Heather Mousa

I spent the last hour trying to find my blog subscribers. So much for that hour! A few months ago, before I was upgraded to the newer version of WordPress, such a task required, only a few minutes¹.

Every time Facebook decides to put on a new outfit, and reshuffles all ‘my’ pages, I get several invitations to join groups that are mainly saying: I hate the new Facebook. Poof, the next day I get lost – again… “Where did ‘they’ put ‘my’ birthday reminders?!” I smile sadly with every new status change expressing other frustrations.

Well, yes… I know. Don’t we all hate to be out of our comfort zones? (Let me exclude here people who don’t have ones). Of course, we can simply choose to stay in there, safe and sound. A few setbacks to consider though: You will find yourself calling your colleagues several times a day, saying: “Would you resend that file for Office 97-2003, please?” You will also find your – beloved – PC reminding you, every time you sign in MSN, that there is a newer version. Of course, you can ignore that (like I do), but soon, ‘it’ will decide, that it is time ‘you’ change. It will simply not run your MSN, and ‘make you’ install the newer version. There is also the high probability of alerts jumping on your screen: You need the newer version of (a program you didn’t know you had) to run this application… Click here to install!  There is always the option to stick to what you know, but dare I say, sooner or later, you will have to upgrade. Like Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Basically, either you upgrade or you…… fade.

Sometimes it is the amounts of ‘newer versions’ that we need to soak in. Ten years ago, cell phones had limited “power”, web applications were just taking off, and we were still fascinated by the concept of e-mails and chat. We used 3 1/2 inch floppy disks to back up our files. Virtual social networks did not exist, nor did live collaboration, video conferences, or content sharing. Everything was new, and we were Alice in Wonderland, talking with the cat and trying all the mushrooms. Now, we are Alice being moved from one wonderland to another larger wonderland on a daily basis!

Before you know it, you will have 689 Facebook friends (600 of them you don’t know)! And your mother will ask you about Jane. You will be confused, but she would clarify: “Jane leaves lots of comments on your wall” (!) Then the computer guy will tell you to click on “Remote Desktop Connection”, suddenly, you will find yourself sitting in front of your PC, watching your mouse move on its own. Your mobile will have internet access, and coworkers will be offended if you said: “I haven’t checked my e-mail (in last 22 minutes)”. You will come home from your trip, download your 5,787 pictures to your one digital photo frame, and watch it as it runs a non-stop slide show. Viola, Wonderland!

Nowadays, it seems justified to assume advanced computer literacy among, us, web-users, on one hand. Websites are offering advanced comprehensive tools for everyone, to the extent where they are becoming less user-friendly. Facebook, with all these upgrades, is one of the websites lately pointed out to be “confusing mom” as it drifts away from being friendly². On the other hand, we, web-users, expect advanced, comprehensive, timely, (almost) perfect tools from websites. Personally, I do not tolerate crashes. It is seriously unacceptable for News alerts to be late. All my files are on the ‘cloud’. I am connected 24/7 (unless I am sleeping or dancing!). And I love it how Twitter is beating News agencies, publishing feeds about major events all around the world, such as the New York Plane Crash in January³.

Maybe the transitions we need to make are taking the fast lane or being overwhelming… But I admit, I love it. Once I am passed figuring out how to work my iPhone, or how to write on my wall, it gets fun (and addictive). Let’s hope we keep talking to each other though… sometime soon we won’t be needing to speak!

Oh right, you can subscribe to my blog to receive newest post fresh out of the oven to your e-mail. Write your e-mail in the box on the left column.

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¹ Thanks you Hanna, for all the technical support .

² http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/06/the-growing-complexity-of-facebook-is-confusing-your-mom/

³ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/twitter/4269765/New-York-plane-crash-Twitter-breaks-the-news-again.html

~ Heather ~