A Nintendo DS handheld game system that I received as a gift when I was young. (Photo taken by Emmalina Krist, August 2018)

A technological artifact that I feel would help define me is the Nintendo DS system from my childhood. It was a gift from my mother when I was about seven years old, to replace the Gameboy Advance that I’d owned previously. This object is important to me because, other than the Gameboy Advance, it was one of the first gaming systems that I could remove from the house and carry with me. I took advantage of this, and carried it by my side nearly everywhere, similar to how I carry my phone nearly everywhere with me today.

One of my dearest memories of this device is taking it with me when I visited family in Poland. I had difficulty communicating with the children my age due to a language barrier at the time, but they did show an interest in my gaming system. I found that explaining and demonstrating games in this way required very little speech, so this device helped me build a relationship with relatives that I might otherwise have been more distant with.

The system still works as well today as when I received it; like the Media Archaeology Lab, this allows me to play it and realize how much mobile technology has changed for me; instead of being limited to five or six game cartridges that were easy to misplace, I currently carry a small computer that not only can play games, but can quickly access the internet and help me with everyday tasks.