Twitter In Plain English

Comment by Jane Soloway on March 18, 2008 at 1:05am

Wow--I guess I am really old. When I went to Twitter last week to see if any of my friends were on the network there were 0 names connected with me! I do not know how much I would use this, but imagine how it feels to have NOBODY you know doing this...and would they care? I think this is an example of the digital divide, between the digital natives and the digital immigrants--many of my friends have decided to limit their time online, because there are things they prefer doing like reading, listening to music, and so on; my children, my students, and many of those on this ning cannot imagine not being connected, it is so easy and they are so fluent and it just happens. It is not a matter of not being able to understand or keep up, but making a choice about how to spend time. To me that makes sense, but what does it look like to the natives? Is it like my friend's Polish grandma who never learned much English? I am astounded when I find out that a friend does not check her email or know how to look up information online, but a small part of me says maybe she is the smart one, she still has control of her time. Sooner than later this will not matter--everyone will have access, and everyone will be making all sorts of connections...the old ways will not be gone, but they will change. Maybe I will even Twitter.....

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