I bet you dollars to donuts (sorry - get that from my grandfather) that 1 in 4 blogs today mentions the Facebook crash. So - of course, that's what I'm blogging about. Why should I upset the cart.
A FB engineer briefly described the issue that caused the down time (see Mashable article here), but the vast majority of users will not understand it, they just care that they weren't able to water their Farmville crops or kill the latest Capos in Mafia Wars.
Facebook was founded in 2004 and the majority of Americans were unfamiliar with it until at least 2007. That's six years since founding and only 3 years that most of us have been involved or even aware of it. Yet today, for about four hours, the world stopped for MILLIONS of people as Facebook was unavailable for a few hours. I mean really, it sounded like some people were ready to jump out of the 45th floor of the Empire State Building over this.
My question is - if a social community like Facebook (or Twitter to a lesser extent) can touch the lives of over 500,000,000 people (over half of which log on EVERY DAY)...(ok, I log on at least 10 times a day, but I work on the site...I promise it's work related) in that short of time, what on earth will the social media landscape look like in 10 years when my kids turn 13. Will we still call it social media?
Maybe it will become cognitive media. Instead of smartphones, we have phonesmarts, implantable items that are surgically placed below your earlobe, one end attached behind your ear to the audio nerves, the other attached to your jawbone. You speak and it transmits out, and it transmits impulses and messages straight into your nerves. Sound to code converters will be able to translate speech into text or commands instantly and boom. There you go, man made ESP.
I'm not going to go into the other aspects of our kids' lives that will be wholly different than what we experienced as a kid (let's just say if they only had 2, 4 and7 on TV, they would jump out the 45th floor of a building - shout out to Commander Tom BTW). But I will say that the brief lapse in connectivity today had reminded me to take my kids outside, to keep the cell phones out of their hands for a while longer and to make sure they understand and appreciate human connection, face to face contact.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Some Like It Hot...at 3 years old?
Tonight my little guy, a precocious 3, decided that he wanted to dress up like Snow White. It's not the first time that he has decided to play dress up. He's worn pieces of costumes for Tinkerbell, a fireman, Buzz Lightyear, a cowboy, a butterfly and his favorite costume, "naked boy". But today he was dressed to the nines - Dress, tiara, heels and carried a dwarf around with him.
As I walked into the playroom...three or four thoughts ran into each other at the same time. He had on the outfit and his big Buddy smile. I couldn't help but smile back. The second thought was "Quick - get that kid a football and a set of snap on tools!". But that thought came and went quickly and laughed again as he started to twirl around singing "Hi Hooooooooo".
One of the great things about watching my kids is that I get to see how they react to and live in our world without the experience, hang ups, thoughts and ideals that I've accumulated in 35 years. They almost everything with a wide eyed wonder and a giant smile. They ask questions, are eager for answers and explanation, but don't have the capacity to judge on a personal level. He doesn't see it as he is wearing a girls clothes and crossing gender roles. I think he wanted to dress up for a few reasons - even though he may not have known it - 1. It's fun! 2. He thinks that the costume was pretty and he liked it. 3. When he watches Snow White - he identifies Snow White as a friendly, happy person - who he wants to be like.
How many children have their playtime, their games, their exploration of our world pigmented or abstracted by their parents? I'd say probably most of them, at least those that have parents that care enough and are able to take part in their play. I'm glad that I got a chance to see him in the Snow White dress, because it helped me see that I need to let go and experience the our world like my kids do, with wide eyed wonder and a giant smile.
As I walked into the playroom...three or four thoughts ran into each other at the same time. He had on the outfit and his big Buddy smile. I couldn't help but smile back. The second thought was "Quick - get that kid a football and a set of snap on tools!". But that thought came and went quickly and laughed again as he started to twirl around singing "Hi Hooooooooo".
One of the great things about watching my kids is that I get to see how they react to and live in our world without the experience, hang ups, thoughts and ideals that I've accumulated in 35 years. They almost everything with a wide eyed wonder and a giant smile. They ask questions, are eager for answers and explanation, but don't have the capacity to judge on a personal level. He doesn't see it as he is wearing a girls clothes and crossing gender roles. I think he wanted to dress up for a few reasons - even though he may not have known it - 1. It's fun! 2. He thinks that the costume was pretty and he liked it. 3. When he watches Snow White - he identifies Snow White as a friendly, happy person - who he wants to be like.
How many children have their playtime, their games, their exploration of our world pigmented or abstracted by their parents? I'd say probably most of them, at least those that have parents that care enough and are able to take part in their play. I'm glad that I got a chance to see him in the Snow White dress, because it helped me see that I need to let go and experience the our world like my kids do, with wide eyed wonder and a giant smile.
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