days. Currently, it is something one cannot live without; especially for students who use their laptops for registering online for classes, written assignments, taking notes in Word documents, doing researches now that databases and libraries are available online, and viewing the PowerPoint slides along with the professor when he is lecturing. Because personal laptops are not being monitored, professors have little control of what a student is doing on their laptops while sitting in his or her classroom. An article by Carrie B. Fried entitled, In-Class Laptop Use and Its Effects on Student Learning, she stated that out of the participating surveyors that she surveyed, “64.3% reported using their laptops...
Could there be a solution to the problem of laptops being distracting and inhibiting learning? Maybe having a server in academic buildings that restricts certain sites so you can only go on websites that are necessary for the class. So even if someone still preferred to type their notes there could be less things to distract the students. Professors could also try to utilize students laptops. If they purposely use the laptops to engage students this could help them
Wow, what an experience it was to see for the first time a machine that could think!