A response.

One of my close friends from church writes the “official” blog for our church. He does an excellent job and I generally wait in anticipation for his posts, which are rather irregular. His post from this past Thursday just spoke to me. Please read it. I won’t even attempt to summarize his words except to say that, after reading it, I am really not sure I want to blog any longer.

As we’ve established throughout the past few weeks in my posts, we, as a society, are pretty darn connected to one another. We have Facebook. We have Twitter. We have text messaging. We have blogs. Some of us even still use email.

What are we missing?

I’ve hit upon this before in several posts, but we’re missing real relationships. My friend’s post really brings that home.

These tools can be really great. We can keep connected with friends overseas, friends across the country and friends that we’re just unable to see anymore. I’ve found people from high school and college that are spread across the world that I’ve been able to re-establish a relationship with. In these instances, I believe that emerging media is really great and useful, as it helps enable those relationships to exist.

But what about the guy next door? Or your friends from church, school, work? How do we relate to them? Is it primarily through the new mediums mentioned above? Do we ever see them face to face? Is that enough to sustain real relationship? Isn’t the emerging media tools rather meaningless in the face of a friend, right in front of you?

I’m going to leave you with that. I’m going to encourage you to read my friend’s post. I’m going away now, considering whether I really want there to be a future for this blog, or whether this is the last thought best shared.

Why does everyone assume I want to connect at all times?

Smartphone in a car. Courtesy CNN.com.

Sometimes I need to get away from my phone. I do prison ministry and that certainly facilitates that, as prisons are pretty specific about what you can and can’t take into the joint, and phones are on the list at most every prison nationwide, from San Quentin in California to Riker’s Island in New York. And, yes, just as a random fact, I’ve been to both facilities in the last 12 months.

However, for average folks who don’t hit a prison every other Sunday, when can you separate from your phone? For some, it’s at the gym. For some, it’s at work (though that’s getting less and less). For some, it’s during a quiet time or something at home. For me, it’s when I’m behind the wheel of my truck.

I enjoy the peace sometimes, with the radio off, listening to the wind and the road. I enjoy the radio on, even singing along, though I wouldn’t ever do that in public. I enjoy listening to the engine, shifting at just the right RPM. It’s an enjoyable time for me, away from the world.

The People's Morning Show on 105.7 The X

Now CNN’s technology section is reporting that not only might my next truck be a smartphone, complete with touchscreen, but all future cars might be equipped in that way. These high tech smartphone/cars will be able to send texts, take calls, update Facebook/Twitter, all via voice command. Don’t forget access to all the MP3s on your phone and Pandora favorites, too.

For me, it’s a little too much. I’ll miss my PMS in the morning. I’ll miss the peace. I’ll certainly miss not being bothered.

What’s next, video chat from the driver’s seat??

The power of customer reviews. Part 2.

Thanks to Bethany for originally posting this image.

One of my fellow class members, Bethany, wrote the original post entitled “The Power of Customer Reviews.” It spoke to me. I won’t still her thunder, but I will comment myself. I realized how profoundly valuable customer reviews really are, and how totally dependent we are upon them nowadays.

I know many of my posts head this direction, but, really, it’s amazing to me how different things were back in the day. Really, the only recommendations people had for any post was what your friend, family member or acquaintance experienced as working for them. People bought everything from cars, to TVs, to computers to even CDs or tapes based upon what the relatively few people in their circle thought was great.

Now, we still have that. Yet we all check those recommendations versus the online reviews. Some of these reviews are highly professional and written by folks whose income comes from writing those reviews. Others are product feedback. These make me more nervous, though you can sense a few trends here. If all the reviews are negative, you might not be getting a good product. However, others have such mixed feedback from those who are either really happy with the product or just really pissed off about it. You never really get the middle of the road, average consumer…just the extremes.

Yet, combining all the dozens of resources you have at your disposal, you can definitely establish a much clearer picture about a product purchasing decision than you ever could previously.

Additionally, we can establish a much better picture of who we’re being the product from through the use of feedback. In a lot of instances previously, you’d buy from the same guy your parents did, or whomever your buddy recommended. Now, we have feedback. We can track the best seller for a certain product. On eBay you wouldn’t even consider buying from someone with low feedback.

Feedback and reviews are so vital for our shopping experience now, I can’t imagine making a major purchase without it. I want to make sure I’ll be satisfied and avoid poor, un-researched decisions. This form of emerging media is definitely highly useful and valuable and has made the consumer experience far more fulfilling.

What happened to the art of writing a good letter?

When I was a kid, which wasn’t THAT long ago, I remember going to summer camp and getting real, paper letters from my aunts, my Grandma, and my parents. Throughout that week, the anticipation would build for those letters and I still have all of them to this day. It’s quite enjoyable to go through and read them occasionally, especially with the passing of my grandparents–they’re one of the few physical things left from them.

What happens now, in the days of cell phones and email and….ughh…text messaging?

Now that I’m older, I’m the camp counselor. I counsel 3rd-8th graders and usually end up with the middle age group (4th-6th). Most of them have cell phones. Several even have iPhones. We, the counselors, usually have to constantly remind them to that they can’t use them all week, but we can’t have our eyes on everyone, all the time. Texts and calls are going in and out all week for sure. Especially texts, as they are so easy to send on the sly. This just detracts from the experience of being at camp, around a totally different group of people and doing all sorts of new and different things. How can you tell all the stories from the week when you get home, if Mom, Dad, and all your friends heard about it while it happened via text? Or if you missed things because you were too busy texting?

What happened to patience? What happened to the finely tuned art of writing a letter? Why must everything happen immediately and why  must we always be in touch with everyone, all the time??

As time has flown by, we’ve become a society that just texts. For younger generations, they text a lot.

Texting breakdown by age group. Courtesty CNN.com

An article on CNN’s technology section notes that, on average, teenagers send 3,339 texts per month. Teen girls send more than 4000!!! These numbers are trending upwards as the year progresses.

In addition, older folks, my generation and beyond, send more than 1000 texts, on average, with the averages trending upwards as time passes. Even older generations text less, but they remember letter writing. Even so, they’re getting into it more (my 60 year-old dad now texts, albeit rarely).

As someone who cherishes hearing someone’s voice, and appreciates seeing a smiling face, I find texting to be a struggle. I’ll admit, it’s handy for quick things, but having deeper, more involved conversations via text messages is a chore and, really, honestly, should be done on the phone, if not face-to-face.

Even with some of the limits I’ve set, I manage to use 1000 texts per month. Seeing that bill nauseates me. I really think that society’s headed down a path that’s not good with our complete embracing of text messaging. Pick up the phone. Use all those minutes you have. Go see someone. Maybe even write a letter! That’ll shock ’em….

Emerging media on TV

I’ve noticed recently that emerging media is taking a large presence on TV nowadays. I love the show Community. The character Pierce, played by Chevy Chase, has a tendency to say a lot of outlandish things. Troy, his new roommate, started a Twitter feed called “White Man Says” that’s a hit throughout the episode. It’s a real twitter feed, too, though it looks to be created for this episode and only has three tweets.

Or there’s the show “(Expletive) My Dad Says” on CBS. This show is based on a Twitter feed managed by Justin Halpern. There’s also a book on this topic (can’t wait to read it…my buddy is going to lend it to me!). FYI, the Twitter feed is hilarious…tears streaming down my face as I read it.

An article on CNN’s tech website lists more in the series of examples.

More and more nowadays these social media items are taking center stage on episodes of our popular shows. The merging of new media and traditional media (TV) is really making inroads. The internet, Web 2.0, email, Facebook are all common terms, not just because they’re tools we use on a daily basis, but because the characters we let into our lives make them more popular by using them on a daily basis. Even as far back as “You’ve Got Mail!” That can truly contribute to the explosion of both the Internet and social media, because, well, Troy from Community is using it, so why shouldn’t I??

It’s big and it’s just another way that we’re being influenced by the media.

Now, back to “(Expletive) my dad says”…..

The Social Network movie…Harvard’s take (and mine!)

The Social Network screenshot. Courtesy CNN.com.

To preface this, I haven’t seen the Social Network movie. I did just read an interesting article about it, however, on CNN’s technology section. What intrigued me about the article was the interviews with five Harvard students about their perception of the movie and how Harvard was portrayed. Four of the five thought it was pretty true to campus life, with some creative license of course, and they each really liked the movie.

That impressed me. In many cases, folks who are more intimately involved with a story that’s turned into a movie hate it. It’s not true, often times not even close. Too much fictional and creative license is taken. In this case, they stuck to the true story, with only the expected additions for entertainment (pretty people, sex, drugs…the usual stuff).

Now I somewhat want to see the movie. I wasn’t sure how new media (Facebook/social networking) would translate to the big screen, but, with this student review proclaiming the movie as quite great, I’m interested. I want to see the exaggerated version of how Facebook was founded. It sounds interesting.

The Social Network

It’s also a testament to how social media has dominated our society enough that we’ve made a movie about it. Who would have thought six years ago, as the MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter era evolved, that a movie called The Social Network would draw this much interest?  I didn’t. I didn’t even want to see it until today.

What a world we live in.

Tablet computers: taking emerging media to new levels?

Blackberry Playbook

A year or so ago, the biggest fad in emerging media was the e-reader, like Amazon’s Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook, which allowed book readers to download a book to a relatively small tablet and read anywhere, as long as they had battery power. They were intensely popular and millions now have an e-reader of their own. I don’t quite buy into the product however, for two reasons. First, I’m in a phase of life where I mostly read textbooks and online articles for school. In many cases, there’s only an electronic copy, or I need the hard copy no matter what. Two, and more importantly, I prefer the hard copy. There’s something about print on paper and turning the page that’s just great.

However, fast forward another few months and Apple introduced their iPad. It’s about the same size as the e-readers, yet does so much more! Send and receive email, browse the web, read books, watch videos, all from one touch screen tool. Comes with WiFi access and available 3G. Pretty neat, huh? My interest in this product is building, but not to the point where I’d make a purchase, as I find computers more useful and I’m not sure I’d have the ability to make this product useful in my life.

Fast forward another few months. Blackberry counters and introduces the Playbook, just this week! Same basic idea as the iPad, but different operating system (Blackberry’s) and totally different marketing, this time towards professionals.

Apple iPad

These products, from a technology standpoint, are pretty darn cool. However, from a usefulness standpoint, I wonder why. We already have cell phones, PDAs and smartphones that were attached to constantly. We have laptops that we lug just about everywhere so we can stay connected. We even chain the two together so we have 3G internet connectivity on our laptops.

Why point does the tablet PC serve? It slots right in between the smartphone and laptop. It’s essentially a more powerful smartphone without voice communication, yet a much larger screen. Compared to the laptop, it can do less all ’round. A tablet PC definitely seems to lack in capability compared to the items surrounding it in the hierarchy.

I just don’t see the usefulness. Thoughts? Anyone else agree?

Relationships and new media.

Friends having coffee. From CNN.com.

I assume that most people reading my blog have some interest in new media and social media. You probably have a Facebook, maybe a Twitter, or even a blog of your own. However, how does these new media mediums influence your existing relationships? Not the people you stalk on Facebook, but the ones you go to coffee with, or even play a board game (remember those?!?) with, assuming you get out of the house and do either of those things, or anything with other people.

I stumbled upon an article on CNN today that was quite intriguing. It was written by two women who publish a blog called “Stuff Hipsters Hate.” They offer up a fun, yet quite true take on how some of the common new mediums may be severing our personal relationships.

They bring up several distinct areas where you see this going down the tubes, notably the lack of handwritten thank you cards, lack of a birthday wishes outside of Facebook, offering condolences on Facebook, and even breaking up with a significant other online.

To me, handing off these areas to the impersonal new media is disgusting. A ‘happy birthday’ face-to-face from a friend means so much more than the 120 I get on Facebook. Written thank you notes are the same way versus even an email.

While Facebook, email, and other new mediums offer loads of advantages, including getting your own personal opinions out there (and getting news out there) fast, and the ability to connect with old friends who you might not otherwise see or hear from, it does seem to disconnect us a bit. I’ll be the first to admit that, rather than pick up the phone to say hello to someone, I’m much more inclined to check their Facebook status and see what’s going on in their lives. As I sit here and think about that fact, I’m rather disappointed in myself–would my relationships be deeper, stronger, and more fulfilling had I called or visited more than looked at statuses? How would my life be different?

As I reflect on this, I think it’s time to get away from some of the social media and get out amongst the people. Pick up the phone and call an old friend. Go for coffee. Play Monopoly. GET AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER! (after you’re finished reading my blog, of course)

Blockbuster’s goose is cooked.

In probably the least shocking and most anticipated move of the last week, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing more debt than assets. As I wrote earlier, nobody’s terribly shocked when looking at their business over the last decade and the fade in DVD rentals (at least those for $4.50 a movie).

However, an article on CNET that I agree with notes that big cable companies *cough* Comcast *cough* should look out. Excuse me.

The article raved about Netflix’s business model. I’ve not experienced that, so I don’t know about that, but I do know people who rave about their service, so they’re doing something right.

However the article then proceeds to finally acknowledge the validity and existence of “cord cutting.” That’s the term for those of us who’ve cut completely or reduced our cable service. As of tonight, I’m one. Just reduced my cable bill by $35-$40.

Just texted my buddy to share the news and he shared that he’s ordering a big antenna to get over the air TV and completely cut Comcast out of his life. Saving $100 monthly.

My pastor heard what we’re both doing and is contemplating upgrading a computer to hook to his TV and cut or reduce his cable.

Many other friends don’t even have cable, or have the extreme basic cable (channels 1-12, please!).

The majority of these folks are in their 20s. We’re in the generation brought up as media consumers. We have smartphones; we have nice TVs and computers. Yet we find some prices absolutely outrageous. Like cable. Especially when we’re all too busy to watch TV.

Blockbuster may have been the first to fall in a long string of dominoes. Companies like Netflix and Hulu have it right. Charge a reasonable monthly fee for on demand programming or DVDs. If Comcast and other big cable companies don’t start pricing things reasonably, they’re going to get hit, hard.

Don’t charge me $123.57 per month for cable and internet. I’ve paid that for the last time. Same with Blockbuster..no $4.50 DVDs for me!

Sorry, you won’t be missed.

Learn how to dance on YouTube.

I’m on the volunteer staff of a performing arts ministry based in Lebanon, PA. It’s called Shining Light, and we’ve been all over the country (and Puerto Rico) sharing the message of Jesus. I’ve been part of the group for 11 seasons now, primarily as a sound technician, but I also coordinate the website and social media outlets.

When I started so long ago, social media didn’t even exist. All our performers learned all of the music and dance moves at our three hour weekly rehearsals. If you missed a rehearsal, you called a friend (on a landline, in most cases, as your cell phone was the size of a brick and could only be talked on for 20 minutes before dying) and they taught you the moves that you missed.

Fast forward 10 years.

Now we don’t even teach the choreography for certain songs in those same three hour weekly rehearsals. Instead, we just send the kids to YouTube. Our brilliant choreographers have taken a good bit of time to teach each song’s dance steps, step by step, so the performers just need to visit our YouTube site and watch the videos.

Some of these songs are intense, too, with 4-5 videos of choreography work.

Our members are watching them, too. We’ve been rehearsing now for four weeks and most videos have racked up 100-150 hits. For a group of 60 members, that’s impressive!

Another way you can tell: despite not practicing the moves, they have the songs down pat!

It’s quite impressive how web video has helped us teach 60 kids how to dance and one of the most effective uses for “Web 2.0” I’ve found.