Are you referring to the life prior to mindless droning in a darkened summer room – binging Naruto via dial-up? Oh, yes. I remember.

I remember the times before personal computers became popular. I remember what it was like before getting our first Gateway PC and how the box was covered in cow spots.

We played in the mud, built dead-wood-lean-tos, towering teepees with awe-inspiring interiors filled with the imagination of four children creating rooms with stone borders, weapons of pointed sticks, bows out of reversed, fresh saplings, and horses made of sticks and string.

We spent hours in our little haven in the woods – not yet tainted by the mechanisms and mentality of man. We created characters with varying personalities and waged wars over shared territory. It was as if we had created worlds within worlds before virtual places and spaces ever existed.

It was a different world, honestly. A world where the strongest muscle was the mind, and imagination became the fuel for our mental machine.

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Once the personal computer caught on, and every household began buying them, it nearly dissolved our little world. We became engrossed in the new technology and once videogames became popular, there were no holds barred. I remember forgoing days in the woods to sit down and play Zoombinis on the PC or Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?

Technology took what imagination I had and expanded it. It gave me the opportunity to experience things that I had never even fathomed. The ability to hop into any virtual world with thousands of other players amazed me to the core.

While my time outside diminished, my interest in video games grew. They became my safe-haven, and often my home away from home. I learned so much about the world and certain topics because of video games.

Not to mention the internet. The internet was probably one of the most important inventions of my time. Even though it was invented before my time, it became popular during my childhood and changed the world forever.

While I do remember a time before the internet, I can honestly say that I prefer our digital world. I just wish there was a way to truly disconnect and feel what the real world feels like again.