My last post that lists my favorite restaurants reminds me of ten or more years ago when surveys or chain letters from my friends circled through my email. There were often questions of favorites, firsts, secrets and about other friends. It often made you choose between Coke and Pepsi. "When was the last time you...?" questions were popular. They tried to bring out answers to get to know your friends better. These email forwards usually occupied a small amount of time on a school night. It was something quick to read and fun to fill out. I would often get a friend of a friend's survey because they had replied to all of their friends. They would be a complete stranger, but I was compelled to read ALL of their answers.
I'm sure the chain surveys are not as popular now, but I did find a few websites with these questions, encouraging to fill out. Here's an example:
Nicknames: Jen, Jennie, Bean, Beanery
Croutons or Bacon Bits: Croutons
Favorite Salad Dressing: Russian
Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Nope
Favorite Food: See my Favorite Foods posts
Pets: Fish
Favorite number: 3
Favorite thing to do on a weekend: go out to eat
If you could dye your hair, what color would it be: purple, deep red or black
Favorite brand of gum: Juicy Fruit
What is your favorite quote: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
What’s on your walls in your room: maps and trees
Which one, Coke or Pepsi: Coke
Which kind of milk is your favorite: Almond
Besides email, there was instant messenger, old school blogging sites and teen network sites. We had social insecurities of talking on the phone even back then, and the IM was like a text today. It created a connection with your friends in a whole new way. As a 13 year old, I'd say goodbye to a friend at school and ask them to go on AIM that night to talk. Old school blogging sites are all of the basics from today's blogs and the least changed over the years. HTML first allowed users to post their topics on the Web. Others could comment on the post and interact with the author. The teen networking sites usually kept you somewhat anonymous, and you were free to converse with others your age based on a similar topic. Forums were a big hit and allowed you to gravitate towards music, art, computers, or relationships. This was not an ideal way to meet people, but this was the beginning of something big. Online networking was fun and addicting.
Today, we have complex cell phones and many popular social media sites for individuals (and businesses). I can keep myself entertained if I'm waiting somewhere by myself by looking at the feed on my phone. There is less communication and more "stalking." Your profile page can tell others all of your pertinent information as a human being: your gender, age, sexual orientation, your job, your location, whom you are dating, your likes and status updates. Today, laggards think all of this information is way too much to give away and may stress over security.
Information is right here at our finger tips. I would spend hours writing down lyrics to songs that I'd tape from the radio. Now they are easily available online. When I listen to old school songs now, I find out what I was really singing along to when I was a preteen. I didn't know about half the stuff I was saying! Today, it is so easy to find things to do. Online reviews help in decision making for travel, restaurants and attractions. Shopping became easier as well with retail websites. It was the next step after QVC and infomercials.
I'd like to go back in time and search the internet when it was a few years old. What kind of search results would come up if I typed in facebook, wikipedia, ebay, twitter, youtube, starbucks, directions, blogs or news? Some things would not exist yet and some things would be interesting to see what their sites looked like and what they could do.
It's amazing how different you can view the world with technology. Answers to some of life's pondering questions can be found out in an instant. I feel that the searches I do can become excessive, and I drown myself in too much information, some useless. At times, I'd like to become one of the Slowskys, the awkward turtles in today's society. I'd like to shut out technology for a day to start. Turn off the TV, computers and phone and just take in life as it used to be. National Unplug Day is coming up in March, so I'll try that out with some of the rest of the world.
I'm sure the chain surveys are not as popular now, but I did find a few websites with these questions, encouraging to fill out. Here's an example:
Nicknames: Jen, Jennie, Bean, Beanery
Croutons or Bacon Bits: Croutons
Favorite Salad Dressing: Russian
Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Nope
Favorite Food: See my Favorite Foods posts
Pets: Fish
Favorite number: 3
Favorite thing to do on a weekend: go out to eat
If you could dye your hair, what color would it be: purple, deep red or black
Favorite brand of gum: Juicy Fruit
What is your favorite quote: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
What’s on your walls in your room: maps and trees
Which one, Coke or Pepsi: Coke
Which kind of milk is your favorite: Almond
Besides email, there was instant messenger, old school blogging sites and teen network sites. We had social insecurities of talking on the phone even back then, and the IM was like a text today. It created a connection with your friends in a whole new way. As a 13 year old, I'd say goodbye to a friend at school and ask them to go on AIM that night to talk. Old school blogging sites are all of the basics from today's blogs and the least changed over the years. HTML first allowed users to post their topics on the Web. Others could comment on the post and interact with the author. The teen networking sites usually kept you somewhat anonymous, and you were free to converse with others your age based on a similar topic. Forums were a big hit and allowed you to gravitate towards music, art, computers, or relationships. This was not an ideal way to meet people, but this was the beginning of something big. Online networking was fun and addicting.
Today, we have complex cell phones and many popular social media sites for individuals (and businesses). I can keep myself entertained if I'm waiting somewhere by myself by looking at the feed on my phone. There is less communication and more "stalking." Your profile page can tell others all of your pertinent information as a human being: your gender, age, sexual orientation, your job, your location, whom you are dating, your likes and status updates. Today, laggards think all of this information is way too much to give away and may stress over security.
Information is right here at our finger tips. I would spend hours writing down lyrics to songs that I'd tape from the radio. Now they are easily available online. When I listen to old school songs now, I find out what I was really singing along to when I was a preteen. I didn't know about half the stuff I was saying! Today, it is so easy to find things to do. Online reviews help in decision making for travel, restaurants and attractions. Shopping became easier as well with retail websites. It was the next step after QVC and infomercials.
I'd like to go back in time and search the internet when it was a few years old. What kind of search results would come up if I typed in facebook, wikipedia, ebay, twitter, youtube, starbucks, directions, blogs or news? Some things would not exist yet and some things would be interesting to see what their sites looked like and what they could do.
It's amazing how different you can view the world with technology. Answers to some of life's pondering questions can be found out in an instant. I feel that the searches I do can become excessive, and I drown myself in too much information, some useless. At times, I'd like to become one of the Slowskys, the awkward turtles in today's society. I'd like to shut out technology for a day to start. Turn off the TV, computers and phone and just take in life as it used to be. National Unplug Day is coming up in March, so I'll try that out with some of the rest of the world.
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