Like parents who don’t understand Facebook and grandparents who can’t fathom computers, many friends of mine don’t understand Twitter or Foursquare. One even put a poll in their gchat status asking who had Twitter accounts and whether people followed. Ironic since the point of Twitter is for asynchronous conversation, not chat. Conversations typically start with:
Life experiences imprint us with beliefs and practices. I couldn’t know where everyone was before smartphones so having that information now is useless. Posting pictures publicly? Not after waiting a week for film to be developed. We’re comfortable where we are, we lose our curiosity, we get stuck, and then we judge everyone else by our standards. And so old people drive big cars, because that’s what they’ve always done. It’s why you still have landlines and why teachers and parents are shocked to find that younger generations have different privacy norms than they do.
What don’t you understand? That’s exactly what you need to understand.
Hi AJS! First full disclosure – I am a tech-savy middle-aged woman who uses FB, Twitter and many other sites and apps. I post pictures, share information, collaborate.
The reason for the concern is that often the “younger generation” (can you see me waving my fist and shouting about rascals?) are impulsive. They don’t think before they post. And what they post may come back to haunt them.
Us older folks, with the voice of experience and with perhaps a few negative experiences under our belt, tend to be more cautious. Of course, you can make mistakes at any age, but…
A few classic cases:
http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/when-emails-haunt-you-the-saga-of-william-korman-and-diana-abdala/
http://mashable.com/2009/06/01/twitter-related-burglary/
http://www.metafilter.com/60715/Drunken-pirate-on-MySpace-denied-diploma
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/leaving_a_vulgar_comment_online_might_cost_you_your_job.php#comment-169567