NETWORKING NOTES

Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: net·work·ing Function: noun Date: 1967

1 : the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically : the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business
2 : the establishment or use of a computer network

Social networking has traditionally been done before technology was invented to speed the process.  As a child, I know it, retrospectively, as 'visiting' to places I needed to walk or talking on the telephone.  Passing notes in class was another, if the teacher didn't catch you and embarrass you by reading the note to the class..  Later, much later, since I am now what I call a senior-senior, there are so many ways to network it makes me want to turn the clock back to when life was simple however short-lived.that desire.   First came 'chat' on the computer, then cheap phones like SKYPE, easy to do fax on the computer or separate units, mobile phones to cell, then text was added, web pages, blogs, My Space, Facebook, and then the dams burst.   There are so many ways to stay in touch with more people than you ever knew had touched your life or cared what has happened to you..  In fact, it is quite difficult to hide, for those trying to do so.  

Google will track everyone down.  We apparently appear on the marketing networks as they infiltrate our computers with those little programs they drop on us to spy.at what we view, what we buy, and I can only guess at what they see through the portholes of my computer.  It makes the saying "My life is an open book" a truism.  .

Those of us who have always thought of ourselves as social, may be having second thoughts.  I, for one, find myself feeling somewhat anti-social at some of the intrusions.. You may think I am complaining about the contacts by my 'friends'.  Not at all. On Facebook I can choose them to be friends, leave chat rooms when people come on for whom I care little, screen my phone calls, (should I choose, aided by caller ID), or even yank phones from their connections though that is time consuming since I have 9 phones (extensions or remote included) scattered around the house and rarely turn on my cell (#10) which I prefer more for emergencies or calls of my own making.and never turn on at home.

What then and I whining about, you might ask. It is the learning curve that only those under 10 years of age can master quickly; who find these things intuitive and don't spend hours as I do trying to understand  manuals.  The second reason is that everyone I know seems to have more expendable time than I do.  I really find that I am not interested in knowing that 30 seconds ago a friend was planning to cook their supper.  I realize that is small of me but, at my age, I think I have limited brain storage space for trivia and fear crowding out the stuff I really wish to remember.  The only good thing about all this is that what I have written is the worst of my current problems.  Despite fearing the world is trying to use up the rest of my life, I've really got it good.  However, having it good does not mean that there is a paucity of things to complain about...I'm told to keep my brain active.  This works.