Mark and the Social Media
by Mark Lyons
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
SammySocks Etc. Blog - Comments and Observations from Someone Who Is a Retired Educator and the Father of Sammy of SammySocks Etc. Visit us at www.sammysocksetc.com.
“How do they do it?” mutters Mark as he hunches over a small cell phone screen. “I’ve got to get smaller thumbs. I wonder if Medicare pays for thumb reduction surgery. I think it’s now the second most requested procedure next to that, you know, looking younger one.”
Tap, tap, tap.
“Rats!”, yells Mark. “Blasted autocorrect! It’s not greasy socks! It’s great socks!”
Tap, tap, tap.
“Okay, got it,” sighs Mark. “Two hundred eighty characters and it only took me 45 minutes to type and send. I’m really tired.”
Mark rubs his eyes and continues.
“Now on to Instagram,” whispers Mark. “Wow, keeping up with all this social media takes most of your morning. And then if anyone responds, you have to send more posts, tweets, hashtags, invites, mentions, blogs, chats, tags, comments, DMs, emojis, IMs, likes, selfies, memes, pins, snaps, and retweets.”
Mark spends a bit more time typing on his phone.
“I’ve got to find a good picture of me, or should I take a current picture?” wonders Mark. “Aaaahhh! Just when I got the email figured out, they come out with all of this other stuff. Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, Zoom, those tin cans connected with string!”
Tap, tap, tap.
“I remember my first phone,” reminisces Mark. “I think I was the last person in the United States to get a cell phone. It was a flip phone. The screen was the size of my thumbnail. I had to use one of those magnifying sheets like you get when you join to AARP just to see the screen. The kids at school would always make fun of my phone. They would ask, “Is that your cell phone, Mr. Lyons?” And I would say, “Yes, yes it is!”.” They would say, “But it’s so old! They don’t pay your very much do they.”.”
Tap, tap, tap.
“Nobody talks to each other anymore,” muses Mark. “People can be in the same room and they spend all their time texting each other. I do that with my wife, Sally. And sometimes in all CAPS. Apparently, that’s not a good thing?”
Tap, tap, tap.
“And what do you do when you have a phone call right in the middle of a tweet or a post or a zoom meeting?” asks Mark. “What’s the protocol? And can you use the same Twitter tweet for an Instagram post or a Tik Tok video? I’m thinking you need an app that posts, tweets, or whatever the same post, tweet or whatever to all of the social media places at the same time. That would be a time saver.”
Tap, tap, tap.
“Phew! Done!” says Mark. “It’s time for me to get ready for my Zoom call. Do you put on pants or take them off for this? Sally?”
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