I’m part of that demographic cohort that originated the phrase “dialing the phone” because, well, the phone had a dial and maybe even a phone number with letters in it ( and not the 1-800-GET-LOVE type). Cell phones used to be the size of large bricks and just as heavy. “Car phones” were hard wired into your car with a little antenna sticking out from your rear windshield and, no, you couldn’t take it out of your car into the local Starbucks. Partly, because there was no Starbucks.
Some of us remember that Ronald Reagan was a B-movie actor before he became a President. IBM was the computer company. Computers used to run with two 5.25″ floppy disks that were really floppy and you had to interchange them all the time. 1 MB hard drives? Ginomrous!
Fast Forward to 2010
Now, most people living and working in today’s world are kind of like the E-Trade baby. They’ve never known life without computers and video. Phones aren’t used for actually taking to people and there are so many social media platforms, it’s hard to keep count. Then, there’s the conferences: SXSW, REBlog World, REBar Camps, Inman, etc. ad infinitum.
Where does it all stop? More importantly, what really works? And how can you learn all of it fast enough to keep up?
Like learning a new language and new customs in a foreign land, digital immigrants — those of us that didn’t exchange our umbilical cord for a wireless Internet connection — have a steep learning curve that just keeps getting steeper. It’s way beyond knowing how to shake hands or how much of a tip to leave. Yet, learn it we must.
Hablas whatever?
