I feel pretty much lost in this modern world of virtuality, networks, multitasking… Old communication patterns dying away, new arising and my ability to even understand them, let alone use them, is a joke. The idea of blogging I understood and started to use it. The idea of Facebook I understood, got used to it and got involved. Cannot really say whether I am using it, but let’s say that Facebook is using me and I don’t feel any pain. Yet, this is to say. But Twitter? This one I don’t get – neither the thing, nor the idea behind it.
But things are evolving rapidly. While I thought e-mail was still a hip way of communication, widely in use, young people turn out to not use it much anymore. They say it is too slow. Our kids only open it once a week. So, if I want to send them something, Facebook it the way to do it. Very complicated for me.
And then I write a simple post on this blog. And some people comment here. But some people send me their comments via e-mail. Other people comment my posts on Facebook. Some comment on BlogCatalog. Perhaps somebody is commenting this on Twitter too – how would I know, I never even saw the damn thing. And yeah, yeah, I know it is not a thing, it is something else, thank you. 
So, I am lost. I write here, you answer there, he answers over on the other side, and she answers way down yonder… And everybody seems to be OK with that. While I just stare and try to see the brightness of the future. And all I see is the vanishing light.
This stuff is totally incompatible with my mind. Somebody over there is producing 100 new expressions, abbreviations and technologies per second and there is no way for me to adjust to this world. Suddenly not-knowing is not just as enjoyable as I thought it was.
So, yesterday I have spent two hours to put the RSS button (or whatever this is called) in the right up corner of this blog. Two hours! And I was at least twice on the edge of emotional breakdown during the process. Where has the world, in which it was possible to fix things with a hammer, pliers and a screwdriver, gone? When? How? Why? Give me back my world!
I just want to return to my cave, please.
I never got the hang of twitter either… but I am ON facebook if you know what I mean…
my new blogposts tweet automatically…from twitterfeed.com… try it..
Comment by UTP — January 15, 2010 @ 10:17 pm
Oh man, FACEBOOK. What a time suck! I don’t spend too much time on there because I’ve found that signing in is asking for trouble.
I guess everyone just has to find their own level of comfortableness with technology.
Comment by Hayden Tompkins — January 16, 2010 @ 11:03 pm
UTP – My son told me that Twitter is more of a US thing, not that much of European and he sad that nobody he knows (and he knows everybody,
) uses it. Interesting. Anyway, I did try this twitterfeed thing after reading your suggestion, another couple of hours of my life flew out through the window, but I obviously managed to actually accomplish something over there (not that I know how, because I was completely confused, didn’t understand a thing and was basically just clicking around), since I got a report of my blog already being followed by twitter. Which does not sound bad. Does that mean that people read it on their phones or they just get notified and then read it on computers?
Hayden – I don’t think future is as optimistic and easy as you suggest. I believe I will have to work on my immune system and become more and more and more and more comfortable with technology… The world is not going to wait for me.
Comment by Robert — January 23, 2010 @ 10:36 pm
Your post made me think about how our idea of work is changing. Back in the old days, the amount of work one did could be easily measured by things like the amount of earth shovelled; the amount of ground ploughed or bricks made.
Working on a computer is all about moving electrons around. Electrons don’t weight much (about 10 to the -27 of a gram) so it could be said that the mere act of lifting a hammer would move more mass than billions of life times spent moving electrons around on a computer.
As for twitter?
In my opinion, life is just too short for such things.
Comment by razzbuffnik — February 5, 2010 @ 2:54 am
About twitter in Slovenia/Europe: in my experience, many people are using it (many of my friends for that matter!), yet it is more popular among (young) professionals rather than among teenagers.
Comment by Marjeta — February 5, 2010 @ 9:37 am
Razz – yeah, but with one click with a computer mouse you can set the nuclear bomb off… But, yes, it is a whole different world and a whole different concept of work as well…
Marjeta – this is interesting. I thought that teenagers were the ones to lead the way with modern technology and that they would be the first to use twitter. Young professionals and not teenagers… I understand even less than I have thought…
Comment by Robert — February 7, 2010 @ 7:46 pm