Boomers must jump on the Facebook/Twitter/ LinkedIN bandwagon,

or be left permanently out of the loop

By Michael Aumock

Ok Boomers...I know what you’re saying.

“I don’t need that”

“Just one more thing to worry about...”

There are a million reasons to completely ignore Twitter and the rest of social media, and I get it. I understand...I even sympathize. I don’t, however, condone it. And here’s why:

The rate at which the over 45 age group has adapted to technology is understandably lagging behind the generations who came after them. But the rate at which their children and GRANDchildren are using technology is climbing so fast, that within another 3-5 years everyone with the means to use the technology that is being introduced to the marketplace, will be using it. Think about what I just wrote...in 3 years almost EVERYONE you care about, will be communicating in a way that you are unable to understand if you don’t get on the TweetBoom.

So I submit to you, that if you DON’T jump on the Twitter wagon now, it will morph into something that will be so far beyond your ability to comprehend, that you will lose out on the relationships with the people you care most about...your children and grandchildren.

 

I’ve heard it said a thousand times, “I’d do anything for little (fill in the blank with some affected “new” name like Bree or Teegan). I just love my grandchildren.”

But try to get you to do something that won’t generate a direct smile from them, and it’s a different story. Handing out quarters just doesn’t get the job done anymore. The more that family trees branch off, splits, relocates for work, divorces, heads out of state to college, falls in love over the Internet, or whatever...the harder it will become to stay close, to stay in touch.

It puts nearly impossible strain on the real life, face-to-face relationships that we have. It’s very easy to take relationships...even important relationships...and slide them to the side if they are not in front of you as often as the ones on your computer or phone.

It’s happening, and you can either sit in your rocking chair and bitch, or do something about it.

So here is my theory: We are currently experiencing the last generation of social media that will be able to easily accept new members.

By the time Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIN and the rest go through their next transition, they will do away with many of the more basic programming that makes them easy to learn and use now. I understand that from the outside looking in, it’s like trying to catch a baseball going the speed of sound...but it can be done. The next generation (let’s call it social media 2.0) will be travelling at the speed of light. This will give boomers who didn’t take the time to learn what is happening now, a nearly insurmountable barrier to entry.

I know all the arguments, because I FEEL all the arguments:

“Why can’t they just...”

“What was wrong with...”

“Hand-written this or that...”

None of it matters. This is about preventable regret. Yes, preventable regret.

What if I told you right now that there was a FREE software that you could use on your computer that would allow you to see your grandchildren clearly and hear them with the same sound quality of being in the room with them? It’s called Skype. It allows your voice and live video to be sent and received free on the internet. ( you will need a small camera and microphone for $35-$70) but you will be able to SEE your children at college in their dorm, and hear your grandchildren giggle at your stories about the old days.

Remember this word...Skype. Better yet, go to www.skype.com and download it and start playing with it.

Then there is Twitter. All the rage now, Twitter is. It’s finally distilled itself into its most useful purpose...a quick blurb of useful information OR, (and I think it will mostly be used for this moving forward) a way to send out a link to something useful to a specific group of people.

Now I know you were proud of yourself for learning how to use email. I was proud, too.

You congratulated yourself the first time you uploaded pictures. You told everyone within hearing distance about the first time you figured out how to use Google, or buy a plane ticket online.

I’m STILL proud of you.

Change is hard when you can’t see how or why a thing works, and nothing about computers is easy or logical or intuitive, because they were invented by geeks who never had a hard days work in their lives! But it doesn’t matter.

We grew up with wool and leather and cotton and canvas.

We grew up with lined paper and the heft of a fine writing instrument.

We grew up with a firm handshake and double Windsor knot.

And nobody under the age of 40 gives a damn about any of it.

But THEY are the ones with the connection to our youth...our children and grandchildren.

And if they start communicating amongst themselves in a certain way that society and technology deem “easier or more efficient,” it will only be a matter of time before technology closes the door on us for good.

So read these words and be afraid. Hear these words as a call to action. We are old dogs who MUST betray the old saying, and learn new tricks. We must commit to keeping up with the way that communication happens between human beings, or else, it will be happening between all the human beings we care about, without us.

Michael Aumock is a regular contributor to www.watchBOOM.com. As a cultural observer, he writes on lifestyle and lifestyle options. Reach him at mjaumock@gmail.com.