Social Media Discussions with Strangers.
Don't look so shocked. I like talking to strangers about social media.
For as far as I can remember, my friends have given me a hard time for talking to strangers.
“There’s nothing wrong with making friends,” I would say.
Some things never change.
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While at the Albany airport, I sat down at a table in the air-conditioned area near my gate (#temp control fail) and a man with a bow tie asks me if I will be boarding the flight to DC.
After finding out that I work with computers (and that I’m in my 20′s), he immediately asks me a few things about “my generation,” (which reminds me of the millennials 60 minutes feature) namely, why we (a) don’t read books anymore (b) what is twitter and (c) why we don’t respect the right to privacy.
I took a deep breath and did my best to not only respond to the concerns of this southern attorney over the age of 60, but also to represent “my generation,” well (I saw it as my duty to be an ambassador).
While explaining the history of the interwebs as well as the rise of social media, he seemed to be quite concerned over the “sharing” aspect on the internet.
“Why would anyone do that?” he asked me. I explained the collaborative nature of social media, and he was stunned that anyone would give up their right to “privacy” and post information on the internet (note: oops. I’m sharing now.)
I explained privacy settings and the ability to “hide” information, as well as how he would be able to interact and keep in touch with his kids. Fail.
Not willing to give up, I tried to steer this discussion in a new direction – and somehow, in a completely organic way, we ended up at everyone’s favorite online dating hotspot: match.com.
He proceeded to tell me that he met his girlfriend on Match and now they’re living together, but that it wasn’t easy- he explained that a high percentage of people he met posted very outdated pictures.. and he said (which was funny) “When I meet you in person, I’m going to remember the photo you showed me. What are they thinking, anyway?”
In summary, he made it clear to me that he doesn’t understand the “point” of social media/web 2.0, but yet experienced it in a very real way – by using match.com to meet his current girlfriend.
Best closing line: “You’re too young to know this, but the difference between 45 and 50 can be quite dramatic. A lot can happen in 5 years.”
Online dating words of wisdom from a cautious random attorney.
