(no subject)

[coraa]

Another poll just for the sake of random curiosity....

Since I know people will ask: define 'computer' however you want to define it. For myself, I define it to exclude game systems (so, not NES, not that I had one) and single-purpose tools (so the Speak-n-Spell doesn't count ;) ).

EDIT: As several people have noted, I should have added an age question; since this was idle curiosity, I didn't think that far. Anyway, for reference, the average age of respondents so far seems to be 27-33, ish.

[Poll #1462057]

Comments

[cwendy41.livejournal.com]

Does feeding the computer's drive little paper bits count as using a computer? Because if it does, then I use a computer earlier.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Considering that I'm almost 37, my numbers are probably a bit unusual.

[geekjul.livejournal.com]

Same here, I'm 35.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

The "computer" was a terminal. My dad has worked for DEC --> Compaq --> HP *forever*.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

And "using" it was typing on it and futzing around with it when it was actually not connected. Unsurprisingly, you can't do much on a terminal that isn't connected. It's pretty much like an electronic typewriter with no means of output. :)

[paperclippy.livejournal.com]

I answered the poll, but my numbers aren't quite accurate. The problem is that I don't remember NOT having a computer, and I don't remember NOT knowing how to use it. I have several memories of using said computer from when I was very young, but that doesn't mean they are of the first time I used it, just that I don't remember much of anything before I was 5 or 6. In any case, I marked 3 or younger for the first two based on my assumption that if I don't remember it, I was probably 3 or younger.

For time placement, I can tell you that we had a Commodore 64, and I remember playing Dream House on it, which wikipedia tells me was released in 1984. I also remember playing Ducks Ahoy, which wikipedia says was also released in 1984. I turned 2 in September of '84, so chances are good that I was using computers when I was 3.

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Interesting results so far! I'm wondering if your friends list skews a bit younger than I am (I'm 29).

[cwendy41.livejournal.com]

We had the old IBM with two floppy drives. They looked hungry. The only thing I remember running on it was this piano software. You hit keys on the keyboard (the type you type on) and it would play sound. By the time I used computers for typing and such, we had already moved onto a 386 that my uncle tossed out.

Actually now that I think about it, I need to change some of my answers. My parents probably had the IBM when I was born, though if not then I wouldn't have lived with a computer until I was 4. I remember playing Wheel of Fortune and Breakout on my uncle's old computer with Windows 3.1. I must have been about 6 because it was at his old house. By the time I finished high school, we had two working computers in the house so nobody had to fight to share computer time, but the computers weren't mine until I got one when I lived in the dorm at school.

Now that I think about it even more, we had Apples at elementary school. I loved playing Number Muncher.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

It seems I'm at the older end of your friends list. I was over 30 before microcomputers came on sale to the general public at a price that was affordable! Before that, you had to be a geek with a soldering iron and capable of building your own. :)

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I had to guess a median age for coraa's flist, I'd put it about 29, considering the age range of her real-life friends who are on LJ.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

OT: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/24/staffordshire.uk.gold.hoard/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[coraa.livejournal.com]

So exciting!

[triath.livejournal.com]

I'm counting the Commodore 64 as a computer, although I only used it for games, and learning to type.

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

I love that the best find of its kind was stumbled upon by a bloke with a garage-sale metal detector.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

I'm betting the spike in the "computer that was mine" question is due to college...

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I'm betting you're right. That's when I got my first computer-of-my-own.

I'll be interested to see how different that is for the next generation. I might very well get a kid a computer of their own earlier, especially with the advent of cheap, sturdy things like the OLPC.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I know! And a lot of the pictures are just gorgeous, too. (Hoards are such good photo ops, because the gold doesn't tarnish....)

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the anthropologists' squeeing about the craftsmanship is cute. :)

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

Yeah- The next generation will be (is already) interesting. I'm now curious to see the stats for when people in our generation got their first cell phone vs. when kids these days (get off my lawn?) get their first cell phone.

[jmpava.livejournal.com]

I'll basically repeat exactly everything said here (except possibly the specific c64 game in question ;-> )

Note, I didn't count the C64 as a personal sole computer, becuase I didn't really count it. That was a hand-me-down 80808. But I might be off in remembering, and it was actually 10-13.

Regardless, we had them uber-early.

[madduckdes.livejournal.com]

I'm counting the Apple that was technically my uncle's but that only saw use when I played games on it.

My mom was in tech, and I remember that she let me play with her Mac once, but I don't remember how old I was.

[mbrubeck.livejournal.com]

I bought my first computer with money from my first summer job in high school.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I think the age of the survey-taker is probably relevant. I'm looking at the answers and thinking, "You are all a little bit younger than me." Signed, Age 33

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I think the average age of people reading my journal is actually around 29-30 (many are people I know IRL, and most of them are an average of 2-5 years older than me; I'm 26), but if I had the poll to do over again, I'd add an age question.

[artemis-lizzie.livejournal.com]

Okay, it turns out I didn't read that last question very well, and I didn't get my own computer before I turned three. I got my own something like freshman year in high school, which would have made me about 14.

[canis-ridens.livejournal.com]

My dad had one for work when we were in Ohio. It had games on it (Space Invaders being one I specifically remember), which I was allowed to play. We moved from there shortly before I turned four, so it must have been available when I was three or younger. For reference, I'm 27.

[quietspaces.livejournal.com]

I counted my first computer programming course back in 1965 or 1966 as being my first time as operating a computer. First job out of college, as a computer programmer, I also operated a mainframe--various and assorted IBM and Burroughs (Unisys) computers from then until 1984. Got a Kaypro CP/M portable computer of my own in 1983.

[neonelephant.livejournal.com]

I got my first computer in high school, but that also falls into the 15-20 age bracket. It still runs, although the screen has been smashed to hell since I dropped it in college (this is the machine that's on day 4000+ of its 30-day trial of Paint Shop Pro 4 :-)