Addicted to Tech

The other night I was thinking how my digital persona is viewed by others. Why did I name this blog the way I did? What’s in the name – ‘Technobloggericious”? It sounds like a song by Fergie, or some pop term. Well in a way it is.

The blog was one of my assignments as part of my Master’s Degree. Prior to the blog, long time ago, I actually used to write every day, but as life happens, other activities have replaced my writing habit. University was trying to resurrect and rescue my brain from limited activity, and I thank them for that.
So what is in the name? At the time of creation I had grabbed the name that I thought summarized my digital persona and it just stuck. Now I decided to analyze why was it at the top of my mind? And really that got me thinking about who I am as a person, and what my journey has been so far that brought me here.

I was raised in an academic-intellectual family in Moscow Russia. I attended a highly prestige school specializing in German language and studies. I was enrolled in many activities from drawing, to sculpting to critiquing art. The last 2 years prior to moving to the United States I became a Film Director & Acting student at Moscow International Film School. I acted in several plays as well as wrote a script for a movie dedicated to the literary works of Federico Garcia Lorca. My first typewriting class was in the United States, and my exposure to computers and the first static internet begun then as well. I remember the clunky email systems we had at VCU, the Northern Light research web site, the small screens and slow responses. At the time I was unaware that internet technologies were going to take over every aspect of my life.


Now I have a blog, and accounts on twitter, got glue, facebook, linkedin, friendster, orkut, hi5, and a few other international social groups. How is it that I am represented by so many groups and entities? In a nutshell here is what happened: I entered the internet space while still in college, I got very lucky. I met smart, inventive developers that were riding the 1st Internet wave. Thanks to them I have learned allot in terms of figuring out programming languages, logic, and developed an internet addiction. Now I feed my addiction with the use of the iPhone applications and the device itself pretty much has replaced my personal computer. At work I do solutioning for web-based applications, again still within the digital space. I have figured out how to balance my virtual life with my physical life. I participate in forums and discussions and claim my territory in the social space, but try to not over do it. I don’t like MySpace and don’t have a second life account. May be I should. When Tweeter goes down, I experience severe withdrawal symptoms. Where to microblog? Facebook is there for me, but I miss out on my news and Obama updates. Is this addiction forever? Yes, I am afraid so. I like the idea that my home will be flat-surfaced computing enabled at some point. I like the fact that I can track down my son’s internet usage and be in the know of his activities and friends. Perhaps I need to change the blog name to Confessions of a techno-addict and start a support group.