Social Media and Technology

            In the reading Living and Learning Social Media, Danah Boyd says that "it's critical to realize that just because young folks pick up a technology before you do doesn't inherently mean that they understand it better than you do.” I wanted to start my blog with this quote because out of all the readings this statement hit me the most.  It really sums up the annoying assumption that adults my age, yes, I said adults, face when dealing with relatives, professors, and cranky old people who have yet to fully adapt to our technology driven society.

            With that being said, I can also fully say that even people in my own generation have yet to cross-over into the abyss of Facebook, Twitter, or anything like that. Kudos to them for being extremely individualistic! I think that the misconception that people my age, 21, are technology whiz geniuses comes from the fact that we grew up with social media. Just like Boyd says in her lecture, “today's teens are growing up in a world where social media is everywhere.” If we know nothing different, then we cannot help but be good at adapting to new technologies.

            But is just adapting to new technologies enough? It might be good enough for me, but according to Douglas Rushkoff, a novelist and computer guru, no, it is not. He claims that the social media sites we all love so much are using us. Our inability to understand software allows us to not fully use Facebook, Twitter, or whatever. Now, I think that I have a good hold on my Facebook and I bounce back pretty quickly to the changes and modifications, so why understand software? I do not know how to read software, if that is even what you do with it, and, much like Rushkoff predicted, I do not care know. All I care about is that fact that I understand what I use social media for. It is not rocket science, it is just Facebook.

            I think I have made it clear that my generation can hold its own it comes to technology, but not because we are smarter or more crafty. Trust me, I wish it was. It is because we wake up to it; we eat, breath, and sleep with it. But, and I will let my history training show a little, older adults need to remember that it is bad to assume and generalize. I might be able to get through social media sites but that does not mean that I know everything there is to know about everything technological. I understand Rushkoff's concerns that one day, we will be answering to robots and, well ... basically the move I Robot comes true because of our snooty attitude towards understanding software. But what can I say, we are American. We are good at dealing with things after they become detrimental problems.