I’m an idiot when it comes to social media. Although, maybe I’m being too hard on myself… No, I’m an idiot! I’m always afraid I’ll post something to everyone when it was only meant to go to someone, or that I’ll open something that looks perfectly innocent only to have my computer flip me the finger and melt down. I’m learning that there all kinds of social media predators out there; trolls, hackers, and many others who I just don’t know the names for. And I’m afraid I might not recognize it when I see one, or read one, or hear from one – or whatever you call it when you connect with those monsters of cyber space. It’s a scary cyber world that we live in and my naïve level of it all is off the charts.
When my new book, BENEATH A THOUSAND APPLE TREES, came out in August, I knew I'd have to get heavily involved in (cue scary music), social media. I hate it, I’m scared of it, but I’ do I'd be forced to do it because in today’s world that’s how you sell stuff – books included and especially if your book happens to be coming out in a digital format as mine did, (as well as soft cover). So, I did the only sensible thing I could do: I ran to the nearest high school (which happens to be the only high school in this tiny town), and found a wiz kid to handle my social media. Who better? Unlike me, who grew up back in the 60’s, and was raised on Pop Tarts, Andy of Mayberry, and Jefferson Airplane, kids today grew up on megabits, flash drives and tweeting – or is it “twittering”? Oh, heck, I can’t even pronounce it correctly, much less practice it with ease. But, these kids can do this stuff in their sleep! My little wiz kid flies on the keyboard, and has me set up in so many different things, on so many different days, and for so many different reasons that I can’t keep track of them all. Oh, I love her so!
I often hear people knocking the kids of today, but I believe we can learn a thing or two from them if we’d just stop and listen. I know I have from my little wiz kid, and not just about social media stuff, but her views about things in general. And she makes a lot of sense. It’s important to respect these kids for what they are; our future, and to believe that they want it to be just as good and safe and promising as we do. All things considered, I think we’re in pretty good hands. Just don’t get these little computer Einsteins mad. They know how to hit that delete button. And I, for one, don’t want to be sent to the trash bin in the eternal black void of cyber space, especially since I can’t remember where the escape key is.
