Thursday, February 7, 2013

Media Convergence


After watching Jeff Greenfield's CBS Sunday Morning commentary on media convergence, it made me reflect on all the changes that have occurred during my lifetime.  I remember growing up, my mother made my brother and I sit down and write thank you notes after every birthday and Christmas.  We would be at the dining room table with paper, envelopes, and stamps handwriting each card.  Today that seems so old-fashioned to most.  All you have to do now I jump onto Facebook and make a quick post.

Sad that children in elementary school no longer have to practice writing, they submit their papers as word documents.  I blew my mind when my son didn't make a “true signature”.  He block signed his name on something which immediately brought on an impromptu lesson on the importance of a signature and the history behind it.  Lost is the art of communication.  Just look at the letters from our fore fathers and any literary great, the language used two centuries ago doesn't even resemble the language of today full of hash tags and emo-icons.

 My son is a prime example of this generation and how the stay connected with society.  Everything he does is via computer.  He talks to people all over the world via the internet.  He will be in his room watching Netflix, playing an interactive computer game, texting on his cell phone, and if I’m lucky answering the questions that I have for him.  In this global world, one would think it would be better but I miss the days of sitting down with a cup of coffee and doing the crossword in the daily newspaper like my Grandmommy did.

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