The Old Man and the Web
Allow me to take a moment to introduce myself, but, since everyone knows how these old guys tend to ramble on, I will keep it brief. My name is Marc Mercer and I am a freelance writer and blogger, among several other things. I have been involved in managing and creating social media since way before we had a name for it. In fact, back in the day, it was called “interactivity”.
I started out with such antiques as IRC chat in the early 90’s. If you don’t remember those days, how fortunate for you. In the beginning, I was developing online communities for human services groups. I stayed with it as various interactive elements were added–Internet forums, blogs, podcasts, video, picture galleries, VOIP telephone systems and so on. I developed the first real online workplace that I know of–managing about 35 people scattered across the country. I still try to stay up with what is going on, but I fear to say that it gets harder and harder. This has got to be the most rapidly evolving social environment since Adam ate the apple.
As you may have already gathered, I am a charter member of the Baby Boom generation–and I recently came to terms with the fact that we can no longer realistically be described as “The Youth Culture.” To quote my favorite poet–me, of course–”We have left the field, my friends, with Jericho still standing.”
Not surprisingly, many of the clients of my new writing and consulting business are my age or older–and a lot of them want help in making use of what, for them, is a bewildering and sometimes even frightening environment.
I was recently talking to an old friend who is a fellow expert in crisis management techniques and volunteers at one of my human services clients. I suggested to him that he post his profile on Linkedin and Plaxo to enhance his business. He refused, on the basis that this would somehow get him phished and/or hacked into.
Another contact, responsible for the web presence at a non-profit, told me that she refuses to join Facebook because of one of the notorious “Myspace murders” that generated a media frenzy some years back.
Hmm, blame the medium not the message. Following that logic, one should not use pens, pencils, paper or telephones, for sure. They have been used as instruments in far more felonies. As Woody Guthrie said: “As through this world you wander, you’ll meet lots of funny men. Some will rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen.” Well, these days they may use a keyboard, I guess, but going on the web is still safer than going outside.
I also know a lot of young people–and some of them are willing to help an elderly gent cross the virtual street. I would say that most of them see the web as an extension of the real world and of their social environment. They may, indeed, break the rules now and then, but they want to maintain a credible, consistent identity and want to keep in contact with their friends. As we used to say back in the Sixties, “I can dig it.”
I think you get the idea–and, anyway, I am exceeding the upper limit in the word count for a blog post. I am going to write about the digital divide between people my age and older and the people who grew up with this stuff–and have never seen a typewriter, much less used one. That my friends, is The Old Man and the Web. I will likely be doing some interviews with representatives of both groups. If you have a take on the subject, get in touch. Better yet, Skype Me. If my hair is sticking up in back, or I don’t have my dentures in, there will not be any video stream.
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