by Jackie Cooper
A few weeks ago my friend Bobbie Eakes sent me an e-mail saying she wanted to be my friend on “Facebook.” I didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about, but because I like Bobbie I said yes (or I clicked on the “yes”). This brought up a screen saying I needed to join “Facebook” in order to be Bobbie’s friend. ISigning up was free and relatively simple, so I did what was required. Lo and behold, I got my own page to which I added a picture and some identifying data.
I still didn’t know what I was doing, but soon I began to receive invitations to be friends with people. Some of these people I knew and some of them I did not know. But being a friendly sort of person, I said yes to them all. Who doesn’t want to be friends?
Since that time I have received invitations to join groups – I said yes. I have had people write on my wall. (It took me a while to figure out what my wall was.) I have even received gifts, I think. Best of all is the way people update their “happenings” and let me know what they are doing.
Since I joined “Facebook” I have also received an invitation to join “Linkedin.” I joined it too. Why not? I am trying to get with this new age of web life. For so long I knew how to send e-mail and that was it. Now I at least know how to Google.
I still haven’t gotten into the texting thing and my cellphone is a relic from the days of yore. It doesn’t do anything but ring and let me talk. I can’t get my e-mail off it and I can’t sign on to the web. My son has a phone that does everything but cook supper.
I am trying to stay up to date but I am fast falling behind. Technology is on a roll, and if you aren’t on board then just get out of the way. It seems that colleges are going to start requiring everyone to have a cell phone and possibly even a laptop. I have heard discussions that in a few years we won’t have newspapers or even books.
If you don’t like those ideas, well, too bad, because the new stuff is virtually going to be stuffed down our throats. One thing impending is the disappearance of check writing, which I am clinging to like the last leaves of summer. I like writing out the payments for my bills and then checking them off as the checks clear. I don’t like sending payments via the computer. That's so impersonal.
It is too late in the game to do an about face, or more particularly an about facebook. We have to get with the program. That is why I am a Facebook member. I am making progress one face at a time.
Jackie K. Cooper was born in South Carolina and now lives in Georgia. He is the married father of two sons and the proud grandparent of a boy and a girl.
He is familiar to people living in the middle Georgia area as the "entertainment man" since his entertainment reviews run in newspapers and are shown on television there. His short stories have also been used as commentary on Georgia Public Radio.
Cooper has lived an exceptionally interesting life. Portions of it were contained in his first book JOURNEY OF A GENTLE SOUTHERN MAN. Now the journey continues in his second book titled CHANCES AND CHOICES.
Write Jackie Cooper at this e-mail address
and be sure to visit his excellent web site: jackiekcooper.com.
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Jackie White
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Finding Your Face
In Praise of Red-Headed Girls
Fear Itself
Men and Their Automobiles
It's All About Me!
Moments of Memories
Walking Tall
Never Too Old To Hurt
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