I started on a Macintosh 512k Enhanced all-in-one back in 1984. I can vaguely remember what a brave new world it was back then actually touching a mouse–even though it meant periodically scraping off the x and y rollers from mouse pad gunk buildup. Of course, the optical mouse nicely replaced those old non-scrolling one-button mice.
If you're a millennial (born close to Y2K), you probably don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, but you will when you take your kids to the Smithsonian to view the Computer Age exhibit...yeah, that one next to the Spirit of St. Louis and the telegraph.
My 5th grader, who loves his Habbo social network, can "find and peck" faster than I can type the old fashioned way...using "home" keys. That was kind of embarrassing to discover this past week.
Some of the social networking, such as Twitter, at first seemed somewhat useless to me. However, once I got past the celebrity minute-by-minute-ever-keeping-before-the-eye-of-the-public (a publicist's dream I might add), I have found that there really is useful information hidden in there. For instance, you could promote my blog and keep it ever before the public's eye by simply linking it in your tweet! Sweet!
Let me take a moment to encourage you to not get overwhelmed in this brave new world of a virtual society-perfect in every way I might add. Think of it as a new frontier full of adventure. As in every adventure, there are always dangers or else it wouldn't truly be an adventure.
What kind of dangers? Well, it is kind of funny to me how much one can reveal to total strangers and with so much trust! Therefore, a word to the wise: tread carefully! For instance, next time you're in Facebook and add an app (you know, those increasingly annoying games, kisses, hugs, wars, etc?), read the fine print before you give away all of your information as well as selling out your friends by handing over their information to those third-party developers. But what's an adventure if you can't laugh at the face of danger? Right?
One thing is for sure as you continue your trek, you'll find more trivia than you would ever hope to find as well as new friendships (and old re-connections). Rest assured, if you feel overwhelmed by all of it, you're not the only one.
I have a secret that I'll share with you, my faithful readers. Sometimes, I like to think back and remember the day when our faces weren't in Facebook, MySpaces, iPhones, and computer monitors. I now consider it a vacation when I've left all those things behind in my car or desk and actually see my friends face-to-face and experience firsthand interactivity with this incredible world we live in and share. Ahhhh! No ringtones, constant tweets, or IM's. It's hard to believe that our world has only had this global communication just within this past 100 years. Now, how long did mankind survive without it?
I live in the country on the west side of Houston, Texas. We lost our power last night for about 4 hours and for no apparent reason...just *poof* and we were back to no air conditioning (with 99% humidity), no running water or power. I was amazed at how addicted I am to electrical things. Ha! We managed to settle down for the night, open our windows and go to sleep–hearing crickets and not a room fan or TV. Then, the lights and air conditioning came back on after about 30 minutes. I was ALMOST disappointed. Almost.
By the way, you can now find me on Twitter: kevin_farley and Facebook: Kevin Farley.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment