Watcha Know Bout Me?

Hi guys. My name is Ashley Johnston, and I am a first time blogger, so I hope I don't screw this up. I am an English major and a Rhetoric minor, so clearly I like to read and write. Honestly, I really enjoy school, which is probably why I'm planning on going straight from nearly 20 years of education directly into a teaching job at a high school either here in San Diego, or perhaps back in Orange County where I grew up. I love friendships, food, rollercoasters, and reality TV (awful, I know). From this course, I hope to learn more about technology - not only how to do common things (like blogging), but also how these new, everyday practices are affecting the world we live in. As much as technology helps us, I wonder how much it hinders us as well. In an age when cell phones are in every ten year-old's backpack, how much are we letting go of personal connection, and replacing it with IM's, MySpace comments, and text messages? Don't get me wrong - I am a huge fan of technological communication, and I quite heavily rely on it as well. I just wonder what life and communication would be like without this level of technology, as well as what it would be like with further advancements in the field. Hopefully there will be a project or assignment that can help me answer these questions, or at least understand their compexity a bit more.