Twitter and How I Don't Want To Be Irrelevant.

I was walking to go do supervision in the cafeteria the other day and I saw a group of girls gathered around a cell phone looking and giggling.  Naturally, I thought I would joke around with them and said in a high pitched voice, "Oooo, like, I can't even believe that she said that, like crazy!"  The girls smiled but looked at me and the one with the phone said, "I'm tweeting something!" In a tone like, "Come on Jared, we're not immature, I am doing REAL work here."  I looked at the tweet and it was a sarcastic comment something to do with getting asked to grad, I laughed and then went to supervision.

In the cafeteria the same group of girls were sitting together and I got to thinking, I think I should really look into learning a bit about this Twitter thing, even though I think it is ridiculous.  I asked the girls if they would give me a lesson on Twitter later that lunch hour.  They came in, showed me some stuff and now I know a little about hashtags, followers, following someone and other stuff.  Well, actually there's not that much other stuff, but there are different levels of understanding about the 3 things I just mentioned and I found it quite interesting.

Those of you reading this that have Twitter, and are from a younger generation are probably laughing your heads off right now.  "Man, Jared is old, how can you not really know Twitter?"  Is likely the thought in some of your minds.  Those of you in my generation who have been on Twitter, may struggle to use it, and those of you in older generations that have never tried it may be thinking, "Kids these days..."  I used to be in the "Kids these days" category but I started thinking. "Man, if I don't get a handle on this stuff, and at least try it out, I will regret it when my kids get to the age where they start using technology as a part of their lives."  I think it is important to look into what's going on out there, if not for anything else, than to understand people.  I used to not understand why some older teachers were intimidated by new technologies.  Literally Power Point was a program that I used all the time when I first started teaching, (still do) and other teachers were still using overheads.  No reason to change in their minds, I like to do things the way I have always done them.  They were still great teachers, but that technology could have and eventually did (when they did try it) help them.  I understand the resistance to change though, I am reaching that age where I feel comfortable in looking at the world through the lenses that I am comfortable with and I don't want to change my prescription.  The problem is the world around is changing and my eyesight is getting blurred.  I need to keep changing my prescription of how I view things to avoid just being "stuck in my ways."  Am I saying that you shouldn't stand firm on certain issues?  NO WAY, I just think I need to keep educating myself on the WHY's of my positions.  This isn't just regarding technology but society in general.  I am not saying that all technology is good progress, nor do I think that everything that society determines is "right" I agree with, but I think I have a responsibility to my own kids to know and understand current trends.  That way, if I understand the use of something, or understand a certain shift in generational thinking, then, I have a right to critique it.  Don't knock it till you try it I guess.  But once I try it, I feel like I have earned the right to Knock, Knock, Knock away if I want.  Just because it's new and cool, doesn't mean it's good for society.  In the same manner though, just because "It's always been done this way." doesn't mean that it hasn't been done wrong for a long, long time.(Obviously I don't think this "Don't knock it till you try it" applies to certain things, illegal drug use for example!)

Kids have access to the whole world now via the Internet.  That is not always a good thing.  One that really burns me is that sexually explicit material is available at the click of a button.  This "educates" them but they honestly have no idea what to do with their so called "education".  "How do the images I just saw teach me how to treat a woman/man with respect and dignity?" is not a question I am sure many kids (or adults for that matter) ask when they look at pornography. It is a distortion of a truth in regards to how the topic of sex should be treated.  A big distortion in my opinion. Just because you are being educated does not mean you are being taught truth.  You can learn a WHOLE LOT of crap from the internet.

I think that being a kid today is much harder than when I was a kid.  There is so much out there it is overwhelming.  Jax already knows how to use an Iphone decently well.  I had a computer with 8 megs of RAM.  That's not a typo, 8megs.  The handheld devices we have are infinitely more complex, yet easier to use.  Technology is NOT going away that is for sure. 

I don't want to become irrelevant.  I am not trying to say that I am going to try and keep current with styles and media and stuff like that so that I can show the kids I'm cool.  Like, "Look kids, I'm hip, I'm with the times, you think I'm cool right, RIGHT?  Please say I am cool. PLEASE!"  If I ever get like that, I hope someone comes and punches me square in the face because I would be a loser.  What I am saying is that I feel like if I want to relate to Jaxon, Grace and Sophie later in life and meet them where they are at, that I shouldn't put it on myself to live in and make myself an expert at things that I don't really understand just for the sake of being cool.  I should try and understand them for the sake of relationship and understanding with my kids first, and my students second.  I want to be confident in how I relate to my own kids regarding the information out there and how it should be used.  Technology is not going away, it just isn't.

I want my kids to see that I am trying to meet them where they are at, then when I tell them that some social media site is a bit superfluous to their needs as a contributing member of society and our family, they will know that I have my reasons and I am not just spouting crap.

Again, I am not saying that I have parenting figured out, basically I am saying that this is one of the areas that I struggle with and am trying to work out how to deal with it.  All of us parents have things that we are not confident in, but I suppose if we work at them, our kids can see that we are trying and I think that can bring us a long way in getting closer.

Thanks to the kids who taught me some stuff about Twitter, I'm going to tweet this right now. Follow me @jaredheidinger  (The jury is still out on the usefulness of this...)