Well, I have to admit that since my team (the 49ers) was eliminated from this year's Super Bowl, I haven't paid too much attention to the event until recently. After all I have to think of a way to watch it on my smart phone! So, I Googled it!
Oh happy day! I found that I could watch it a number of ways using anything but a television, too. Kate Samuelson from FortuneSports.com (1/24/17) posted a great article, "Here’s How to Watch the Super Bowl Without a TV" and it goes into detail the different ways to watch Super Bowl LI without a TV such as watch it streaming live on the FOX Sports Go website or to download the Android or iOS Apps such as on Amazon tablets, Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire, and Xbox One.
Another way is to to download the NFL mobile App for you Verizon customers, or the NFL Game Pass which is online-only option is available from midnight on game day. Or you can always listen to it on the radio in your man cave, too!
And now a word from our sponsors... a sneak peak of the most important part of the game... yep! -the ads! Enjoy! We'll be seeing ya on game day, on my smart phone! ;-)
OMG! I cannot believe it! PEOTUS (President Elect of the United States) Trump FINALLY had a press conference... and it was a 'looong' one! 77 minutes to be exact.
There was the usual media slap-down that Trump does, and a tongue lashing or two of a couple of reporters, who work for certain online 'fake' news affiliates.
All that and a YUGE denial of leaking confidential information to the media, that worked the over crowded room at Trump Tower into a frenzy! Let's just say in not so many words that some people were not happy.
One reporter just continued in a confrontation with the President Elect and honestly the whole front of the stage was reminiscent of a rock concert mosh pit! I was just waiting for Trump to dive into the audience and ride the wave!
Thank god VPEOTUS (Vice President Elect of the United States) Mike Pence was sent out first to warm up the crowd. Am I the only one who thinks Pence should have been POTUS instead of Trump??? "LOL!"
But, what I was especially mesmerized by was the female attorney Sheri Dillon from the law firm of Morgan-Lewis in Washington, D.C. She gave such a full and detailed explanation of all Trump's possible conflicts of interests, that she literally stole the show! I was totally unprepared to be that impressed to be honest with you, -but I was!
Ms. Dillon began by educating us all on former vice president Nelson Rockefeller (1908-1979) and how his fortune was handled while he was in office. This set a great example and education for us all who are not fully aware of how the elite handle their wealth and businesses.
It was quite an undertaking just to listen to the laundry list of issues that both of Trump's sons, Donald Jr. and brother Eric will have to assume into their everyday business dealings, for as Trump Sr. indicated, -the next 8 years! He's ever the optimist, that's for sure!
The brothers also won't have the assistance of their sister Ivanka (BTW-everyone's favorite Trump!) who will not be involved in any role of her father's company, as well as her own apparel company and accessory line.
I guess the YUGE take-away of this press conference was that we all learned that BuzzFeed was really FAKE news!
Enjoy the video below and this transcript, as Ms. Dillon certainly earned her YUGE pay at this press conference, and deserves much needed recognition for at least educating us all on how rich folks handle their ass-ets! Anyway, it was quite entertaining to say the least!
Courtesy of ABC News via YouTube. Trump Full Press Conference as President-Elect. https://youtu.be/SUyAk0bYps0
I rarely write about music because, let's face it, music makes us feel all emotional and that can be a broad range category, right? But, my friend Manny recently posted a video for us all to watch that just moved me so much, that I felt compelled to share it, and oh, yeah! It's REAL.
According to Andy Greene in a Rolling Stone article in April 2016, Olivia Harrison wanted to limit the performers of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" to only artists that only George knew. But, Prince insisted he wanted to learn how to play this song that he had not heard before for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2004 Induction, all in an attempt to play with Tom Petty, because one of Prince's favorite songs was "Free Fallin", by Petty. (Did anyone happen to notice Petty's purple shirt? An homage to the Purple One, perhaps? LOL!)
In this video, which was an excellently performed jam session to honor the late George Harrison, shows the Purple One in one of his finest musical moments, which only makes us miss him that much more. Anyone that wants to question Prince's talent, has never seen this performance. It's epic!
We lost many artists in 2016, but very few multi-faceted showmen. Hope you enjoy this video. ...RIP... Prince!
Video courtesy of YouTube. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 2004 Hall of Fame Inductions. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison and Prince: https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y
Digital video on demand (VOD) has brought so much convenience into our lives, it's almost like pizza where everybody loves it! But, is it possible to love on-demand digital streaming movies, videos and live network news and shows, just a little too much? I mean, there's consequences for everything, right? You eat too much pizza, you get fat. You binge-watch too many things on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Movies and like, what? Your head explodes?
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Mobile VODs
Ever hear your mother's voice in your ear that a little too much of anything is not a good thing? So, incessant viewership overload can't be good, I mean, you have to go to work, eat, sleep and go to the bathroom at some point, right?
The first time I heard about binge-watching it was on a morning television show. I thought I had an idea of what it was, but, I just could not get a visual on people actually engaging in this type of activity. Seriously? This is something you do when you're at home sick with the flu, right? Nope. This is something you do when you want to watch twenty uninterrupted series episodes in a row of a specific show, then, do the same thing with another show series, and another (Oniwura, 2015).
Honestly, at some point it would not be my head that would be ready to explode, but, rather my backside... with bedsores from sitting or lying in the same place for so long!
But, the reality is that this is a fast growing audience behavior modification due to the digitization
of streaming VOD. So, instead of going to a friend's house and asking what they want to watch, it's more of an event to watch the entire 7 seasons of the latest series, circumventing most all commercial advertising for the most part. So instead of an hour per episode it's more like 40 minutes per episode. Ok, well, that's not too bad then... -unless they multiply it by like 47 episodes, then, a night of movie watching turns into, -what? A weekend? A week? Have you no lives, people!?!?!?! "LOL!"
Seriously, I just couldn't do it, at least not now, because I am too busy with my own real life, with real responsibilities and issues. This binge-watching seems like more of an escape or addiction than what it was originally designed for as... -entertainment.
Binge-watching advice from celebrities.
As a global community we are becoming the all time content consumers at alarmingly historic rates. Which is great if you are the content provider, but what about the content consumer? Television, movies and video are literally riding the coattails of Web and mobile technology, and that is awesome. But, since there are so many hours in a day, it would lead one to believe that audiences are acclimating their lives to accommodate their news, entertainment and overall media viewership. Because, let's face it, too much of anything can't be good.
The advancements in mobile technology with regard to audience viewership is at a meteoric rise that even people driving are having a difficult time not watching TV or videos on their smart phone when on the road. It's a good thing that self driving vehicles are almost a reality then.
But, mobile technology with it's expected high growth on VOD platforms such as games, network television, movies, music, and in new in-development technologies like interactive and alternate reality (AR), this will make this generation the most connected, and with the most variety of any previous generation of audience viewership ever (Oniwura, 2015).
"Mobile Binge-Cat"
It will be interesting to see if by then if they've also invented a time-travel time machine that adds more hours to each day to make up for all the hours of our lives lost by binge-watching!
As for me I have not attempted to binge-watch yet... probably out of fear that my head really may explode! ..."LOL!" ;-)
Oniwura, C. (2015, June 8). How Technology Has Influenced Audience Viewing Habits. Retrieved November 6, 2016 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-technology-has-influenced-audience-viewing-habits-oniwura
As I recall, I believe it was the 1990s and the onset of VHS video recording tapes and DVDs that made television and video watching on a set schedule a thing of the past. It was probably the earliest form of what we now know as on-demand, except we were responsible for taping the shows we wanted to see and that wasn't always a straightforward or easy task. I never did quite get the knack of how to record what, and at the same time as something and even though I had taped a show, at best, for me anyway, it was a hatchet job most of the time.
It wasn't that long ago that this technology was new and we all had a VHS and soon after that a DVD player to learn how to operate, with shiny little discs! Friday and Saturday nights were reserved to go to Blockbuster Video to pick out the often rented out popular film on video, and then over to pick up a pizza. Ah! Those were the days. We had no idea how fast things would change in the next few years.
The death of the VHS video store.
Now, all we need to do is to open up our laptops, tablets and smart phones and there awaits at our fingertips, no matter where we are in the world, Waldo, we are connected to something and everything! Isn't that awesome?
We live in an on-demand world now, folks. If it's digital, yes, that's right, all those VHS tapes and DVDs are now digital, and when that happened, people quickly discovered that we no longer have to wait for anything anymore. If you want to watch practically anything, you can watch it immediately now.
Old DVDs... -they now make pretty Christmas ornaments.
Much of it is now accessible on or through social media and as of 2014 the Pew Research Center research suggested that over 52% of all adults access multiple forms of social media, making it the preferred platform for advertising and showcasing the latest movie, video, television show, news broadcast or musical endeavor (Oniwura, 2015).
Don't even get me started on Twitter and all those hashtags (#) that automatically direct audiences right to the very entity being advertised. It's all too easy now, and that's the thing, the fact that this is the first time since the invention of the old boob tube television that the very act of viewership is the most effortless that it ever has been. Which actually makes audiences a bit spoiled, lazy and entitled to whatever they want, whenever they want it.
Audiences learned how to allow a technology to come to them, instead of them going to the technology, and with digital live streaming on-demand technology is spoiling the viewer that only waits a half a second for the technology to go to them. No waiting, no effort... it's literally effortless for the audience now to have anything their hearts desire in terms of television and media.
Which is quite a new concept to those of us who have spent our previous lives waiting for just about everything, with regard to television viewership. I remember if lightening from a storm hit the outside antenna, well, then TV time was over. Or the time in the 1970s when we had indoor rabbit ear antennas and had to wait (and sometimes use aluminum foil) to turn the antenna just at the right direction (usually facing Mecca! -kidding!) to get any television reception.
Old TV with custom foil rabbit ears.
By the time cable television came out, there were issues with that technology too, as in the price to watch television without a reception incident would cost you an arm, a leg, a kidney, blood and your first born, as we went into debt and ruined our credit for such an expensive technology. The waiting came in the form of how long it would take to have Comcast cable technicians come out to your home, install equipment and how many times they would have to come back to fix and upgrade our cable service.
Old Black & White Television
Again, we were not spoiled. We weathered the good, the bad and the very ugly and swift transitions from that black and white TV, to color, to cable, to VHS, to DVD and now, to the digital transformation that allows anyone and everyone in the world the entitlement to watch television, video and all things interactive. I have to say, I do enjoy not waiting for anything anymore in order to watch a show or the news programs I enjoy. I kind of do feel spoiled, but, by the same token, I feel I earned it, too.
But, what I can't wrap my head around is how anyone who never lived through those years, does not know the full history of just how this ultra-convenient digital television on our smart phones evolved, and how fortunate they are to have been born well after television and video technology fully evolved. For some of us, personally, I wish I had all that money back that I sent on all the very short lived previous older television technology (and computer technology for that matter) that I've owned since the 1970s!
The Evolution of Television
All I've got to say is one thing... -you Millennials are so lucky, but now we are all spoiled and entitled and that makes waiting patiently for anything related to television viewership a non-existent issue anymore. But, the marriage between television and mobile phones, in my humble opinion, is a match made in heaven!
If video killed the radio star, then who did digital kill to be king? "LOL!" ;-)
Oniwura, C. (2015, June 8). How Technology Has Influenced Audience Viewing Habits. Retrieved November 6, 2016 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-technology-has-influenced-audience-viewing-habits-oniwura
In thinking back to how many technological and non-technological advancements my grandparents experienced in their lifetimes, I have to say that I feel privileged to be living in the times we are, in technology's infancy. Yes, I can still remember when television (TV) was only in black and white. What I call, BC (before color).
In my life time this technology has morphed into a very exciting industry, with possibilities we only imagined while we watched TV shows such as the Jetsons and Star Trek, I'm really looking forward to being beamed up by Scotty before I die, actually.
The Jetsons was a great cartoon show back in the 1960s that invented all these futuristic contraptions that are now being invented and coming into our lives. Sorry Tim Cook., but, it really wasn't you or Steve Jobs who invented your Apple Watch, and I can't wait until Elon Musk invents the electric flying car, too! Thanks, George Jetson!... "WHAAAaaaa!?!?!?!" Yep! That's right! That George Jetson, of the 1962 cartoon, The Jetsons.
The Jetson's Watch vs. The Apple Watch
I know this all sounds really silly and very funny, but many of us who grew up in this era actually envisioned living in a future world that was just like in The Jetsons cartoon. These characters lived in a world of flying automobiles, flat screen televisions that also acted as telephones, video call TV watches, and that doesn't include half of the modern conveniences that still are being influenced and designed today to emulate they very once popular TV cartoon that captured millions of imaginations, as in the featured video below "The Jetsons Future of Technology" (Usborne, 2012).
I just could not start speaking about how much audiences have changed, without mentioning the obvious catalyst of most all of our current modern technological conveniences. The basic ideas that we cannot live without today were born out of the imagination of a cartoonist and not Steve Jobs, necessarily. I mean, the guy's a genius and visionary, but, come on, Steve, were close to the same age and I know you watched The Jetsons, too, and well, so it goes...
The irony is that so much influence, design and technological ideas came out of a show that only created 24 original episodes (before they merged with the Flintstones episodes). Ok, so, the modern family of the 1960s hangs out with the most famous prehistoric family of the same decade, even sillier and funnier, but, if you notice the prehistoric conveniences in the Flintstones and you were perceptive enough, you would recognize the parallel between the 20th Century Industrial Revolution (non) technology of The Flintstones and the 21st Century Technological Revolution of the Jetsons.
An accident? I think not. I think those cartoonists were smarter than we gave them credit for, because the cartoons themselves got us very excited about things that weren't even going to be invented yet and became the bridge between the impending futuristic changes that we were quickly headed towards, but were unaware of back then.
Subconsciously, these traditionally Saturday morning cartoons were preparing us to accept the coming changes and to desire them, as well. Imagine that. A television cartoon ultimately influenced how we watch television now in the 21st Century. Who knew that we would have live streaming on-demand broadcast television shows and news on our smart phones, that are essentially small television phones. I know I'm not only amazed, but also grateful for new technology, because I no longer have to run home to watch TV anymore (Usborne, 2012).
A Jetsons inspired conceptual view of the future
What The Jetsons also introduced and also influenced audiences viewership was a vision of futuristic possibilities to look forward to. I mean, who wouldn't want someone to invent a color television. Done. Or a smaller lighter TV? Done. Or to invent a way for us to see each other while talking a the phone? Done.
These concepts and ideas were way ahead of their time over 50 years ago and we're still getting a lot of mileage out of the futuristic ideas, and what's better is that we're living to tell the tale, just like my grandparents would marvel all the modernization that they lived through.
OMG! Now I don't ever want to die, for fear I miss out on the next greatest invention... -and THAT is how technology has changed audiences, by the way they keep creating all the great stuff we knew would someday be invented, because television shows predicted they would be someday. I still want to live long enough to be beamed up, though! While I watch my shows on my new nifty Apple Ring!"Hey! ...-it could happen!"
"Beam Me Up, Scotty!"
Usborne, S. (2012). Back to the future: Why The Jetsons is the most influential TV show of
the 20th century. Retrieved December 11, 2016 from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/back-to-the-future-why-the-jetsons-is-the-most-influential-tv-show-of-the-20th-century-8225272.html
The new technologies are now being developed around the social media element. We now see more software being developed for smart phone mobile platforms than ever before, and with social media capabilities at the forefront.
This can only mean one thing, social media dominance! Yep! Facebook is about to take over the world and the technology industry! Relax. I was just kidding, but, I would not be surprised if it happened eventually.
But, seriously, businesses are finding the social media element very beneficial and integral to the success of online (and offline) business. Social media is where everyone is at lately. I know, because I’ve looked and I don’t see anyone hanging at the coffee shop anymore! But, I can find everyone online in a matter of seconds! It’s crazy!
Basically, that social element is all around us in our emails, text messaging, online chats, blogs, videoconferencing like Skype and WebEx, and business forums like TED Talks. These are the lifeblood of modern twenty-first century business now.
WebEx
The race is on to make everything social media technologically user friendly for the average user, regardless of technological familiarity or expertise (or lack thereof) to humanly connect with one another, to businesses and every other aspect of our lives.
I don’t know about you, but I love it when I work somewhere that provides me with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and I am allowed to work from home, and yes, it IS the new reality… -just as soon as companies realize that laying people off does not save businesses a fraction of what they would save employing remote workers and giving up the corporate real estate they own (Doe, n.d.).
I personally think it will happen within the next decade, but that’s my own wishful thinking because I’ve never really cared much for working in an office. But, that’s my own wishful thinking.
Once you work with business technology social media tools, you won’t want to go back to the old ways of doing business. One of the most familiar technology business tools used today that connects us to the office are VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). It connects your Internet with your desk phone, into your computer. I loved this so much when it first came out. You still have a desk phone, but it no longer is a service with your local telephone provider (Doe, n.d.).
Another technological social media advancement at the office is the chat or IM (instant messaging) systems like Microsoft Exchange or IBM Sametime, where you can speak with anyone no matter where they are in the world, or sitting right next to you, very stealthily. Sometimes this tool gets a pretty bad rap, though. It’s been known to aid and abet the gossiping offenders, but it sure makes the office nice and quiet. You always know there’s some juicy gossip going on when you hear rapid fire typing without anyone talking. I guess technology just made office gossip mongers more passive aggressive by inventing that tool (Doe, n.d.).
But, more than anything else, the videoconferencing technology, such as Skype or WebEx has truly made the world a smaller place to connect socially and professionally. It is responsible for many remote employees to be able to work from home and still attend meetings with anyone in the world, and yes, it is part of the VoIP technology, too (Doe, n.d.).
Social media and the new technology that enables it is awesome on so many levels, but there’s still the fact that we are beginning to avoid face-to-face communication because that same technology allows us to hide behind a technological facade, too.
Social Avoidance TED Talk
Yes, I love working remotely and not have to go into a cliquey, hostile office environment, especially during layoffs when I feel like the last gazelle on the Savannah getting ready to be a lion’s feast. Avoidance, -or what? Hey! I’m not the only one who does that, where do you think I learned that from?
But honestly, I have no problem self-isolating myself working remotely. But, the point being that too much human avoidance no matter how convenient social media technology is for both personally and professionally drives us out of true social and very real human relationships (Doe, n.d.).
I have to admit, after a week or two of talking to no one but my cat and the mailman I’m about ready just to take a trip to the grocery store for some human connection. But, I’m not ready to go back to the office just quite yet!
Doe, G. (n.d.). Influence of Technology on Social Media. Retrieved November 6, 2016 from http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/influence-technology-social-media-15702.html
Digital technology has really changed the way we communicate
with each other and has also touched almost every facet of our lives from the
way we interact and engage with others, to politics, business, entertainment, news,
culture and the manner in which we purchase goods and services. Let’s face it
we now live our entire lives online. But, nothing has changed us more than digital
social media technology in the way that we communicate with each other.
Nick Morgan
is a regular Forbes online contributor and public speaker, who writes about how
digital technology has changed communications. In his review of Nicco Mele’s new book “The End of Big” Morgan’s explores how
the impact of digital technology on the communication industry by explaining
how digital technology played in integral part in the changes of communication (Morgan,
2013).
Nicco Mele
Nicco Mele’s
depiction of twenty-first century communication using digital technology and
social media is a change in the global hierarchy of existing world-wide communication
to point of possible eradication of those hierarchies entirely. Mele suggests
that “By putting us all within one or two
removes from one another, the digital era has radically flattened hierarchies
of communication everywhere, and completely reshaped the old power relationship
between the rulers and the masses.” (Morgan, 2013).
Translation,
the transition of communication power has shifted, providing the user (or audience)
a voice with which to communicate anything publicly online. Mele suggests that
this is the old David and Goliath story when it comes to the empowerment that
digital and social media now provides to the formerly voiceless masses (Morgan,
2013).
A disgruntled
patron now has an outlet of empowerment to publicly rate an establishment for
poor service, or dissatisfaction of a product or service, which refers to as “radical connectivity” (Morgan, 2013).
He also
suggests that due to social media that we are now experiencing the dumbing down
of our communication system, and a loss of communicative sophistication with
our language and information, in our communications style. He also suggests that there is so much
information to get through now that much is lost in the translation, or the
profane lack of interest to slog through massive amounts of information (Morgan,
2013).
Secondly,
Mele states that anyone’s voice may be heard, which can be good and bad. Good
because social and digital media provide a platform for those who would
normally would not be heard, but bad due to the amount of people who now have a
platform that are literally flooding the platform to be heard (Morgan, 2013).
He
concludes that “in a radically connected world,
you’ve got to be persistent, and it helps to be smart.” Which he is right,
because to set oneself apart to be recognized on digital social media takes
either something sensational that sets the communication apart from the
ordinary and the mundane, or intelligence so rare to set itself apart from the
pack (Morgan, 2013).
Just as an
example, we see cats on social media all the time. I mean, I love cats, but not
all these Internet pets do anything extraordinary to get them noticed and much
of the reason why these stupid cats are social media is because of their pet
parents that are under the impression that their little fluff balls are unique.
But, last
year a purple dyed kitten was saved from being a dog’s chew toy and it went
viral. They raised money for this kitten to save its life and even paired him
up with another abandoned kitten who was blind. As a result, they were adopted
together and they lived happily ever after and are gorgeous cats now.
The information glut… too many boring Internet cats!
The intelligent information uniqueness… purple kitten Smurf and
his blind fur friend Wanda are saved.
Morgan, N. (2013, May 21). How Digital Technology Has Changed Communication. Retrieved November 6, 2016 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2013/05/21/how-digital-technology-has-changed-communication-first-of-three-posts/#1464e27b46cb/
I’m just going to jump
right in here and get directly to the point, as we all pretty much use
technology and digital social media now. But, I thought it would be fun to have
a nostalgic trip down memory lane, while I still have memories to share.
I can still remember the
wall mounted black rotary telephone I used as a child, I remember when black
and white television became color, and I remember a telephone booth on every
corner for .10 cents to call home if I was going to be late. But nothing prepared
me as I grew into young adulthood into the computer age.
I was 29
years old when I first touched a computer. I was dating a really smart guy and
he took it upon himself to introduce me to the digital era. Back then in the
early 1990s, the Internet was a black screen with white or green lettering and
not at all user friendly. It was called a “bulletinboard system” (BBS)and I watched in amazement as I virtually spoke with people online,
I was in awe of this new device called PC and it made me feel really smart.
I spoke to this new device in what was called DOS and I thought this PC was so fascinating. But, that was before something called a GUI interface (graphical user interface) which came out a couple of years later. My new device knowledge enabled me to get hired for jobs using these new devices. I couldn't believe that after years of being an average student that I suddenly grew a brain and got really, really smart and my salary grew right along with that brain.
But my new
device kept growing and changing so rapidly that it was literally mind blowing.
Just as I learned Microsoft 3.0, 3.1 came out, then another version, and
another. I thought, just how many of these versions am I going to have to learn,
anyway? Then, it hit me as I began to work in the technology industry in 1996,
that this was an evolution, another major transition like the Industrial
Revolution, that was never going to stop evolving and that we’re all just going
to be driven to madness by a massively lengthy continuum of lifelong learning!
Then, to
complicate matters even more, PCs got smaller, cell phones got bigger and the
Internet was responsible for the shotgun marriage of PC and cell phone, and
they had a huge baby named Smartphone. At
first smart phones had ridiculously cumbersome and limited software on them and
it was incredibly frustrating to connect to the Internet using the device.
Then, as smart
phone software evolved and became more user friendly, the Internet through us a
curve and introduced the second huge baby in their family by the name of social media, and that baby grew up with
a lot of friends by the names of Facebook,
Twitter, Myspace, Google, Yahoo! and a bunch of characters called websites!
Well,
things got really crazy with social media and the Internet was deemed as an
unregulated entity protected by the U.S. First Amendment. So, you know what
happens when kids go unsupervised, right? Yep. Social Media grew up as
renegades and smart aleck-y know-it-alls and surpassed many of us in
technological and social media savvy.
I think I
first realized it when my friends started having kids who were playing with
smart phones as toddlers, as I was struggling with the operation of the smart
phones that made me feel so dumb!
I just
could not, and still cannot justify learning Twitter. I don’t know anyone that uses it, although I do enjoy
receiving breaking news through it. I prefer Facebook, because all my old friends from the 1980s know how to use
that, and it makes me feel less lonely. The more I use social media, the less I
interact with humans. I’m not too sure if I mind, really, as I age I find
myself growing pretty intolerant of most folks and prefer the company of my
cat, Marley.
I’m in my
mid-fifties now and still learning new media technology especially every time
something new comes out. I’m currently teaching myself Instagram, and I’m so happy I can post my images to my Facebook page to share with my old
friends. I even inspire some of them to learn new media, too. But, it’s so time
consuming to learn all the new social media communications sites all the time.
What I have
noticed is that this second generation, I call the grand kids, is a more user friendly bunch who make new rules for a
more progressive standard in terms of social media communication.
For example
the grand kids don’t care much for
typing, so they developed some shorthand language called texting. I really like texting, but with limited characters, I just
can’t seem to finish my novel on my smart phone. My smart phone and I have finally made peace
and I love it. Because, it looks like the grand kids are heading towards more
video based forms of communication now that YouTube
has finally come of age and had its own baby named Snapchat!
I finally see
social media making life a lot easier for us older folks with the advent of
video messaging. Got to love those progressive and innovative grand kids! Now
if I can just get talk and text software to complete my texting novel… -I’m
sure that’s next in development…
