No laptop, no problem

How I'm surviving student life without my own device

- By HAROLD AREOLA

When you think of being a student in 2025, you probably imagine typing away on a sleek laptop at a café, submitting online quizzes with a few clicks, or attending virtual meetings for group projects. That's not my reality. I don't have my own laptop.

No, I'm not writing this on a MacBook or even a budget Chromebook. I'm borrowing—sometimes from the school computer laboratory, sometimes from my peers, and occasionally from my teacher's laptop. It sounds inconvenient? It is. But strangely enough, it's also taught me some of the most unexpected lessons about resilience, resourcefulness, and what it really means to be a student today.

We always hear about the "digital divide," the gap between those who have easy access to technology and those who don't. But until it's your own reality, it's easy to dismiss. When the pandemic hit, I managed with an old phone and mobile data. Now that we're back to hybrid or fully in-person classes, most people assume that everyone has their own device again. The truth? Not all of us do.

Borrowed time, borrowed tech