Two consecutive Random Thursday posts? Inconceivable! Well, conceive it, buddy.
- Has the proliferation of smartphones and 3G-enabled iDevices made us a more patient society? I don’t know about you, but I seem to be more willing to endure checkout lines and bank teller queues now that I can check email, social media, or read a book from the comfort and safety of my phone.
- Although that didn’t work too well for me this morning as I pulled into my credit union to make a deposit, and opted to go inside rather than chance the lines in the drive-throughs. Turns out the computer system had a hitch in its giddyup and things were moving slower than a crawl. The tellers had given up on the system and were issuing hand-written receipts. Shades of 1965! Next thing I know, we’ll be carrying our savings passbooks in to have them officially updated.
- The credit union’s online banking website is still down, by the way. That’s just embarrassing.
- Mistaken Assumptions of Competence: Have you encountered the phenomenon whereby someone imbued you with skills you didn’t have, based on their perceptions of your profession? I was asked this week by one of my nonprofit clients to serve on an advisory panel, doing studies and making recommendations to their board. When I asked for clarification about what kinds of recommendations they wanted, their reply was “hardware and software alternatives for our operations.”
I seem to get that a lot. Because I work with websites, people tend to think I’m an expert in every computer-related area. People want me to do everything from setting up security measures to protect them from DDoS attacks (which is basically impossible, by the way), to coming to their houses and ridding their computers of malware (also impossible), to configuring their in-house mail servers (don’t get me started). Folks, I just do websites. Granted, that makes me a rock star in the online world (heh), but just because I can play cowbell doesn’t mean that I’ve also mastered the guitboard and banjo.
- You’ve heard that saying, “Good, fast, or cheap: pick two.” Here’s my social media variation: “Blogging, Facebook, or Twitter: pick two.” Cause I don’t think anyone can do all three well (and still have a semi-normal social and/or professional life).
- If it’s December 10th, then it must be the book of Revelation.
- That’s how I know for sure that the final countdown for the year has started. In my “Read the Bible Through in a Year” routine, the first chapter of Revelation always comes up on December 10th (there are 22 chapters in Revelation, with one chapter per day, and…well, you can do the math). And ending the year with the amazing 22nd chapter is just a great way to go out. You should try it sometime.
- And, in conclusion, here’s the face you should present when confronted with incontrovertible evidence of guilt.
Kinduva bizarre assertion that, by having our demand for immediate and continuous gratification met, the very devices that I believe are (quickly!) rendering us incapable of patience would, at the same time, make us (at least slightly) more tolerant of waiting in line. That’s a head-scratcher…
It hasn’t come up in awhile, but it used to be a very common misconception that, since I’m a “computer guy,” I must therefore be very good at math. No, actually, I have a computer so I don’t have to do math. English, Literature, and History were my academic strongsuits. However, my math wiz wife can’t handle fractions or use a tape measure to save her own life, yet fractions are a key mathematical concept that I latched onto quite easily.
I’ve grown weary and frustrated with Twitter because there’s rarely any conversation or feedback. You just blindly throw nuggets of info into the social wind, but almost never know if any of them stuck. Faceboook may be messy and noisy, but it’s also much more interactive.
Rob, I agree that there’s a paradox in the “patience” issue, but if you consider the primary reason we hate to wait in line — it’s taking up time we could be using to do something more important — then it’s logical that being able to accomplish meaningful tasks while waiting would mitigate the annoyance factor. To me, it’s the one practical and useful example of multitasking that rarely involves danger. (Although I have been rear-ended by a shopping cart whose operator was engrossed in phone gymnastics.)
I still find Twitter to be a useful professional tool (the key is in finding the right people to follow) but I’ve simply become unable to contribute to the usefulness of the data flow.
“email, social media, or read a book” … yes, great wayas to pass time, and improve yourself in the process. I prefer “Pocket Tanks” 🙂
I assume that’s a game. If I’m going to spend my time like that, I’ll fire up the handbells app so I can annoy everyone within earshot with my spastic version of “Silver Bells.”