When did you first start using a computer regularly?

What were you using it for? How has your use of computers changed since then?

I started using the computer "regularly" at around age 9... when the first Sims game came out. I was only allowed on it for the Sims, and only for an hour a day. My little sister was always right on my tail about it too, saying "I WANNA GO FIRST" but that tapered down after we figured out we could both sit at the computer and spend 2 hours playing together.

From then, my computer use has evolved into a short "IMing friends from school on AOL" phase... then I discovered the rest of the internet. I stuck to gaming websites like Neopets or downloading DLC for the Sims. This naive and laisse-faire downloading of content led me to my next phase of internet use.

I turned 12, I hit puberty, and popups were infecting my computer. You can guess where I spent most of my internet time. I cut that out after about 6 months though. Getting caught at it and having the sex drive near-permanently shamed out of you does that, it seems.

My next phase was right smack in the beginning of the Myspace phase. The Sims and Neopets still lived on in my harddrive and history, but the there were bigger and better things to spend my time on. There were boyfriends to talk to! I was still only allowed on the computer for an hour or so at a time, but I could surreptitiously stretch it because teachers were starting to assign typed homework.

In my sophomore year of high school, I was granted a laptop for Christmas, and my computer/internet use has been through the roof ever since, much to my family and husband's chagrin. Myspace has long since been abandoned for the lush fields of Tumblr and Facebook. I shop, do my homework, blog, and just generally peruse the internet to my heart's content. My bookmarks are primarily school or knowledge-attainment related, with a vast selection of fanfics, blogs, comics, and shopping opportunities thrown in. I still play the Sims occasionally, but now it's the Sims 3 instead of the original.

My computer and internet use has evolved quite mightily, but I reckon it has still stayed the same at heart.