Yes, I am the Technosaurus. Much to the chagrin of my technologically gifted son, I still have trouble with the more complex and multilayered computer functions and other devices of modern society. My older son would gladly join me on this lily pad, the dishwasher fairies being a classic example, but you would be reading my obit if I explained that story any further.
I will confess to being a lurker on the internet. I regularly check out other blogs and websites and such, but don’t become a follower. On several of my other art gallery sites, I have tried to change a simple profile picture and it does not work, even when I follow all the steps listed. That annoys me. I contact the “contact us for problems” link and nobody ever gets back to me…..um, I would call that problem number one in case anybody is keeping count.
I get weekly emails to join this group or that one, so and so wants me to be a “friend”, join, join, join….so I dutifully drop by and see what the fuss is all about it. I finally figured out what it is that annoys me the most about the social network sites, it is the visual clutter. Now don’t get me wrong about my ability to figure all this out, I am a card carrying member of MENSA after all, but the layout of these sites just does not seem logical to me. For a right brainer, I am also inherently very organized and detail oriented, so the scattered nature of images on the small computer screen just really bothers me. They don’t appear visually (artistically) inviting, and with so much text, in so many colors, using little coded language, well…..it seems a waste of my time to sit there and go through it all. Clicking on tiny pictures of people or art (break out the reading glasses) lead me to other places with more type and more comments and more pictures, then we have the arrows, the icons, the advertisements, the flashing this and the scrolling that, toss in some music, and it all just overwhelms my brain. Before I know it, a good chunk of usable work time has flown by and that is an hour of creativity never to be gotten back.
Unfortunately this method of contact and promotion is the way to go if one wants to expand the pond (or pool of opportunities) and at which point I guess I am up a creek and have lost my paddles. Not that that is such a bad thing. As life passes by in the fast lane, speeding along the current of modern media, I am happily recording your antics and translating them to canvas once again. I will admit that last month I did join Facebook more out of peer pressure than anything else. Other than one new follower to my blog, I have yet to see what the benefits are of this online community. What are you all talking about? Why are you tending non-existent farms? Why do the conversations go down as opposed to up like on email chains? Why do you keep changing your profile photo? Is your laundry done? Are the gardens weeded? Are you caught up on bills and ironing? Have you seen a good movie, art exhibit or taken a walk in our wonderful parks? Sat outside and read a book then taken a nap? I just don’t inherently understand the desire to sit in a chair in front of a screen sending out little snippets of thoughts when there are so many other things to do in the world of actual reality. But we are all of different natures and I guess I am sounding like my Grandparents when TV first came out…it will never last. Hmmmm, could be they were right, this little box in front of me right now seems to be taking over like NY bedbugs.
So friends, until I figure out how the Wall, the Facebook, the Profile, the Info and the Newsfeed all fit together and to which place I am supposed to post what I want you to know….where you are right now and on my website are the best places to see what I am thinking…..and no way can I do that in 160 characters or less. I rather like it here on my lily-blog so pull up a pad now and then when you need a breather from the rapids of rampant networking.
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