Well, I finally did it. I joined Twitter. (you can find me under JILLIANBURNS) I am now a “twitterer”? I tweet? Yesterday I twitted? Whatever. I’m so proud of myself. I can barely operate my cell phone, and yet I managed to do this all by myself. I admit, I paid my 16 year old daughter to set up my MySpace page and my 14 year old son had to show me how to set up my Facebook page. Even my 72 year old mother can take her new Handy cam and download her videos onto a DVD all by herself. But this is a first for me. I’m somewhat intimidated by all these new-fangled electronic miracles.Recently I was telling my youngest how when I was her age, (9) there was no such thing as a microwave, and there were only 4 stations on television and no way to “rewind” or “pause” a TV show. She seemed horrified at my Neanderthal-like childhood.
She’ll never know what it’s like to place a needle on an album to play a song. The expression “a broken record” means nothing to her. Probably because I’m getting older, I tend to remember those days with a nostalgic twinge. They seemed slower-paced, simpler, more peaceful.And though I try to make my kids have electronic-free experiences by taking them camping and making them leave their i-pods and cell phones at home, I admit I enjoy the luxuries all these new inventions have to offer. (I can remember my car breaking down on the side of the road in freezing weather and having to walk to a gas station with a pay phone…)
And I’ve enjoyed finding old friends from high school and keeping in touch with new friends I’ve met at RWA National through Facebook (find me as Juliet Burns).
I’ve really enjoyed hearing from fans who’ve emailed me through my website www.julietburns.com and all my Yahoo-groups where I can connect with so many wonderful writers for information and support in my career. And of course, this blog, where I can read about what other authors are thinking and doing and I can ramble on about things that interest me… Oh dear, I’m rambling, aren’t I?Anyway, I was so excited to brag to my oh-so-cool, er…hip? teens that I’m now on Twitter! Hah! Finally I did something before them AND without their help!
My daughter stared at me with look of sympathy for her poor, behind-the-times mother and said, “Twitter is so lame.”
I can’t win.
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Haven’t gone Twitter yet. I do have a facebook page. My computer is so old everytime I log on to facebook it tells me I need to update my browser. Like I don’t know this already. When it spits out the money I’ll go get a new computer. Until then, don’t remind me everytime. I don’t have a my space page. My daughter put the pictures on my facebook page because I don’t have the knowledge or ability or equipment to do that. I am facebook challenged. So Twitter, I don’t think so. I remember when my daughters were little (33 & 27) they were appalled by the fact I grew up watching black and white TV. You would have thought I told them I lived in a cave. When my youngest was in middle school she had to interview someone older about what technology they had when they were younger. So she interviewed my mother. You can imagine what she thought when she found out they had no TV, no microwaves, no air conditioning and virtually no modern conveniences. My mother is 87. When I finally get a new computer maybe I’ll twitter.
Linda Henderson
And yet, none of the twenty-somethings I’ve run across do Twitter. Tweet. Whatever. They seem to be hanging out on Facebook.
Hi Linda,
And, as for getting on Twitter, I guess it’s “lame” so don’t feel like you’re missing out. 
I keep getting messages to update my browser too. What’s a browser? I THINK it might be free and just require a click and a download of something. But I’m afraid if I do that it’ll mess up what I have and everything is working right now except I can’t watch You tube vids–which has really saved me a lot of time I used to waste watching Gerard Butler love fests.
My kids think any movie in black & white is WAY too old for them to waste their time on. Hey, you’re on Facebook! Come and “friend” me. Thanks for coming by here!
Yeah, Heather, I guess I will perpetually be behind the times with my teens. I thought all the teens and 20 somethings were on Myspace and all us “old” folks were on FB, but no, my daughter informed me No One is on MySpace anymore except “kids”. Like she’s all adult and everything.
My kids are 24 and 22. They are on Facebook and still use MSN too. They are not on Twitter.
I too recall having a B&W tv, no remote control (that was called “the kids” in those days), an antenna that occasionally had to be moved manually up on the roof, and basically getting ABC, NBC, CBS, and three local Canadian stations. TVs only went up to channel 13, with the “middle channel” — before beginning again on channel 2 on the round dial — having something like “channel U”, where you could occasionally get an extra station on a clear day.
I tell myself that my grandparents did not have cars nor televisions back in “their day”, but we depend on these on a daily (hourly?) basis. The same is now holding true for The Internet; I remember not having them and my kids might remember not having them until their high school years — but none of us would want to go without a computer with high-speed Internet today!
As for Twitter, I’d never get anything done in a day if I subscribed. I have an outdated cell phone and know that my next cell will include a pull-out keyboard for texting. I have a digital camera. I don’t own an MP3 player or iPod or Blackberry or whatever else is out there, nor do I have the desire. Look at how VCRs had Beta and VHS, and Beta fell by the wayside. Now we have DVRs. Technology is always “advancing” and everything seems to become obsolete quickly. I have other things to keep me busy in the meantime!
Congrats Jillian! My guess is that there’s a lack of teens and (early) twenty-somethings on Twitter because they are in classes all day, and aren’t sitting at a computer all day working. Twitter is real-time and seems to be most active during the day M-F (although it’s never “inactive”), whereas with Facebook you can log on and connect with people whenever you have time. They’ll read your comments/posts whenever they log on. Obviously with Twitter you can go back and catch up on all the posts you’ve missed, but it’s not the same thing.
Knowing teenagers, if it’s something a lot of other people do but they themselves can’t do, then it’s automatically labeled as “lame.” They have to have some kind of excuse as to why they’re not participating in the latest social networking phenomenon.
Just saw a NY Times article addressing topic of why teens don’t use Twitter, via JoAnn Ross:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html?_r=2&em
One funny part: A mom to two teenagers was told by her kids that Twitter’s “lame,” but then they asked her to follow pop stars Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift and report back to them. Uh, hello?
(I still think one reason teens are using it is because they’re not on the computer all day.)
HI Laney,
and yeah, I know what you mean about our grandparents. I love love to read Historicals, where people used a chamber pot and had to light a candle to see at night and think how quaint and romantic, but then I read an account from my grandfather’s diary about how freezing cold he was when he woke up and had to go put wood in the stove and light it before the room would heat up enough to get dressed. And That sounds barbaric! I like my heat and A/C thank you very much. I guess it’s all what you’re used to.
Um…I’m so embarrassed to ask this, but, what’s MSN? See? I’m still behind the times.
I don’t get on Twitter very much, not even every day, so hopefully it wont become too much of a time sucker. I DO have a deadline tomake. Thanks for coming by today!
Hi Katie!
Fun to “see” you here! Oh, I never thought about the reason WHY teens didn’t DO Twitter. That makes sense! And thanks for the article, I’m going to go check it out now. And my kids do at least know better than to ask me to “follow” some one FOR them. That won’t happen. I’m one of those “Mean” moms like my mother was. You’re prob not old enough to remember the “mean” mom description from Ann Landers. I’ll have to post a link here if I can find it.
Have a great day and thanks for coming by!
When my son was about the thirteen when this happened. I broke out some of my records. At one point I turned the record over to play the other side and he said
“There’s music on the other side!”
then… one time we were at the pool…we were at the pool and he wanted to call home and I had to show him how to work the rotary phone
I don’t twitter yet – holding off – facebook and my blog are enough
My smartass daughters once asked me if they had Prom when I was young(graduated in 1970). I jokingly said,”Yes, our dates picked us up in their covered wagons and took us to the dance where all we did was waltz and polka”. They never asked after that.
Linda Henderson
Oh, I’ve gotten that question too, Liz! There’s music on the other side? And I’ve also gotten, “Did they have grocery stores/cars/electricity/you name it when you were little?”
I was so insulted at first. Of COURSE they did! But I guess from their perspective, “when their mom was little” seems like thousands of years ago.
Oh wow, I don’t think my kids have ever seen a rotary dial phone! I’ll have to try to find one and show them. I tell ya, the times, they change too fast sometimes.
Hi Jillian…I don’t tweet at all…I don’t think it is lame per se, but rather, that it is more like a ball and chain…I feel like I can’t go anywhere without someone checking up on me…I know, it is not the same…I would rather be on FaceBook…I have a Myspace account too, but I don’t really go on it much…my teenage sister doesn’t tweet, but she tried, however, she didn’t really understand how it worked, so she said that it was stupid…she signed up for FB instead…I love it there…I really reconnected with a lot of people from HS as well as connected with some of my fav authors and singers…it is really cool…I remember LPs too…the B side usually had some great songs…loved the blog topic today…kudos to you for setting up twitter yourself…
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Hi Juliet!
First off TWITTER IS NOT LAME!!! Not that I use it, but I do like to stop at the twitter site on the net to read what people are talking about. (And exactly how else would I know what my hottie Nathan has to say if I didn’t check it daily. ) hahahahaha Seriously, it’s like a two minute read.
I can’t be bothered to have all the latest new fangled toys on the market. That’s too tiring as well as expensive. I got an mp3 player for Xmas and I still don’t know how to load music onto it! UGH…
MSN is Microsoft Network and they have a messenger just like AOL’s IM is. It works the same way, but I happen to like MSN’s better. And if I am correct your web browser is part of your search engine. (just by another name.) I think the most common one used is Internet Explorer. But don’t quote me on that. I’m not 100% on the tech talk but I can squeak by if need be. But things change so fast, it’s hard to keep up.
-Pam
hi Jillian.
I havent joined the twitter bandwagon. i did just sign up with facebook, which im hooked on. I have found so many people i went o high school with on there, and had a blast talking the past with them. I’ll look you up on there!
My five year old son was at my grandmothers a couple months ago playing with anything and everything and picked up the rotary dial phone she still had, a very sturdy and heavy black behemoth of a phone and looked at sriously for a second and asked me who stole the buttons. it was too cute. i showed him how it wokrd and he thought i was kidding him, he just laughed and said i was silly.
Kids are cute
cool post.
happy tweeting.
jody
I totally know how you feel!! I don’t tweet, twitter, or whatever the heck you call it! I can’t work a fancy cell phone – but I did set up a facebook page a couple of days ago. I’m still not sure what the hell I’m doing tho!! And yes, I remember only getting TWO tv stations, and those were b&w! horrors!
I love twitter, I can keep up where authors are blogging and new releases and such. I’m on myspace as well, haven’t gotten into facebook. Myspace, twitter, and livejournal are enough for me.
My grandmother always tells me that my generation must have just had all this technology programmed into us at birth. It’s just comes so easily to us and people her age have the toughest time learning how to use the computer or a cellphone.