Another week has come and gone. Actually, another week plus one day. Sorry for that.
But the lost day isn’t a total loss, because it forced me to stretch my thinking on something that’s had me totally flummoxed for most of the week. And we all know adding flummox to flummox can only lead to total synapsial meltdown . . or, vindication. Wish I had a clue what direction this one’s taking – but alas.
So, if you feel like climbing into my head and squishing around among aging brain cells for a few minutes, welcome. We’re going to muddy up the waters and go bias hunting. What fun!
Are We Boomers Killing Social Media?
First: Are Boomers killing social media sites? (I guarantee, they have nothing to worry from me . . though I do enjoy all the opportunities sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and such provide for connecting.)
According to the story in PCWorld, however, Baby Boomers – of which I’m one – never do anything in a small way. Yea Us! Which also means we kind of tromp all over whatever we decide we like. Talk about the elephant in the room.
Okay, so we like things in a big way. And we like to connect in a big way. That’s cool. So what’s the worry?
It’s the youngsters (20-somethings and such).
Seems they have a kind of social media entitlement thing going on. They’re afraid we’re going to:
- Take their plaything away; and
- Mess it up in our own image; and
- Somehow make it more difficult for them to give away all their personal information to the stalker-types.
Oh well.
Then again, I thought the internet was big enough for everyone – even Boomers. Seems, in fact, the young folks who have their heads on straight agree.
Yea young folks! That means all is cool . . even when it gets a little heated.
The Trouble with the “PRIME of Life”
Much of what’s been happening in my life this past week has to do with the creative angst surrounding the evolution of my new website. (Not yet published, but soon)
In particular, I’ve been waging an inner mini-battle against the “Prime of Life”. Well, not exactly against IT, but against the term “Prime of Life” as representative of how we midlife women who are over 50 define ourselves.
Now I realize that googling the term results in definitions like: “over 50″, “the best years of one’s life”, etc. That’s all well and good.
The thing is: I’ve never thought of it that way. To me, the prime of life has all sorts of psycho-sexual stuff swirling in and around it.
Which means, I’ve kind of always thought of the prime of life as being the sexual prime and that sexual prime as being somewhere in the late 20′s or early 30′s. You know, the prime reproductive time of life.
Heaven only knows why. It’s not like I was ever a biological clock watcher, though I certainly appreciate the driving focus of those who are.
I just never made the leap from biology to perception.
Except, there I was with a 20-something copywriter sticking “prime of life” all over the pages of my soon to be site. My mind went into total disconnect. I thought maybe it was a generation gap sort of thing.
Then I started tweeting about it and asking folks on facebook for their opinions. And I learned I was the one with the issue. Yep. I was the limited thinking, biased snob. Mega cringe.
So I owe everyone reading this a major apology for my small mindedness. And I can only promise that I’m dealing with it.
The prime of life is even starting to grow on me. I don’t want to rush to embrace it, though.
It could just be stardust, or moon dust, or worst of all . . . dust. Then I’d have to clean it out and start over. Yep, slow is better.
Sometimes A Picture’s Wordier Than We’d Like – Or Not
The last thing I’m going to share with you from my week’s inner adventures also has to do with my new site. This time, though, I’m going to talk about pictures.
Pictures = very, very important parts of a website. And making sure you have the right pictures to connect with your right people – well, that’s just major stuff.
Have you ever looked at a picture on a web site, and liked the picture but felt a little – or a lot – discombobulated by it? Kind of like: Oh . . this is so absolutely perfect, but ………….. hmmmmm?
What’s that all about, do you think?
Well, that happened to me this week. My web designer created a look I totally love! But something about that picture on the Home page . . I couldn’t figure it, except it just didn’t quite . . . . . . . you know.
And do you know what it was? It was me. It was me reading something that wasn’t there into what was there, and coming to the wrong conclusion.
I looked at that perfectly fine picture, of a perfectly fine middle aged woman, and didn’t see her as “old enough” for my clients to relate to her. Excuse me?!
And you’ll never guess what it took for me to convince myself that that same picture was the perfect photo: Would you believe I pulled a close up view on the woman’s face and scrutinized it till I was sure she was probably in her 60′s?
A 40 year old woman wouldn’t have looked old enough for me?! Maybe a 50 year old woman wouldn’t have looked old enough either. Who knows?!
That’s me being my anal self. It’s also the simple fact that my world view contains little boxes labeled “perfect, too young, not old enough,” and so on.
We live our lives constructing and deconstructing . . and moving around little boxes like those to support our world views. They reflect our current biases. And they support our belief systems.
They’re bad. They’re good. They’re boxes. We construct them. We tear them down and start over when our picture of the world shifts ever so slightly.
I’ve been busy tearing down boxes. My plan is to just make one big box – no walls – and let all my pictures of the world get to know one another. Who knows? It might just work.
How about you?
What boxes are holding your biases and edgy pictures of the world?
When’s the last time you got in there and shook them up a little?
Could be kind of fun, don’t you think? Try it, and let me know how that works for you.
Keep growing my friend,
Gail
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