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[mdawson]

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Are Baby Boomers killing Facebook and Twitter?

God, I hope so.

[TxTom]

THANK YOU!

I'm in my late 40's and have been spending the past 2 weeks trying to show my 60-something employer how to use Twitter...and how innane the whole thing IS. However, his ego refuses to accept that he's not so important that his 140 character messages aren't changing lives left and right. He doesn't appreaciate when I refer to his Twitter 'followers' as 'Twits.'

It's really a sad statement on society IMO that so many people need so much self-affirmation by having as many Twits as possible, post brain-dead comments (just had coffee, weather is great, so tired, kids driving me crazy, can't find the bat) and feel like this activity is important.

I hope to God these things go the way of the Studebaker. ( I was going to say GM, but thought it'd be insensitive. ;-) )

[Grapho]

This categorizing us and them mentality is what keeps us weak. Racism bigotry, patriotism are all rooted in this "US and THEM" village mentality.
Something I notice a while back when I was visiting Spain, was that I could walk in to a small bar/pool hall where the older folks where playing dominos and the younger people were playing pool all under the same roof. I though to my self, I have never seen this level of integration among age groups in America, ever, except Thanksgiving, where they are forced to endure each other. :-)

[jscottk]

I prefer our original moniker "the MTV generation." Generation-Xers sounds like we spend all our time roller-blading out of helicopters with bungee cords strapped to our ankles while chugging 'dew. We're far too lazy and apathetic for that (and, apparently, easily distracted by cable television). ;)
40 and proud of it! (And no, my parents weren't baby boomers either, they were born before WWII.)
P.S. Baby boomers to 1964?!? The returning GI's from WWII continuously cranked out babies for 18 years? Like the kids who grew up in the seventies have anything in common with the kids who grew up in the fifties. Gotta wonder what marketeers are thinking sometimes.

[txpickup]

funny GM comment!

[mdawson]

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TxTom wrote:

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He doesn't appreaciate when I refer to his Twitter 'followers' as 'Twits.'

I love that oh so true comment.

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TxTom wrote:

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It's really a sad statement on society IMO that so many people need so much self-affirmation by having as many Twits as possible, post brain-dead comments (just had coffee, weather is great, so tired, kids driving me crazy, can't find the bat) and feel like this activity is important.

Yes, it is sad and all of this crap started with cell phones several years ago. People have stopped appreciating their alone time or those moments when they are not amongst those that they know. I do not how many times I have heard this frivolous one-sided conversation when I was in grad school:
bq. ?I just left class. I?m walking to the bus stop. I?m waiting for the bus. {Some unimportant drivel about their drunken escapades last night despite the fact that it is the middle of the week.} Here comes the bus. I?m getting on the bus. We?re headed for the Towers. We just passed the railroad tracks. We?re puling up to the Towers. I?m getting off the bus....?
Provide people with a means to ramble on about nothing as if they matter and they will do so. When I tell people that I hate cell phones and why they look at me like I have an arm growing out of my forehead.

I also despise instant messaging for the same reason. For me it started on mainframes when people would send me what was then the equivalent of an IM while I was working on my code. The messages would appear in the middle of my program as I was typing and the idiot that sent it was sitting in the same computer lab and could have just walked over and stated whatever it was they had to say.

I have neither the time, desire or money to waste on what amounts to nothing more than nuisance vanity tech.

[Grapho]

mdawson said:

> TxTom wrote:
>
> He doesn't appreaciate when I refer to his Twitter 'followers' as 'Twits.'

I love that oh so true comment.

> TxTom wrote:
>
> It's really a sad statement on society IMO that so many people need so much self-affirmation by having as many Twits as possible, post brain-dead comments (just had coffee, weather is great, so tired, kids driving me crazy, can't find the bat) and feel like this activity is important.

Yes, it is sad and all of this crap started with cell phones several years ago. People have stopped appreciating their alone time or those moments when they are not amongst those that they know. I do not how many times I have heard this frivolous one-sided conversation when I was in grad school:
bq. ?I just left class. I?m walking to the bus stop. I?m waiting for the bus. {Some unimportant drivel about their drunken escapades last night despite the fact that it is the middle of the week.} Here comes the bus. I?m getting on the bus. We?re headed for the Towers. We just passed the railroad tracks. We?re puling up to the Towers. I?m getting off the bus....?
Provide people with a means to ramble on about nothing as if they matter and they will do so. When I tell people that I hate cell phones and why they look at me like I have an arm growing out of my forehead.

I also despise instant messaging for the same reason. For me it started on mainframes when people would send me what was then the equivalent of an IM while I was working on my code. The messages would appear in the middle of my program as I was typing and the idiot that sent it was sitting in the same computer lab and could have just walked over and stated whatever it was they had to say.

I have neither the time, desire or money to waste on what amounts to nothing more than nuisance vanity tech.

I am not nearly as apathetic about cell phones as you are. I do have and love my iPhone, but I also insured my self that my car was equipped with a bluetooth hands free device. I mainly use my cell phone for business and unfortunately, a lot of it is conducted while I am driving. That said, I don't like talking on the phone. I will engage in conversations on occasion but the majority of my cell phone use is restricted to a couple of minutes at best. My wife, however, is the one that ends up using more minutes on our family shared account, but to be fair, we always end up getting those rollover minutes that we simply waste at the end of their life for lack of use.

It''s funny how people behave, they use it because the can. I find it rude at times how people walk around feeling self important with a bluetooth device plugged in to their head, talking at full volume with no regards to their surroundings, talking, you you said, pure pointless drivel. This has only been made worse since you have the unlimited call plans.

Funny how they where talking about the creator of Star Trek and how he predicted a lot of the technology that is already available. The cell phone is kind of like the communicator they used in the old series. Could you imagine Captain Kirk engaging in such behavior? :-)

[mdawson]

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Grapho wrote:

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Funny how they where talking about the creator of Star Trek and how he predicted a lot of the technology that is already available. The cell phone is kind of like the communicator they used in the old series. Could you imagine Captain Kirk engaging in such behavior? :-)

Yes, quite a few things that were ?implemented? in the original and later series are a reality now or on their way to becoming so. The communicator from ST:TOS was in effect a flip phone. As to behavior, in ST:TNG the season finale, The Neutral Zone, shows the difference between the people of now and the people of Picard?s era in terms of tech etiquette. Three 20th century humans are found in a derelict ship in suspended animation having died of various incurable diseases. After their resurrection?their ailments are easily curable with 24th Century technology and as they were ?frozen? immediately after death revival was possible?the lawyer or businessman, I forget which, continues to use the ship?s comm system to reach the captain.

When Picard finally confronts this jerk, his response to his abuse of the comm system is that nothing is posted that indicates that he cannot use the comm in his quarters as he pleases. Picard retorts that even the civilians on the ship know what constitutes proper use of the comm system; never mind the fact that one must go through proper channels to meet with the captain of any vessel, particularly when they are guests. That form of proper conduct to which Picard refers has pretty much disappeared since cell phones became omnipresent particularly amongst the 30 and under crowd.

[dogbreath]

IMO Twitter deserves to be killed. I'm a boomer. Tried twitter over a year ago, and immediately saw it as an utter and complete waste of time and money. If my brethren are only now getting around to killing it, so be it. Twits need to get a life. RIP Twitter.

[Photonerd]

More importantly, should either be considered a serious business tool? The answer is no, but the boomers and every one else latch on anyway... heh.

[cmflyer]

Dude up there. The baby boom ended when birth control began. Duh.

[rutledgek]

Are the comments shifted to far to the left for others? I can't read them with the left words mission.

[minimalist]

I would rather see people passionately engaged with new technologies (as disruptive they may be to the status quo) than hear yet another cranky rant about how "sad our society has (supposedly) become" because of cell phones, Twitter, Facebook or texting.
If technology bothers people so much why can't they just say "no thanks" and be content to live their lives the way they want to? Why the need to post vicious slams against people for using technologies they don't like or need?. No one can MAKE anyone use SMS, Twitter or Facebook. I don't personally have much use for Twitter but that does not mean that people who love the service have useless lives worthy of contempt.