Years ago, when my sweet grandson was still in elementary school, we were talking about his school experiences that day, and asked him how many friends he had. “300” he replied. I was astounded. “How on earth could you have 300 friends?”
Then he started explaining Facebook to me. I realized the 300 weren’t even acquaintances, let alone actual friends that he knew. They were “followers” and if he wanted to keep them he’d have to “follow” them, otherwise they’d “unfriend” him! |
Until I started my own website. Then, from the writings of others I came to an understanding that “social media” was an important part of online life if you want to succeed as a writer. A bit reluctantly I signed up for a Facebook account.
When it came to my profile fill in I decided I was still the boss, and gave some incorrect facts about my birthdate and personal information. It ended up that I was at least 100 years old! Stuff like that. I mean, anyone can write whatever facts they like about themselves.
I’m still occasionally on Instagram, and even sometimes make comments on my grandkids photos. Hopefully it doesn’t embarrass them. I try to use words like cool, sucks, mega and so on, but I don’t think for one moment it fools them. I do love seeing all their shared images, and thought that was quite wholesome, but I did also wonder how people make money out of doing that…
Now I understand Instagram is owned by Facebook, who at the present time are busy figuring out how to rebrand themselves after inflicting lots of pain on young people. Many youth are compulsive about their social media adventures. Unfortunately, immature brains and online ‘influencers’ can make for a deadly combination. Now ordinary average folks who’ve become concerned about their loved ones' addiction to social media are fed up with it all, and demanding change.
There have been other nasty things too. Hatred spreads like wildfire on social media, and there’s lots of it. All in all, it seems folks prefer to believe in misinformation rather than truth. Well, actually it does become truth for millions! Quite amazing, really.
Oh! I’ve actually enjoyed my limited ventures into Pinterest, and even shared my articles online there.
But this morning I read they are now in late stage negotiations, about to be bought by PayPal! The bargain price being touted is $39 billion! I don’t know what all these purchases mean, (how does 1 billion even look? How much floor space would it take up in my living room?) but Pinterest has been quite interesting, so I hope to continue learning there.
There seems to be a lot of money rolling around the internet these days. Seems it’s all owned by just a few bright young folks who grew up with this technology. Looks like we’ll have a world mega mega monopoly quite soon. Not sure I like that idea much, but I’m definitely not able to do much about it.
I’ve not done justice to my online social media. Sometimes I get prodding emails telling me this number of folks have followed me, but I’m not following them back. True. I seem to be either ignorant, or a particularly hard nut to crack. Truth is, I don’t have time to do too much social media stuff.
Over the years I’ve become a lot more conversant with writing online. I’ve made wonderful, lasting friendships all over the world with folks that I’ve never met. They’ve become one of the great joys in my life. Most, if not all of them became friends after reading some of my online articles, and commenting on them. They keep me wanting to write more!
So in this way, I love technology. It is amazing and enjoyable every day of my life.
But as a social media follower, I’m a bit of a failure! And as for being an ‘influencer’, well, I might have to wait until another life!
But there are many times I wish it could transport young, impressionable folks back in time, so they could know what it’s like to be quiet and peaceful. To have the innocence of hand holding dates without ulterior motives. To have never tasted convenience foods, but learned to cook with simple ingredients.
This is a time for thanksgiving. Not the turkey kind, but true appreciation for all of you who have read my work faithfully until now. Thanks for being patient as I worked through the depression and isolation of Covid-19, and couldn’t write for such a long time.
Want a personal thank you? Feel free to comment under here with your views on how you feel about technology today. It helps my website when you do, and who knows, sometimes it even helps other people!