𝐌𝐲 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

The first time I held a phone was when I was very young while in Primary School. I remember how I would beg my mom to release her Nokia 3310 to me so I could play snake game and one other game like that. I would be so engrossed in the game that I was joyous every time I moved to a new level after killing different sizes of snakes. It was always exciting at that moment.

It got to a point, I begged my parents to get me a small phone just to play games. I wanted it so badly that I slept and dreamt one day that I got a new phone, I woke up that morning and found myself under the bed searching for the phone I thought would come with me to reality while holding onto it so tightly. I was sad all through the day that I kept imagining a whole lot of things I would use my phone for especially to play snake games.

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While in secondary school, I got to know what an Android phone is. I was always curious to know how those with such phones were always operating it, especially swiping it up and down, left to right. My reason for owning a phone at first which was for playing games changed, I also wanted a phone to swipe every center and explore more about it.

I was more curious when I saw the functions of the Android phone and what it could do, i.e browsing, downloading and watching movies, listening to music, checking the dictionary etc. The curiosity to see how these things work on the phone made me crave it more. But there was no way to get such a phone at that age, especially with the kind of parents I have who never wanted to see phones with us until we were done with school.

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My younger sister left us to live with one of our aunts in Lagos and she was gifted an Android phone. She came to visit one day and I saw the big phone. I became envious of her because of it. I even had to cry over my parents to take me to live with my aunt but they refused. All I wanted was to own a phone too.

I was surprised when I saw how my sister was chatting with her friends and pressing the phone, playing her fingers on the letters. I asked how was that possible and she mentioned that it was called WhatsApp where people chat and video call themselves. I couldn't close my mouth that day to see how technology had become a beautiful thing. I said to her in my language, "The white people have made life easier". Gone are those days when messages were being sent through the post office to get delivered to the recipient and that can take weeks most times.

Phone calls too came by where people would pay a certain amount depending on the minutes you used to reach out to their loved ones. I also experienced it too where I would pay for every minute I used to talk to my friends and boyfriends. But here is something different I found out from my sister. She was the first person to let me know about WhatsApp and how it is done.

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I would watch my sister in awe at that time as she clicked on each letter on her phone keyboard and chat, she would do voice notes and video calls. Those things amazed me and I wished I could get a phone to perform those things. I couldn't stop myself from desiring such an Android phone so I could experience chatting on WhatsApp. I wanted to be able to speak with everyone, wanted to chat but there was no way I could make my wish come through. I even had the thought of stealing from Mom to get a phone, that was the extent to which I wanted a phone badly. But thank God I didn't go the wrong way but was patient.

When I finally got an Android phone which was gifted to me by my aunt in the US who sent it through her husband while returning to Nigeria after visiting his family. When I went to the city to get my phone from him, I couldn't wait as it was inside the bus that I started exploring the phone.

I started by calling my sister and asking how WhatsApp was installed. She noticed how excited I was and told me to calm down until I got home, I couldn't wait. I made sure she told me how to install it which she eventually did after seeing how eager I wanted to start chatting.

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My journey with technology began with my first Android phone as I started to explore lots of things. I downloaded a dictionary and exclaimed when I typed in a word and it brought the meaning. I chatted with my siblings on WhatsApp and couldn't control my happiness of coming across technology and seeing how things are easier. I prefer phone more than laptop as it is more handled even when you are walking and on the move than a laptop as you can learn anywhere with it.

I also opened my first Facebook account in year 2011 and everything happened just like that.

Knowing what technology has done was so exciting and I am proud to know about it at that time. There are a lot of things I have learnt while staying in one place instead of moving from one place to another to do that. With my phone, I can send many messages, download and watch movies online, learn new courses and watch video tutorials on YouTube.

The first business I started in the year 2016 which was liquid soap making, making snacks like chinchin, doughnuts, and puff puff were through watching YouTube videos. That time, I said to myself that instead of paying to learn these things outside, I could learn them online too. I did and that made me know how to do those things after watching them many times and doing some practice. I was happy that I started my business through technology and didn't go outside to learn from anyone.

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There are meals I have prepared that I only watched on YouTube. Technology has been better and I am glad it happened at my time.

Learning new courses online at my time is something I am grateful for as I don't need to prepare for a class to attend but to do that anytime from the comfort of my home. Researching and learning new words and getting information have been done with ease online and all thanks to technology for making life easier for everyone.

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^{This post was inspired by the #inleo community and this is my entry for Day 3 of the September Inleo Initiative}

^{First image:Noah Erickson || Second image:Andrea Piacquadio || Third image:cottonbro studio}