My family has had a desktop computer that everyone took turns using, since my second child was born, so, all their lives. For years they got a half hour game time each, and later a half hour of educational time as well; I could time their computer turns to within a few seconds. “Oh! Your time’s almost up!” I’d say, and a few seconds later the 30 minute timer would ring.

My husband, who did finances and checked his email on the desktop computer, got annoyed at waiting. When laptops became available for less than an arm and a leg, he bought himself one. His laptop even went to Iraq with him, where he served in the military while taking PhD courses online.

I don’t remember exactly when I got a laptop; it was probably around the time our second or third child got one. We needed it so I wouldn’t have to wait through five children’s turns, but also so we could play multiplayer games. First, though, was the second desktop we were given. It was a Windows ME and already had arcade games installed on it: Tetris, Bubble Bobble, Super Burger Time. At one point we even had three desktop computers, two in the extra bedroom in Wisconsin.

My older children each got a laptop of their own once they started high school. They took their laptops to classes, they connected to Skype and college websites, they did research, they downloaded music illegally, and they played games. Oh did they play games! Every day, sometimes all day, frequently multiplayer games like Age of Empires II where they fought each other, or Minecraft where they built settlements together.

There’s no longer any line for computer turns; they all have their own laptops in their own homes, except the one who married an Apple woman. He wears an Apple watch and has to borrow a laptop from one of us to game when he visits.