Well I had to get to it eventually. New social media, that's what. In 2000 I was only eleven years into owning a computer at all and had had a mobile phone and email for, say, five years max. Who would have thought in 2010 I could stay in constant touch with what my friends are up to, moment by moment at the click of a mouse.
The question being discussed amongst social-media-savvie clergy right now is whether someone is going to tweet from their Christmas service live. What would you have made of that sentence in 1999?
An interesting portion of Christmas spending this year is on downloads of gimmicky applications for iPhones. Have some virtual bubble wrap to virtually pop. Have a pint to virtually drink. Go on, it tips if you tip your phone. Facebook has virtual gifts for birthdays and anniversaries. I love you so much I sent you nothing real.
I don't mean to sound critical. I'm in this, although not into farming, Scrabble or Bejewelled in the way some of my friends seem to be. But relationally it is fascinating. On one level all this is a new land which people are colonising. On another all the rules, customs and cultural habits are up for grabs and observing the development of the Charter is exciting. It's a cross between a gold rush and a missionary journey.
And we're all (those of us who are getting into this) learning to speak in a new language of mini-ads to draw attention to longer posts, or simply trying to say it in 140 characters or fewer. New decade; new skills.
Fantastic privilege to have lived through this precise fifty-four years, but this last ten especially.
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