Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UWRT 1103-005
14 February 2017
Most of us probably have a story about our first encounter with technology. Right now,
you might have started thinking about that first phone you received as a birthday present, that
console you never stopped asking your parents for or that first videogame you ever played of
which you spent countless hours on. Like most of you, growing up, I was surrounded by an
unfathomable number of gadgets and machines. In addition, I'm confident to say that it would
most likely take me eons to narrate all the funny, sad, traumatizing and shocking experiences I
had with technology. And although I will treasure all those memories and experiences forever no
matter how good or bad they are, I seldom cannot stop myself from asking if whether technology
present. I remember how the console came with a set of controllers and a collection of games,
one of which was Duck Hunt. I absolutely adored that game. Like any other child, I admired
guns. Guns just have something in them which appeals to most children. Duck Hunt was a game
which required a pistol shaped controller. The main objective of the game was to shoot the ducks
as they try to fly up the screen. I can still recall how much time I spent playing that game. I
remember how I would wake up as early as I could to play it. My parents would see me sitting in
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front of the television giggling and pretending to be a hunter. Eventually, the sound of gunshots
and ducks became a signal for everyone in the house that it is time to wake up.
I remember the day when my mother came home with an assemblage of boxes. I was, I
believe, around eight years old at that moment. In my mind, I thought the boxes contained home
furniture. I also considered the possibility of them containing exotic outdoor plants, since my
mother was an avid gardener. However, when the boxes were opened, I was astonished by their
movies. The boxes contained the components of a desktop computer. I asked my mother why she
bought it, and she told me, its for my job. Also, I asked her if I could use it as well, and she
replied with a nod. A few days after, the desktop computer was finally set up in our living room.
Its massive monitor dwarfed the table lamp beside it. I remember turning it on for the first time.
It took ages for it to boot up, and I recall staring at the word Microsoft and wondered what it
meant. When the computer was finally ready for use, I began opening the preloaded programs it
had. The first program I opened was Paint. I was completely amazed by the number of different
artistic options the program had. I remember making different variety of shapes and filling them
in with different colors. I also discovered that I could save every piece I made, and I could
modify them whenever I want. By the time that desktop computer decided to retire, I most likely
had hundreds of what I call abstract masterpieces, saved in the hard drive and all of which, in
my opinion, were equally superb and undeniably comparable to Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa.
Another program I spent hours on was a game called 3D Pinball Space Cadet. There was
something mystic and addictive about that game. I ended up burning an entire day the first time I
played it.
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Back when I was still living in the Philippines, my parents decided to enroll me to a
private school ran by nuns. Although it was about thirty minutes away from our house and
although we were not Catholics, they decided to send me there, since they believed it was the
best school a child at my age could attend. In addition, although it meant I would have to wake
up at five in the morning every day, I did not object, since the school was located right in the
middle of the city. Admit it. You most likely only dreamt of roaming a city everyday with your
friends when you were at that age. For me, I viewed my middle school years as if it was an epic.
I remember the times when my friends and I would skip classes. We would climb the high walls
of the school, and we would run as fast as we can to the nearest internet caf where we would
spend the entire day playing videogames. You might be wondering what internet cafes are. Well,
in the Philippines, not everyone has the luxury to purchase or own a computer capable of running
high graphic games. So, young teens like my friends and I would have to rely on internet cafes
when it comes to playing videogames. Also, I remember the times when my friends and I would
use the short time we had for lunch on playing videogames. We would take a bite on the packed
lunch we had whenever we can scavenge a second or two which was usually whenever a game
Thinking about it now, I believe technology was more of a devil than an angel on my
education. Like the devil, technology lured me and skewed me away from the right path.
Technology prevented me from achieving the goals I should have achieved. Technology stole the
time I could have spent on studying. Instead of learning the multiplication table, I was shooting
two-dimensional ducks. Instead of reading works of literature, I was busy making pathetic virtual
artworks. And, instead of being present in class, I was present in the internet caf. I view
technology as an inescapable addiction which, even today, I still have yet to escape. I know
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technology might not have affected you more than it affected me; however, Im certain that
technology has caused some negative effects to all the individuals in our generation. For me, the
dark side of technology came in the form of videogames, but, for some of you, it might have
been social media. I know many of us simply cannot resist the urge of posting that beautiful
grilled chicken Caesar salad we had for lunch or the ability of being able to know what
celebrities are doing with their lavish lives. Like I said, technology negatively affects all of us.
Right now, it might be serving you like a faithful dog. You might be using technology right now
to expand your knowledge. However, sometime today, it will bite your hand, grab a hold of you
and pull you down to the ground. It will prevent you from accomplishing tasks and marking off
that to-do list you wrote. Again, technology is an addiction which is prevalent to the members of
our generation.
Although videogames and social media allow you to escape reality for a moment, you
cannot deny the fact that what you thought you escaped will still be there even after you forgot
about it for a brief time. Right now, there is only one thing I wish to tell you. Use technology
wisely. Make an effort on avoiding using it for entertainment. Use it to expand your knowledge.
Use it to reach other people not to talk about the latest Games of Thrones episode but to
collaborate on scientific or entrepreneurial ideas. I am not suggesting that you should never use
technology for entertainment. Im merely stating the fact that technology will always be there.
Dont let it prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve. Once youve achieved your
dreams, then you can play all the videogames you desire to play or stalk on social media the
Writers Reflection
I believe the most successful part of my paper was the introduction. I think my
introduction served its main purpose which was to grab my audiences attention and make them
want to read more. In addition, my introduction was able to give my audience an idea of the topic
and the purpose of my paper. Also, by reading the introduction, my readers will be able to know
who my targeted audience are and will feel as though I am someone who they can relate to due to
I am really proud of how I was able to justify why I think technology was a blockade on
my education. I really like how I placed an emphasis on how instead of doing this, I should
have done this. I think by doing so, I was able to really show how big of an impact technology
has done on my education. Also, I really liked how I was able to leave a take home message and
how I was able give my audience a suggestion. I think the suggestion and the take home message
helped me close and wrap up my paper and gave my audience a reason to think that it was worth
Even though we were given a great amount of time for this project, if I was given even
more time, I would try to improve the flow of my paper. I am not the best at creating seamless
transitions from one paragraph to another, which is why it would have been splendid if I was
able make a number of my peers read the entirety of my paper. I could ask them about what they
I want my reader to focus on the main on the main message of the paper which is why I
think technology was a blockade on my education. I know they have their own opinion on the
Also, I want my audience to focus on the similarities of my experiences and theirs and not the
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differences. I believe if they focus on the similarities, they will be able to relate more and my
paper would be an easy read to them. However, if they focus on the differences, they would
surely lose interest very easily and, Im guessing most of them would not even finish reading the
entire paper.