Attemps on staying young

So it all started with a radio show a couple of months ago: http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R901300900 . The guest William Deresiewicz had written an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education about modern technology http://chronicle.com/article/The-End-of-Solitude/3708). I will leave the interpretation of what was said and written to you.


For me it was clear: Facebook (FB) and texting are the devil and if I didn't want to be in the category of superficial, disconnected people, I'd better go and do something about it.


So I did - I went on to FB and I 'unfriended' all contacts that weren't my friends. I felt great.

And then I heard about Twitter - and dismissed it as another one of Satan's ways to destroy all deep communication between humans.


And on it went: I was anti-Iphone and whenever I saw a 'young' person text, I sneered....


It felt good to be self-righteous and on the path less traveled. It also felt a bit alone. And not so much fun. But hey, feeling right can't be beat - Right??


And then I learned a new word: LUDDITE. This is what I was told: Luddites where people that pretty much resisted modern Technology. And this is what Wikipedia is saying: "The Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their entire way of life."

OK - I was one of them and I also realized something else: I was getting OLD. Not my looks (of course...yet), but my views. My resistance to change and to go with the flow. This really bothered me. One of my best friends Agnes, passed away 2 years ago at the age of 94. I loved Agnes for her connectedness with all generations and her openness to pretty much everything.

And this is when I decided to ask my friends Kenie and Stephanie from Brooklyn (both in their 20's) to be my mentors. They gladly accepted and we had our first phone conference (with agenda and all) yesterday. Topic: Twitter.



I will blog about everything I learned in my next entry - just in case some Luddites are reading this.

Oh - and I am back full blast on Facebook, own an Iphone and started to Tweet.... it feels good to be reconnected.