In conclusion the computer era opened us up to the world but as with anything
it should be used in moderation and I feel more than ever it is a good idea to
think before you speak. I hope to BBS (Be Back Soon) to expand more of my
views on Social Media. The Good, the bad, the ugly.
I have been thinking about the changes in our lives thanks to Social Media and have mixed feelings. I digress to
when I worked at a local bank where I was in the accounting area with my big ledgers and a cup full of pencils and a
whole lot of erasers. At that time, we had Data Entry machines where information was keyed in and then at night a
large mag tape was loaded to transmit that data. The next morning’s result was a large printout on green and white
striped paper that I reconciled my ledger to.
Some years later we all got CRT’s, which we thought were the greatest thing since sliced bread. We could enter all
our accounting data into the CRT and keep an “electronic file” as well as the ledger, yet, we still had to have the
paper copy as it may be truer than the electronic version. The trust level was still not there with those “machines.”
Fast forward a few more years and we get Personal Computers. By then I had switched to Fraud Investigations for
the bank and that meant a lot of case notes had to be written. Now for me, the PC, with that program called Word,
was perfect because I would never win any penmanship awards. As time progressed we were assigned an e-mail
address at work and this, along with a fax machine, pretty much eliminated the Inter Office Envelope.
A few more years and PC’s (see we have our acronyms evolving) were in the home. They were expensive but they
were also slowly opening us up to the world. By this phase we trusted those machines and we all had to have one in
our own home. Why, it was like a TV or Telephone; it was a must! Yes, I finally saved up my money and got my first
in home PC. I felt down right rich. I got an e-mail address that was mine all mine. Looking back, about all you could
do was e-mail someone IF they had a PC or research things on AOL.
Time passed and it was not long until most everyone had a PC and e-mails were flying back and forth, web cams
were coming out, and we could talk via voice chat; things were in the fast lane. It eventually dawned on me how
great this PC would have been when my brothers were in the military during the 60’s and 70’s. I remember waiting
weeks on end for a letter from any of my three brothers, who were all over the world. Mama would diligently write
them almost daily to ensure they received mail. When there was a ship change, it would jam up the mail and it could
be weeks before we got their letters. When my brother Moon was in an accident, we didn’t know for almost a
month. Had we been in the computer era we would have known much sooner via e-mail.
When my sister was away at college, she would write letters during the week and make a quick call home on
Sundays (we could not run the phone bill up), just to hear each other’s voices. Had we had the PC as a staple in our
home entertainment, we could have e-mailed, voice chatted and even seen each other on web cam. I was beginning
to notice all the benefits of a PC: instant information, better contact with your loved ones, and news in a flash. It was
a great time to live in.
In turn, internet and social media only became more important to our everyday activities. Facebook became a
common daily experience. You could re-connect with long lost friends, you could see photos of new additions to the
family, and you could post what was on your mind that day. I began following friends, liking businesses and loving
the photos of the kittens and puppies,
expanding my recipe collection, improving
my crafting ability, and OMG (another
acronym) Pinterest was like my own personal
file cabinet and I could share it with my
friends! We were on Facebook LOL’ing
(Laugh Out Loud). OMG’ing (OH My God),
and if you had to go to something BRB’ing
(Be Right Back.) Our acronym vocabulary
was growing fast and we could learn it
quicker that a foreign language, it was
computer jargon. We were learning about the
Blue Screen of Death, L Drives, C Drives,
hard drives, USB ports, and windows. A
whole new world was happening at a break
neck speed.
It was not long before I began to realize
along with the good came the bad. You started
hearing about more people getting scammed,
I think it also opened a world to more
criminals accessing you or your loved ones. A
word seldom used, “hacker”, became
mainstream. Your personal information was
being “compromised”. We stared hearing the
word “breached” a lot. It had also opened a
new window of opportunity for pedophiles to
prey on the “younger