Essay 1 Podcast

The speaker discusses the impact of technology on their life during the COVID-19 pandemic. They mention how technology was mainly used for entertainment before the pandemic but became more useful during lockdown. They learned about new platforms for school, such as Google Classroom and Google Docs, and how technology helped them stay connected with friends and family. They also highlight the importance of technology in staying updated on news and current events. Overall, they acknowledge that technology has had a significant impact on their life and has helped them navigate through school and college. The impact of technology throughout COVID-19. Technology can influence many people in a variety of ways. For me, it has taken a great toll on my life. It has influenced my life the most during the pandemic of COVID-19. Before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, I played a lot of video games and used technology mainly for entertainment and leisure. But throughout the pandemic, I learned a lot about what technology was actually capable of. For example, I was introduced to lots of new platforms that I could use for school. Also, before COVID-19, when I played video games often, I was distracted and was not getting more of my important things done. Once the pandemic impacted where I lived, I learned how to stay connected with friends and family and to read all about daily news and other important things going on in the world. Technology can be extremely beneficial when used correctly but can also distract one from staying on task as it once did to me. Before the pandemic of COVID-19, my use of video games along with social media platforms affected me in many negative ways. For instance, I used to stay up all night playing video games with my friends or endlessly watching videos on my phone that did not benefit me in any way. It also deprived me of sleep that my body needed growing up. I would be so focused on a game or video that hours would go by and before I knew it, it was the middle of the night. I was not focused on the right things that I needed to be focused on so that I could get chores and school work done. Social media can be a huge distraction if you allow it to be. I would be on my phone and tell myself to only take five more minutes but that would turn into an hour. Technology became an issue during this time of my life. I was really wrapped up in it and I was not putting my health first. After the pandemic happened, that is when I really had to put things in perspective. To continue, I always enjoyed playing video games with my friends online. My use of technology was more focused on entertainment and enjoyment. It never really occurred to me to use a phone or a computer to help with school work in all of my free time. Once the virus surfaced, my eyes were opened to the more useful ways of using technology. For example, I was introduced to Google Classroom which is a platform we use for my high school. This app has all our classes on it and allows us to turn assignments in online. It also gives us easy access to be able to communicate with our teachers at any time. I was also introduced to Google Docs as well. Google Docs was a platform I used a great deal during COVID-19 to get my assignments completed and turned in. Even today, I learn more and more about what technology can do. Just last month, I was introduced to Microsoft 365 and Word. I learned how to get to Word through Microsoft 365 and how to save documents properly. Another platform I have learned about recently is Blackboard. This is where all my classes for college are located. In my opinion, having experience with Google Classroom has made it a lot easier for me to navigate through Blackboard. Moreover, the more useful side of technology includes staying connected with friends and family. This was especially important when the virus hit because it caused people to have to stay at home. Family and friends are people one needs to hold connections with. Around the time COVID-19 hit, it was my first year at a new school. So, having technology by my side allowed me to form more connections and build more relationships with peers at my new school. It also allowed me to stay connected with some of my close friends from my old school. Technology gave us a way to do that. Also, during COVID-19, having divorced parents, I had to use technology to communicate with them. I would always switch houses every other week with my parents. So, when it came to the end of the week, technology allowed me to communicate and figure out a meeting time for them. Another positive side of technology is being up to date with day-to-day news or current events. Without technology, COVID-19 would not have gotten around as fast as it did and people would not have known what to do. It is important to know about daily news and current events in case it is an emergency that one may need to prepare for. For example, I had several family emergencies that I would have no way of finding out about if it were not for communication through devices. COVID-19 caused a transfer from more of a hands-on world to a more modern technology work-based environment. To sum up everything that has been stated so far, technology has had a significant impact on my life. Before COVID-19, my use of technology was not the greatest. I used technology for activities that contributed nothing to my academic life. Once the pandemic hit, it forced me to learn a way of using technology in vast ways I had never thought about using it before. Being locked in our homes the last quarter of the school year, we had no other way to communicate except for through technology. Learning how to use these new platforms has helped me tremendously down the line throughout school, especially now with figuring out college platforms like Blackboard and Microsoft Word.