Hi-tech brings families together

An interesting article appeared on the BBC website. I could not help agreeing. There is a perception that hi tech or computerized activities are solitary. They can be of course, but it does feel that we are coming full circle.

Before the technological media took a hold, families ate together, worked and lived close. Radio came along and families listened together. The same thing with TV. Again the perception is that this took something away from family communication etc, but sharing an activity can create a feeling of togetherness.

When I was a kid growing up in the 1960's, we used to watch TV as a family, we shared a telephone and would chat to callers before passing the handset on. We have of course moved towards solitary viewing, and mobile telephone have allow kids to have exclusive access to their friends with parents sometimes having little contact.

Perhaps, because humans are primarily social beings, the circle is now being completed, in using these mediums to return to closer links with family and friends, but when necessary this is by phone and connecting using online social networking sites such as Facebook. It has been interesting to watch this spreading quite rapidly from students to people now in retirement. When I joined Facebook about 18 months ago, I was in a minority in my age group, but I am now finding a larger and larger pool of computer literate friends online.

Fascinating really isn't it?

BBC: Hi-tech brings families together

Twittering - been doing it all my life

Now twitter, this is more up my street! I tend to talk all the time, filling all gaps with a fair amount of whitter, so as you can imagine twitter is for me.

Like all new gadgets, it takes a while for it to filter through to friends and family, so when I signed up on the 5th September, I was searching frantically for someone to follow, or to follow me.

Ah phew, husband to the rescue, although that just gives him another way to ask if dinner is ready yet!

Still it is now catching on with friends and my followers are increasing. This may have something to do with the fact that I let slip that Stephen Fry no less is following me! I don't need to tell everyone that he is following me because I follow him do I?

The ability to feed Twitter updates to my Facebook, Plaxo, this blog, updating my status from my iPhone while sitting on a bus, train, beach, cafe, park, son's activities all really appeal to me. I have lost count of the the number of times over the years I have meant to write down all the funny things that kids say to me, well now I twitter it!

Take a look to the right of the page and you will see my twitters for the day. Follow me at: www.twitter.com/KarenAtLongNeck

Opted out for a while

Well I started this blog, over a month ago, my intention was to write about my thoughts as I go about the activities of my home based mail order business and to mention the odd things that happen to make me laugh and cry bringing up my two boys. However the global financial markets rather overtook all my thoughts. I am not an economist so decided not to comment any further.

All I will say is 'What a horrible mess!' I just hope that we are not back where we were last month in the new year, having spent billions of our own money to bail the banks out. I will not be holding my breath!