I’ve been trying and hearing about lots of these new social media, messaging, and video chat apps… TikTok, HouseParty, FB Kids Messenger, Marco Polo… between those and the oodles of EdTech things I’m using for homeschooling, I can’t keep up.
I wasn’t always this way. I vividly remember when social media first started to get popular. One of my personal claims to fame is being a real Facebook OG. I joined hours after it launched 16 (dang?!?!) years ago and was member #268 or something. Buuuuut, I remember *before* that; Do Blackplanet, MiGente, Myspace, and Friendster ring a bell?? LOL.
Or, how about (going deeper into the vault) AOL Teen Chat rooms, and that glorious sound of a dial-up internet connection... oh, the perils of being deep in a chat when your parents need to use the phone- ughhhhhhhh. (Heads up- Pop quiz: What does A/S/L mean? hehe)
Ok. Wow, I am FULLY dating myself. My (very millennial) sister and I are 8 years apart, but given the time we were raised, it almost felt like a full generation.
I think the last ‘new’ platform I fully embraced was Instagram… then after that, everything was a blur or I was only testing it out for business reasons (marketers have to know what's up!), because MY people (read: xennials/ older millennials / late 70's/early 80’s babies) were not on there.
I checked out Vine... (RIP) the Snapchat... Is it even relevant? I tried to figure that one out a few years back, but after Instagram Stories was released, I felt less pressed.
If you send me a request or messages on one of these newfangled things I’m on and I don’t respond, don’t take it personally- I’m on a lot of them but can’t say I actually know how to *use* them. Eventually I click some buttons and something happens and I do what I need to do.
I’m not totally un-tech savvy but I know I’m in good company, because I’m pretty sure one of my friends accidentally added me to a HouseParty chat right in the middle of their kid’s bedtime routine. Now I feel like my parents must have when things like ‘The Twitter’ ‘Faceplace’ (Facebook) and heaven forbid, ‘The Instagram’ first came around.
Anyways, while I’m grateful for all of these ways to stay connected, they can be overwhelming at times. Imagine if we were going through quarantine in like, the early ‘90’s. I guess we’d be on the phone, writing letters, watching TV, playing Sega, Monopoly and reading books?
Who knows. I just wonder if we’d feel more or less overwhelmed. That aside, it was nice to take a little walk down memory lane. ;) ...but I keep hearing the sound of dial-up internet playing over and over in my mind! Make it stop!
xo,
Alliah
