A kid and technology

By D3NE (*)

I have to admit that when my father asked me to write something for his blog’s anniversary, he caught me completely off guard. Not because writing is hard for me or because I didn’t want to, but because I had no idea what I could write that would have anything to do with what he usually publishes here. You have to keep in mind that I tend to write about epic battles and exaggerated feats of fantasy, and that most of my documents are awash in romantic or nostalgic feelings, so having to produce something for a techno-philosophical blog was an idea that refused to fit in my head.

But after several days of straining to think of what to write (truth is, I had forgotten I had to do it), the last day of the deadline arrived and the idea with it: I won’t write about anything related to the blog’s content, I’ll write about what technology has meant to me over my 21 years and how the author of this blog has been an essential part of that process of “technological growth”.

For that I need to go back to the moment my life took a turn. I remember that my mother was dating Eduardo and she took us, for the first time, to the apartment where he lived. I, like a good son, was jealous of any relationship my mother might have with another man, so I went along with the longest, most unpleasant face you can imagine. What happened next changed my whole perception of that great enemy, my mother’s new boyfriend. Inside the apartment, while I was working hard at being indifferent, something caught my attention. Eduardo took me to his room and showed me the device that would make me his biggest fan: a computer. Yes, however it sounds, I sold out. Ever since I was little, having been born at a time when computers, chat rooms and the internet were starting to boom, I had been dragged along by a force greater than my will that demanded I enjoy technology and discover everything it could do for my entertainment. So, on seeing a PC that, besides being very powerful for its day, had “Warcraft II” (a video game with a medieval-fantasy flavor) running perfectly on it, my rage, my jealousy, my frustration and my selfishness vanished on the spot.

Come on, don’t look at me like that! I was just a kid...

Clearly, you could say, and with some reason, that for me the price paid was less than the benefit I got; that is, I handed over my mother’s “hand” for the chance to enjoy that piece of technology and it seemed like a completely fair deal to me. But if I tried to explain my reasoning at that moment, we would lose the thread of this little post and my father would end up dizzy.

What mattered about that moment was the alliance (and the non-aggression pact) I established with my father. It was one that only I knew about, but he, one way or another, knew that he had me in the palm of his hand and that, whatever he did, as long as he fed that technological hunger he wouldn’t have to worry about the dragon guarding the princess.

But beyond the change at the emotional and family level, an idea was planted in my head, an idea that over the years would grow into everything I am today. Technology became an essential part of my life. I always wanted to be on the computer, I wanted to learn to make my own web pages, I wanted to chat, browse, play, I wanted it all and, thanks to the fact that my father’s work was strictly related to technology and computing, I could have it. But Eduardo didn’t just hand me the materials to create with, no. He took it upon himself to instruct me, punish me and congratulate me when called for; he taught me that what matters is not always achieving things but trying them and being persistent, not throwing in the towel at the first failure or abandoning projects out of tiredness or apathy (he still repeats this to me). In short, he guided me down a road I was eager to travel.

And so time went by and that powerful computer became a weak and tired machine; I needed to adapt technology to my needs and I was able to. I began to develop an irrevocable need to create my own things, to stand out from the rest of the internet crowd in things as simple as a game or a story. The gigantic universe of possibilities and knowledge that technology laid before me served as a playground where I discovered what I wanted to be. I got to know other cultures and people, I read and learned to write, I drew and learned to design; the possibilities were endless and I wanted to make the most of them, perhaps unconsciously, to find myself.

In short, technology came into my life as unexpectedly as my mother’s romance, but beyond the computing power, the video games and the opportunity, it was the writer of this blog who, with a dedication I had never known until then, taught me to value my passions and led me to find virtues I never believed I had.

Congratulations on this new anniversary. I hope this blog sees many more and that, come what may, it goes on showing what steady work, passion and technology can do for people and for the world.

(*) D3NE is Matías, my son, and as you can see he is a great writer. He is also the creator of MetalGearSystem. You can read more from him on his blog.