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Last night I set up a Twitter account.
You can check it out in all its glory on the right hand side of the page. There should be some sort of “Tweet Tweet” nonsense I wrote and then some tweets posted and then a little place to follow me.
It took me an hour and a half.
An hour and a half. No joke. I’m in my 20’s. There’s absolutely no excuse for that.
I remember back in elementary school when I got to go to the computer lab and play Oregon Trail. That was some awesome stuff. It was cutting edge – right at the tip of the tech-savvy iceburg. Along with perforated printer paper, making celebration banners, and going to chat rooms.
That was back before they were all dirty.
I remember learning all the different territories in Canada and meeting someone from Canada in a chat room and being SO STOKED that I could tell them I knew all about their country. I had an early hotmail account and then one of the early gmail accounts when hotmail wasn’t cool anymore. MySpace, Blogger, blah blah blah. I remember when my college finally got Facebook (back when my parents couldn’t join) and explaining it to other people on campus so that they’d get on and see how awesome it was. If it was on the magical Interwebz and it was trendy, I mastered it.
But then Twitter showed up.
I didn’t really get Twitter. It’s really just a bastardized version of the Facebook news feed and I didn’t see the appeal. I logged on back when it was blowing up the world and I remember creating my account and immediately dismissing it. What was the point of just reading 140 characters or less about all of these people when I could just go to Facebook and do the same thing but also have access to pics, links, notes, info, and social groups?
But alas, my blog is growing (hallelujah, amen for people who like to read dribble) and apparently I need to Twitterize myself to be more accessible. So last night I moseyed on over to greet it again. I sheepishly apologized for dismissing it the first time around and pretended to not still carry disdain as I set myself up with a few modest accounts to follow, a pic, a bio, and my first Tweet.
It took me a hell of a long time.
What if this is just the beginning? What if I start to lose touch with all the new, trendy, young kid things? I don’t mean Bieber and Gaga, I mean actual catalysts for change in society. I can’t tell you how many articles I had to read in order to understand what a meme is. Now I know and I feel like an idiot. I had to read articles to understand what a meme is?! And when I first decided to fire up a WordPress blog, I can’t even tell you how much I had to read and click and search to put together something half decent. I’m still pretty annoyed that I’m using a cookie cutter theme, but I’m just too old and dumb to figure out a snazzier alternative right now. Could this be the beginning of me closing myself off to new experiences in technology and rattling off about the good old days when music wasn’t invisible and we actually had to buy cassettes?
Yes, I am aware that readers of this blog can go back further than that. Kudos to you, my friends, for being able to remember albums and managing to follow a blog.
I can only hope I’m as successful as you. ♣
Hey, while we’re on the subject of old farts, check out my favorite well-spoken old fart blogger at http://crabbyoldfart.wordpress.com. You won’t regret it.
The Jackie Blog 
Hey Jackie – As long as you steer clear of the Weiner-Gate situations, you’ll be okay! 😉
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Ugh I had to look that up. LOL
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Um.. thanks for the link to explain what meme meant… I’ve looked at twitter but never taken the leap and I can’t imagine ever wanting to either tbh… and I’m happy just blogging for the sake of blogging.
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It appears that most readers of my blog are opposed to Twitter. How incredibly odd for us all to be huddled in one spot on the web.
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As a result of your bravery I signed up too..just not sure what to do with it but will figure it out!
Chris
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WOOHOO!! I’m not sure either – just kind of fumbling around like an idiot. We’ll see if I have any success. Stick the Twitter widget on your blog somewhere so folks can follow you and you can link your updates to Twitter for those who might be technologically more savvy than you and I 🙂
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I’ve read about that meme thing several times, in an effort to get technologically cool, but I still can’t remember what it is. Welcome to Old Fartedness- table for one?
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Two. I’ll buy you a drink.
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I have NO idea what meme means, so I fell slightly stupid. I also do not understand twitter. I use it but most of the time I don’t know whats going on. And I WORK in technology 😦 xxx
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don’t feel stupid. I think I get it, but I’m not entirely convinced that I really “get” it. I’m working on the Twitter thing. Someone replied to my tweet today and I didn’t even know that was an option. I’m going to have to read an article outlining how to reply before I can actually reply.
we’re so hopeless.
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*goofy grin*
I was a long time ‘Live Journal’ member – meme’s make the rounds there like the common cold. (but I made some very good friends there as well – and all in all the meme’s were good fun)
I have so much love/hate for ‘twitter’ that I won’t even go into it – micro blogging was my aim at first but it has turned into some kind of mutant facebook wanna be – and I stopped wanting to ‘be’ part of the crap that comes with that all. (random people checking up on you is – kinda stalkerish and creepy)
Good luck with it all (and forgive me if I choose not to stalk your twitter – that’s just all kinds of wrong in MHO)
M.L.
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It certainly is a bit creepy. I’m one of those folks that have nutso Facebook privacy settings. When they added checking in at locations, I got freaked out.
And no worries about not stalking my twitter – I’m solely using it to advertise posts for those who would prefer to follow via Twitter. 🙂
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i don’t know meme and twitter completely baffles me. so i guess by your standards, at age 41, i’m a huge old fart. i’m gonna go off myself now, but i’ll be sure to post pix on facebook. and blog about it after.
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ahahah well done. very well done. listen, I’m starting to really enjoy your comments. they amuse me.
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well thanks ’cause your blog amuses me! 😀
i guess i don’t wanna cut you anymore…[no winky face this time]
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I am openly hostile toward Twitter. I refuse to have a personal account. I had to use it for work, about two years ago when it was blowing up. It served its purpose for that, but by and large I personally didn’t find it amusing. I’m sure it will be useful for thejackieblog, but for humanity… not so much. There’s nothing wrong with rejecting something (or pre-jecting it) when you know it won’t serve the greater good.
Then again, I didn’t join Facebook til a year and a half ago. Because I’m a cantakerous old mid-30s coot.
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prejecting. I like that. I do that often…which is the reason I started Lollipop Tuesdays, actually.
Apparently, it’s still okay to preject some things. LOL @ cantankerous coot
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Twitter is the suck and that’s coming from a mid-20’s male geek. When morning hosts of ABC-FREAKIN-NEWS would not shut up about tweeting this and twitter that, I absolutely knew that this was not going to work with me. Although I won’t deny Twitter’s potential to reach an audience (if you were popular/famous enough). It’s my opinion that 90% of information that individuals can fish out of the “twitter stream” will be junk. Stinky-regurgitated-narcissistic-time wasting-garbage.
Twitter twitter go away, don’t come back another day.
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hahaha Re: networks using Internet so easily now – check out one of my favorite youtube vids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUs7iG1mNjI
Thanks for sharing my Twitter disdain. So funny that I never cared for it and joined for blog updates but my readers seem to not care for it either. Perhaps I should have stuck to my guns…
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Oh Jackie, I knew I liked you and your blog, but this post made me realize exactly how much! I loved Oregon Trail (and making banners on perforated paper) and I had the same initial disdain for Twitter!!! Here’s a word of advice, it may seem dumb now but it can be addicting, so harbor that disdain in case you need it to wean yourself of the 140 character monster. Great post! 🙂
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I’ll work very hard to hold on to my disdain. That usually comes pretty easy for me in general. I always thought it was a big flaw, but you seem to have found a positive application for it 🙂 I’m so glad you liked the post. Re: your post today – I LOVE the idea of using the Daily Affirmation vid before I go to the beach. How fantastic 🙂
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OMG! Someone like me!!! I tried Twitter but didn’t get it…so left! (At least I think I did, maybe just forgot the password!) and Myspace, I miss it now!!!! and I *ahem* still am not sure what a meme is??? and don’t get me started on Tumblr, Flickr or Formspring…
|Lol!
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Whoa. Formspring?!
I had to look that up just now. Ugh.
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Jackie Hi……. I just don’t get twitter, but then again I didn’t get the thing about multiplication is like division in Elementary School.. somehow I held out till I ” got it”. with twitter, I have a account, but cannot remember my password. Nevertheless, bottom line, I am guilty of following some tweets…especially during times of high anxiety in a situation of National or Internationale importance apparently its about the most difficult medium to censor…but I just don’t get it. But I do appreciate it.
Enjoying your Blog…
PS………sign of a “old fart?”…Someone with a pencil sharpener, nonelectric in their home, mounted inside the door-frame of the laundry room……..
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Well hello there. Whoa – wall-mounted pencil sharpeners. I never really thought I’d look back on those with any sense of nostalgia, but I definitely just did. That’s wild!
There is certainly an aspect of Twitter that makes it relevant in times of national news, etc. And how very cool that when news happens, people can whip out their phones and tweet, take pics, update statuses that later become iconic. I suppose there is a small part to appreciate about it.
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Oh man I remember playing Oregon Trail…what happened to the classic computer games. I wouldn’t even know where to start with today’s computer games. World of Warcraft…don’t get it.
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*twitch* I’m a recovering WoW addict. *twitch*
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LOL…is there a 12 step program?
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No, unfortunately, there is not nearly enough support for gaming addiction. So I made my own program. Step one was having friends come pull me by force out of my apartment. Step two was reestablishing real world relationships. Step three was uninstalling. Step four was getting a computer incapable of handling the graphics.
The idea of buying a new computer and taking the hours to reinstall have (so far) been enough to keep me away. But I seriously struggle.
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