How this class has already changed my world.
Unlike a lot of you, I have experienced living in a world without the internet, the PC era, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 2.5. and Web 3.0; looking forward to 4.0. Social networking occurred in person, a social networking site was the employee lounge, cafeteria, or the bar/restaurant around the corner, for some, the golf course. Your community was your neighborhood, your classmates, your workmates, your family. Opening a business in 1985, I knew that technology would save me time and money, provide better customer service, and allow me to expand. I embraced email to communicate with my clients, Lotus for accounting, WordPerfect for newsletters. If I remember correctly, I had a website within a couple of years. It had drop down menus that you could get information about the business, but you had to pick up a phone to have a conversation; Yelp did not exist. Networking before the internet involved phone calls, snail mail, and in person conversations. You had 3 choices. There are so many resources for professionally networking and socializing online that it used to make my head spin.
The web grew in juxtaposed to my children, and I barely
noticed it. The speed at which it grew, looking back, was phenomenal. Each
iteration allowed me to manage soccer teams more efficiently, share pictures
with coaches for training, manage rowers, and coordinate hundreds of volunteers
descending for a weekend at a regatta. My online community still includes these
people, and more, who I reach out to for advice, business services, etc. My
community would never be this large and constant through snail mail, phone
calls, and occasional run-ins at Publix.
I schedule all my travel online. I bet you don’t remember
having to drive to the airport to buy a plane ticket. I do all my banking
online, haven’t set foot in a bank in years, but I grew up with getting a gift
from the bank every time I put money into my savings account (miss this).
I have learned over the past year to regulate how much time
I spend on the internet. Never listen to the news first or last thing in the
day. Start with Instagram and catching up with friends. I get my news from NPR One,
which includes local news (love Code Switch). Reuters TV is my customized
resource for global news, On the Media for targeted investigative stories, and now
I have increased my Al Jazeera intake to keep up with what’s going on in
Israel. I have shifted to primarily podcasts, off Tumblr, as I can listen while
doing other things. Reddit is fun, but I only go there if someone suggests it.
I do not have rabbit ears on my flat screen, cable, or a landline.
I cast from my phone or my Mac.
This class will interrupt (or should I say explode) the
amount of time I spend online, as now I will also need to be a produser, not
just a consumer.
Although I literally grew up with the internet, being more than a fly on the wall with "likes" here and there is going to be a challenge for me! Even over the past week there have been a few times where I have written out an entire comment and then erased it or changed it a million times to be "just right". I am looking forward to being a little more bold with my participation as a produser this semester. Thanks for sharing, I love finding out where people get their news and information about what is happening in the world. If you are on instagram, I highly recommend @sharonsaysso, she's an incredible resource to take in current events without any added fear-mongering or the like.
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a wonderful weekend! See you on the web :)
Love your post! I am also an older student and did not get an email address until I was a college junior. It was so new and cool! I began teaching a few weeks before Google was introduced, so Googling was not even a term.... :)
ReplyDeleteGreat walk down memory lane! I'm an older student too (completed undergrad in 2002) so I remember a pre-internet childhood. That said, one of the things I'd like to take away from this course is an understanding not just of the newer tools that are available, but what people are doing with them that makes them worthwhile. You also make an interesting point about avoiding news in the morning and evenings. I think that is something I will have to start doing!
ReplyDeleteYes, what people are doing with these tools is fascinating!
DeleteI fully remember going to the airport -- or the travel agent! -- to deal with plane tickets. Having a vivid memory right now of booking tickets for one of my first academic conferences at a travel agent in the mall (Bloomington, IN). Oh, and remember calling to buy tickets and awaiting their arrival in the mail? I'd be lost without my Delta app these days (if I ever fly again, that is).
ReplyDeleteHello! I enjoyed reading your post. I was just talking the other day about using paper maps before GPS, but no, I never experienced buying a plane ticket at the airport! I work with a lot of college aged students helping them find jobs and internships, etc (I'm a career counselor) and most have never heard of the yellow pages (a great employer directory) or the term snail mail (when I tell them it's OK to take off their physical mailing address; which they also don't know what that means). You mentioned your community being larger due to tech which I would definitely agree with you there. My LinkedIn professional network is comprised of many individuals whom I have never met in person but interacted with and can store as a digital rolodex now!
ReplyDeleteI remember so much of those things too. I shared a post on my blog similar to yours talking about the change in tech and how my childhood and adolescent years were spent. Our children will never know a world without computers, cell phones, and internet. They can only live off our stories and remind us of how old we actually are.
ReplyDelete