What Our Dads Taught Us About Tech

Dads, huh? How about them. Here at Gizmodo, many of us wouldn’t be the gadget-obsessed individuals we are today without dad, and we imagine that’s the case for you too. So Happy Father’s Day, dad. Here’s why we love you:

My Dad Taught Me Things Don’t Really Matter
I broke my dad’s cd player, it was one of the first. I jammed the tray in, and then his bon jovi cd got stuck inside. Then I tried to take it apart to reset the rack/pinion track. It went downhill from there. I don’t recall him being angry, either. Pretty neat dad. - Brian Lam

My Dad Taught Me How to Be a Pirate
I still remember receiving the original Wing Commander from my dad. It wasn’t in some fancy box; it was an unassuming stack of 3.5-inch disks and a large photocopied manual (since DRM, back then, was a pop quiz on some star ship spec you could only find on page 98). Not only did he then teach me how to install and copy files in DOS on my own, and not only did I get the reward of an incredible game for learning something—I’m assuming all of the materials (disks, paper and ink) were ganked from his old office, which is like a double life lesson if you think about it. - Mark Wilson

My Dad Taught Me That It’s OK To Break Things
Like Brian, I ruined quite a few gadgets when I was younger—nothing major though, I swear!

My dad was to blame for enabling and encouraging this gadget-destroying behaviour since the day he showed me how to use a screwdriver. Because as soon as I knew where to find the right tools and how to use them, I started taking everything within sight apart. From my simple Mickey Mouse alarm clock—a red one that had two bells on top and Mickey’s hands showing the time—to my Game Boy to various minor household electronics. Nothing was safe.

I destroyed a lot of gadgets over the years, but in the process I learned to understand and love them. For that I’m grateful. I just hope that my dad teaches me how to put things back together one of these days, because I really miss waking up to Mickey. - Rosa Golijan

My Dad Created a Fanboy
The NES. Waiting in line for Super Mario Bros. 3. The Apple Power Macintosh 6100/60AV.

I you were to trace my gadget lineage back 20 years or so, these obelisks would mark the birth of the fanman typing out the words you’re reading today. Did I miss out on MS-DOS and Blast Processing? Sure, but as a creator/writer, and a kid at heart who’s always been interested in quirky, colorful software, I was never interested in working at the command line or consoles that purported to have “emotion engines” and Uncanny Valley-leaping Cell processors.

So I suppose you could easily “blame” dad for molding me into the Apple and Nintendo fanboy I’ve sorta kinda become today. You could. But not me. Regardless of the brand, dad got technology into my life early and often, and still does today. - Jack Loftus

AU: Obviously Father’s Day doesn’t happen until September here, but that doesn’t mean now isn’t a good time to think about how your Dad influenced your geekism. [Image: Wikipedia]