¿Que es?
In this introductory post, I’ll take you back to the Myspace era, share tales of connecting with family across borders, and reveal the motivation behind creating El Cyber.
I remember making a Myspace page as a young preteen back in the early 2000’s. As soon as I realized that I could share photos and instant message anyone from anywhere in the world I was hooked. At the time, I had aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grandparents living in a small town in Guanajuato, Mexico. Meanwhile my immediate family and I were living over 1000 miles away in Texas. The only time I would get to talk to my family in Mexico was for a few minutes when my dad would make his nightly phone call to his parents back in Mexico. The only time I would see them was during our two week Christmas break. Sometimes I’d get really lucky and get to visit during summer break.
I always wished for a way to be able to instantly communicate with my family and share photos with them. I yearned for the ability to share more of my life with them. The next time I went to Mexico to visit my family I immediately told my older cousin about Myspace and explained it to him as best as I could. At the time, no one had an internet connection in their home in the small town in Guanajuato. My cousin wanted to make a Myspace profile so we walked down the block to a small little room with a couple tables and a handful of PC’s called “el ciber”.
It was my first time entering a ciber, and my cousin explained that it was a place to use computers connected to the internet. You choose a computer, do what you need to do, then pay at the front counter. The price was based on how long you used a station. I helped my cousin set up an email, create a Myspace profile, and upload his first photo (a picture of my grandpa’s house with the caption “My casa”. We were there many times after that updating our status and uploading pictures that we’d taken throughout the day. I was in love with the ability to share information and media instantly. It made the distance a little less painful.
Today I know a “ciber café” is basically an internet café here in the U.S. A place where people could go to answer emails and instant messages while enjoying a nice cup of coffee. This warm and cozy feeling that I get when I think of a cybercafé is something that I aim to recreate.
Essentially, I want this to be a hub to share information, stay updated with the current world of tech, and document my own growth in the field of computer science. My goal is to create posts that can help anyone that wishes to learn CS subjects in depth and provide insight for first generation college students.
Thank you for joining me on this journey into the world of ‘El Cyber.’ For more updates, tech insights, and behind-the-scenes content, follow our Instagram account @elcyber.cpp. Click the Instagram icon on the top right to visit our page. Share your reflections on the early internet days or any tech topics you’re passionate about in the comments below! Stay tuned for future newsletters where we’ll dive even deeper into the exciting cyberworld.
¡Bienvenidos a El Cyber!
Very well spoken. Now that I think of it I too have a similar story, but it was with Facebook. Once I was older and would visit family in Mexico, I was shown the local cyber cafes they would frequent to access Facebook and whatever else they needed to do on the internet. It’s amazing to have grown up during the beginning of the tech era seeing all these new gadgets and concepts created and evolved and then seeing them slowly integrated in less fortunate areas.
I just remember that the vibes were always good at the cyber cafe in Mexico. So crazy to have watched it unfold. It’s always sad realizing that not everyone has access to the same technology.