Every year I resolve to try something new, maybe something hard, my hedge against getting old and set in my ways. I have taken classes to learn new techniques in something I love and in other things I have no aptitude for (ballet comes to mind), I have traveled to remote places and I have volunteered in rough situations.
Hardest of all has been trying to be comfortable with the amazing and rapidly developing technology. My eyes bug out like the proverbial kid in the candy store. A big part of me loves it all. If one were to ask me I would say that in my lifetime, outside my family and friends and work, the internet and all its ramifications, is the primo best thing I have experienced.
We were the first family on the block to get a computer, very expensive in those days. We sprang for one of the first Macs, not an Apple in those days. It was huge. The printer sounded like aircraft taking off. We all learned how to make our own programs. This was before games and all that bling took over, but gradually we became addicted to it. Then, we were early adopters of dial up. I even got a dedicated phone for it.
Time passes, and now I regard my computer as a very important friend, a window on whatever world I want at the moment. I spend hours each day in front of my monitor. The computer liberated me to write. It's so fast! Ticka ticka ticka! I can look up almost anything. When our satellite goes down, I go out and pace in my yard. Soon.. This technology certainly keeps me humble, though I now want everything in a nano second. When our electricity goes out I have to take a few deep breaths and think of Scrabble.
This year, for my technology advancement I took up Facebook. I think, instead, I should have signed up for a Chinese language course at the local community college. I am aware that the percentage of oldsters signing on to Facebook is huge right now.
In this age of twitter and poke, I am not sure I want to express myself or hear from others of the past and present in this way. I think I am too old and careful to tend to a garden of "friends" (who were never that close before!) The ever present whine of 'X wants to be your friend' makes me think of being a third grade girl.
One of my sisters has also recently signed up on Facebook. I miss really hearing about what's on her mind, though I could call her and find out! What I hear now is some truncated news with no nuance. Facebook asks, 'what are you thinking about now?' You see a tiny block to reply.
It's kind of weird to see that you have dozens of friends. I keep thinking there's a reason you haven't connected before this. Still, it's compelling to see that the old freshman roommate is on the site and wanting to be your friend. Or the spouse of someone you barely know.
But this is the internet. You don't have to respond unless you want to. And being the internet, you have to have decided that privacy is in sheer numbers.
Tell me your thoughts about Facebook, (but don't sign up to be my friend!) It's easy on my new blog to comment.
Most important: the hummingbirds returned from Mexico yesterday and now the yard is full of buzzing and tiny chirps.
Thoughts about Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI was an early adopter. I had a TRS-80 before there was a Mac. I used Apple IIs, Commodores, Timex 1000, etc, etc. I built PCs.
But Facebook and Twitter also have me flummoxed. I can't figure out a reason for them. I signed up for Classmate / Reunion, etc. but they want $5 to $19 a month to connect with those old friends, even if they aren't there.
So, like you, I sit at home, read Salon.com, all the liberal stuff, and sometimes communicate with old friends by e-mail.
I have not twitted or twatted, and don't plan to do so in public.
I like Facebook: I am at a conference, and everyone at the conference who is on Facebook is communicating through status updates and it's just kind of funny and playful.
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