Growing up Digital

Growing Up Digital

Meet Nathan Schulman

I am Nathan Schulman, born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.  I was born on August 21, 1983, in the suburbs of Fulton County. My religion is Judaism. I enrolled at Reinhardt University (then known as Reinhardt College) in 2004. After a few years completing the core courses, I declared my major as Visual Arts/Communications.

Early Digital Culture

Being born during the 1980s, all things digital were already taking over the music scene and personal electronics. When I was a toddler, I had a synthesizer (aka digital keyboard piano) by Casio. I enjoyed hearing the sounds and rhythms that this electronic piano made. As I grew older, I started to own more and more digital trend items like the remote control car and alarm-clock radio. I enjoyed the remote control car as a kid.

 

Digital Gaming World

 

When digital culture became a mainstream desire, I saw video game consoles in restaurants and at amusement parks. Shortly, miniature versions of these arcade games were made for household use. When the Nintendo system came out, I was excited and played it all the time with my friends. I had it hooked up to an old television set with ear antennas.   I was a huge Mario Brothers fan and played it often. I was also addicted to The Claw Machines and Skeet Ball in arcades.  I became a great pinball player too.

For kids of the 90's, these game consoles were a new social tool.  Having fun compotisions through these games helped kids of all ages forget the stresses of their childhood and family life.  Friends would call eachother and hang together to play the assortment of games.  This escape from reality for a few hours was like therapy for kids who had problems communicating with their parents.  Kids looked up to the games characters as an early form of today's online profile.  Kids wanted to become this characters and learn all the skills they could.  I was one of these kids, was looking  forward to becoming Mario or Spiterman for an afternoon.

 

I had the first personal computer called Apple II. This computer did not have an operating system, but a floppy drive for games and office software. Most of the games were not in multi-color and were presented in just green. As I grew up, I owned and witnessed the invention of the operating system. I owned computers that had Microsoft Windows 3.1, 1995, and Windows XP. As graphics became enhanced, I began to play computer games and chat online. I used the early AOL to check email and text with friends. I was addicted to instant messaging and creating an account on all softwares possible (Yahoo Messenger, MSN Chat, MIRC).



When chatting platforms became more advanced and included Javascript and chat rooms, I became a computer nerd and searched for chats that were of interest. A software by Microsoft called Internet Relay Chat became my favorite place to stay social. It was a global platform software that could connect to chatrooms all over the world on a multitude of servers. With this software, you could download music and videos while chatting with peers. This was different for me than instant messaging because the majority of the users were from around the world with different ways of communicating. I never made friends on this software; I just witnessed and participated in conversations of interest. Mirc also was a language of its own, almost a precursor to current day Twitter with a more script-like language.

Current Digital Culture

As I used my personal computer, I became aware of new websites that were created for personal profiles and chats. I became a member of Myspace and enjoyed creating my own profile that included a music playlist. I never became a member of Facebook.

Smaller is Better

I have witnessed technology becoming more compatible and user-friendly. Desktop computers have shrunk to include laptops, notebook tablets and Apple products. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Apple have mastered the idea of "Smaller is Better." These companies are also on top of current trends, improving their products every few months. My dad has always been loyal to Dell and my family has had many Dell products including a laptop. I owned the first generation I-Pod by Apple as well as the first generation Microsoft mp3 player. These items are relics in today's market. Apple has released an I-Pad line of skinny handheld devices. They let you do everything your laptop does, but weigh less and are portable.

Witnessing Other Forms of Digital Culture

As a child I was able to witness how digital culture changed transit systems like airport information panels and trains telling you the next stop. I also witnessed hotel room keys becoming digital. When I was young, you got a real key. Today you receive a plastic card that stores information of your stay while opening to your room with a digital reader slot.

 

 

Animatronics and Today's Motion Picture Culture

 

One of the main focuses of digital culture is to entertain us. Amusement parks and cinematography have become one collaborative enterprise that fulfills all our senses.  Rollercosters are more elaborate with digital soundtracks and life-like movement.  Other amusement rides have speed control while incorporating 2D, 3D and even 4D cinematography.  Animatronics are digital computer enhanced robots that make amusement parks more modern and endless on subject matter.  New rides like the World of Harry Potter incorporate interactive motion picture with amazing simulation effects.  These rides transport you into the digital world of movies and imagination.

 

Modern Network and Internet Connections

The idea of wireless electronics has become a huge trend in the last decade.  I have lived through the changing from 56k modem to DSL, network lane-lines (T1 and T2), and currently the new wireless connections.  Wireless lines are way more improved from the 56k modem lines that used your phone service.  These faster lines can handle upwards of a gigabyte per second.

A Helpfull Tool 

New inventions like the thumb drive have made briefcases and data CDs obsolete.  All of your computer files can be put on a portable thumb drive making carrying a handful of file folders a stress of the past.

 

A Few Current Trends

Today the digital app market on the IPhone, IPad, and Android devices has become a major trendsetter.  These softwares can do anything you can think of like GPS, turn on your lights at home, find local restaurants, do mobile banking and more.  On the same note, another current trend is online banking and apps for Turbotax,  Chase Mobile, Bank of America, Starbucks Coffee lingo, just to name a few.
 

 

In the recent decade a digital vocal augmentation called "Auto Tone" has become common among R&B, pop and hip hop artists.  This device lets a singer sound robotic, but the effect is small enough that you can still hear the singer's normal voice.  Just about every artist on the radio these days has used "Auto Tone" for one of their hits.

Conclusion

With the wide variety of tools in the realm of digital culture we are able to connect faster, plain things easier, catch a airplane on time, pay bills online, video chat and remix music to create a fun new track.  Besides just our business uses of digital tools, professional fields have also advanced. Here are some current things happening due to digital and social media: radio stations now use mp3 format to play music without the hassle of changing discs, DJs no longer use vinyl at clubs, industrial factories are using technology to get more products out quicker and more efficiently, setting appointments and conferencing can be done over our smart phones.

Overall I think that cyberspace and digital culture is ever changing. I am amazed at the current state of digital culture and can't wait for what is to come