Twitter! You Have Got To Be Kidding!
I am a proud member of the X generation, born pretty much smack bang in the middle. Not too old, not too young, pretty much perfect I guess you could say. Despite my generation basically inventing what we all call PCs and Macs today, there are many in my generation still struggling with the complexity of it all. We played games on the Commodore Vic 20 like the best of them in the 80's, then moved on to Apple Mac and thought we were geniuses. We outlived Beta and embraced VCR, believing for sure that the era of movie cinema's were over. We may have seen the demise of the Drive Ins, but the movie cinema industry has gone full steam ahead. Going to the cinema now is a true experience in how far technology has come, with amazing computer graphics and 3D viewing it's just like you are there.
We survived the change from the clunky, I guess you could call them 'mobile' phones of the 90's to the new slicker 'Smart' phones of the 21st century with, well, relative ease. Now we are all holding computers in the palms of our hands. Despite our generation creating this computer revolution not all of us have quite kept up with the fast paced new technology. Some of us were put off after learning how to master floppy disks only to find them obsolete a few years later, embracing new technology was exhausting. Learning that these new expensive difficult to manage machines also caught 'computer viruses' was all a bit much.
We began to hand over the reigns to the newer generation, of course under the ever watchful eyes of the original X generation computer geeks. However, the majority of the X generation had stopped still for a while, head in the sand, not coping with the new pace of technology. I can still remember when the 'internet' first began and we all wondered what would be the point of it. We had no concept of what this could mean for the future.
My generation have had to cope with so much change, I can't even imagine being a Baby Boomer coping with all of this. So many of them have embraced technology, yet many others don't even know how to turn their mobile phones on. I can say that as an approaching 40 year old (never you mind which side) X generation person, I feel I have recently learned to embrace this new 'social media' technology quite well. I was definitely a latecomer to Facebook but now find myself checking for updates on my smart phone regularly throughout the day. Who knew that I would feel that way. I originally felt quite certain that Facebook wouldn't interest me at all. Instead, I have made so many more contacts with long lost friends, and kept up with newer ones, more than I ever could possibly have without it. It certainly has its pitfalls and negative aspects, however, its all about how you use it and for me its perfectly suits my busy lifestyle.
I have just finished reading a book called 'Platform, Get Noticed in a Noisy World' by Michael Hyatt. It was recommended reading from my Writers Workshop I recently attended with Hay House in Melbourne. Its all about how to 'launch' yourself through social media. Fortunately for me I was keen to get started right away, before I received the book, and began this blog. After reading Michael's book and reading his blog http://michaelhyatt.com/ I have certainly picked up on a lot more tips.
Michael spent many chapters discussing how I should be embracing Twitter, oh great not another new thing I thought. I already felt that Facebook was quite enough for me thank you very much. Twitter, what a ridiculous word, how could that possibly be helpful? As Michael discusses in his book I was definitely one of those people who was negative about something I hadn't even tried myself. He recommended giving it a go for at least two weeks before really deciding whether or not it is right for you.
I took the plunge and signed up, I am still taking baby steps but I am starting to slowly see the point. Although there are thousands of small sentences being churned out second after second, I was very surprised to discover that a lot of this was actually useful information. I received breaking news via twitter for the first time before I saw it on television. Although there most certainly is a lot of pointless chatter on there, there are also a lot of interesting businesses and positive inspirational quotes by people I respect and can learn from. Just like Facebook, I have started to find a point for Twitter too, especially for promotion and getting noticed in such a busy world. Having the technology now available to connect to the world in a way in which was previously not possible is a good thing.
At the risk of sounding old/er than I actually am, I find myself beginning to wonder if the Y generation actually are getting something right. I know that everyone worries about there being a lack of face to face communication now in favour of social media, however, what a lot of these same people don't realise is that through social media there is actually more communication than we ever had before.
I'll keep you posted on my technology social media progress. Perhaps I will learn to master this after all, I certainly have a lot of catching up to do and can't afford to fall so far behind again. My advice to everyone else out there, particularly the X generation that are yet to embrace this technology, is to open up yourself to the possibilities. After all, technology isn't going away any time soon, who knows what is around the corner...
ps. my twitter account is https://twitter.com/theAJMaaa I think!
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