A local restaurant, part of a chain, is closing its doors. I found out because I was following a link posted by a friend on Facebook about another news story. I washed up on the local paper’s website and happened to notice the mournful link. Our favorite restaurant, the one we don’t admit to frequenting, has been closed.
I did an informal poll. Two people hadn’t heard the news. Six of the people I asked had seen a posting on Facebook, 1 on Twitter. Another found the same article I had on the newspaper’s website. No one heard it on the radio, read it on a dead tree or saw it on TV. This is how our sense of the world is being formed.
We’ve gone past discussing the power of social media–it is a daily fact of life. Even if a person doesn’t participate, they are going to be treated to information gleaned from a Social Media source by a friend. It is where we gather our talking points for the water cooler discussions at work and for our social gatherings. In many cases, it is where we have those discussions as well.
And, for many of us, it is seamless and effortless and easy–that’s why it is a part of daily life. I no longer feel that I have to devote effort to finding out about the world around me–I can just absorb it as I pass through the other media that I consume on my computer and my phone throughout the day.
Not everyone is steeping in media. Yet. There are many for whom time on the computer is still an appointment, an interuption, a commitment. That is changing as more intuitive devices give us more ubiquitious access. But for now, we are experiencing a digital divide. The Digital Natives and the Analog Stalwarts find it difficult to communicate. And communication is essential. It just takes different forms for different people.
There is a great opportunity imbeded in this disparity. The voices that can echo through the canyons of the internet and also be heard in the vibrating air we actually breath will have the advantage as transitions are made. We have the opportunity, the responsiblity and the work to be gentle with those standing on both sides of the divide.
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