College Without a Laptop
Imagine walking to school in 20 degree fahrenheit, six inches of snow, and a mile walk just to go to the University library and use the computer, all because your laptop is broken. Cody Webb has had this struggle his senior year of College. His final semester of school his laptop contracted a virus and has crashed.
Cody now depends on the David O. McKay Library at Brigham Young University Idaho to fulfill all of his computer necessities. This is anything from printing off an assignment to using the Mac lab to fulfill his senior project needs.
As a Communication major Cody has to use the computer daily. He is a great designer and is very skilled in Adobe Programs, WordPress, and video editing. His life has been his laptop. From editing videos for work to creating visual media for school to DJing at parties around campus.
“I first started to edit videos when I was hired at Herbally Grounded in Las Vegas. My boss wanted me to edit the videos to make her sound good. That was my job and I was pretty good at it. They supplied me with a laptop until I quit. Then with my luck, my laptop picked up a virus and crashed from downloading a font for school”. –Cody Webb
When Cody was asked to name the hardest things about not having a laptop he said that he can’t choose one that is the hardest. He started to name them off.
“The hardest part for me has always been forgetting to do part of an assignment and getting home from the library and then having to go back to the library and take care of it. I would have loved to just pull out my laptop and do the five-minute assignment here at home.”
“Snow is my least favorite. I drive an old pickup and it doesn’t do well in snow. So when it snows I walk all the way to class. It just takes along time and it gets way too cold.” Cody is a resident at the Apartments “The Gates”, from his apartment to the McKay Library is exactly a one mile walk.
“The other thing that bothers me is that I have to go home to get food. When I am on campus for a long time I have to leave school to go home and eat because I don’t want to spend money on the food at school.”
“I don’t have a smart phone either so when people tell me something or I need to look something up I couldn’t. I would always use my laptop in the past but now I can’t do it.”
“The McKay library is where I spend the majority of my time, but sometimes I can’t stay their because the people are so loud. Or they are just talking about an annoying topic so it makes it hard for me to focus.”
“Also I can’t print anything off, I have to go to the library for that, and checking my emails. I need to check them more but I can’t because I don’t want to go all the way to the library to check on them.” -Cody
Cody was asked about his favorite spot in the library, His Response: “My Favorite spot? Third floor of the library because the keyboards are quicker and quieter. The ones on the first floor are so loud and annoying when you type. I like the sound of the ones upstairs. When I type fast I hit harder and I like the quick smooth sound of the keys like Chica chica chi chi chica.”
The third floor is where Cody spends most of his time doing homework. He also has another favorite spot. The Mac Lab in the commons is a great place to be able to get any assignments done with the adobe programs. He said he spends most of his time in there for projects. “I don’t know how many hours I spend in the library. Maybe an average of 3 hours a day. It doesn’t seem like much but that’s because I’m in my last semester and only have a few credits. I do spend one hundred percent of my homework time in the library.”-Cody Webb
The McKay library has done so much for Cody this semester. He wondered how hard it would be for kids in college to go their whole time without a laptop. It is much more difficult and taxing. Cody also said that it adds much more stress because he can’t just check his computer at any moment to see if has an assignment that he may have forgotten about.
The survey, which was conducted by Harris Poll for AMD, found that while college student’s own smartphones and tablets, it’s the laptop that’s the most popular device. According to an AMD press release, 85 percent of respondents own a laptop. http://www.schoolguides.com/College_News/survey_reveals_how_much_colleg_students_rely_on_technology_643742.html
Laptops are expensive. If you are paying for tuition, housing, food, and gas money it is hard to have the money to afford a laptop as well. This is the conclusion that came about, why is their only 85 percent of students with laptops. The others have the same struggle as Cody. “I would buy a new laptop, but I just can’t afford it.”
A Laptop can play many roles in your life. It isn’t only good for school work and projects
but also helps with a job or business, social networking, making and finding new friends, connecting and learning about the 
world, and entertainment. Cody uses his computer to DJ. Cody Webb Disc Jockey name: DJCOBWEBB performs at many venues around and on campus. He needs his laptop to be able to mix his music and find new music. “I am still able to use my computer for mixing music but I cannot get on the internet and look up new music anymore.”
Laptops are great. There are so many uses to them and how they create a better world for them. “For the music business, social networking is brilliant. Just when you think it’s doom and gloom and you have to spend millions of pounds on marketing and this and that, you have this amazing thing now called fan power. The whole world is linked through a laptop. It’s amazing. And it’s free. I love it. It’s absolutely brilliant.”
-Simon Cowell
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/laptop.html
The David O McKay library has helped Cody in times of need. He has been able to get the work done for class that was needed. “It would be impossible for me to be able to pass any of my classes without the use of a computer. If I did not have access to the library this would be a very difficult situation. I may have to drive back and forth from home to the library or deal with some noisy people but it is a great library with great people and tools to help you get what you needed done.”
Sidebar-more about the David O Mckay Library
The library built in 1963 was named after David O McKay the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Prior to being the library it was first originally an Administration Building, but it was remodeled in 1970 and has been five times afterwards. The west wing of the building was added in 1976. Later in 2010 a sky bridge connected the third floor of the library to the Manwaring center. The McKay library also has a Family History center located on the 2 floor as well as a replica of the Grandin Press which was used to print the first copies of The Book of Mormon.
The McKay Library is for both University and community patrons with a book collection of more then 160,000, it also supplies computers with internet access.
The library had great resources online for students and faculty. http://library.byui.edu
The hours are listed on the top of the page, books, dictionaries, news, and statistics. This website serves as a great site to be able to find information for all classes.
Tutors are also available in the library for the adobe programs in the MacLab and also the writing center to help with english class and essays.
There is a floor for quiet work and a floor and different rooms for groups to meet together to complete homework and group projects.
The David O McKay library is a great source to help others, learn, grow, and achieve greater heights.
The Marshall Project Blog 