Ageism, and Twitter
Okay, I'm not sure that's a word and I'm not looking it up right now.
Years ago, I worked at a Circle K store in Arizona (convenience store/gas station). I had worked there for awhile and when a new employee was hired, I was asked to help train her. As I recall, she had been a nurse. She was in her 40s or 50s, I think - I was around 28. As I was telling her how things were done there, I got the impressions that she was disregarding me - and that proved to be the case. Everything I told her kind of went in one ear and out the other. Although I told and showed her how things were done, she did them her way.
I've always assumed that it was because of the age difference - that she disregarded me because she was older and "knew better" than me how things were done, even though I had worked there long enough to know that. It bothered me and I didn't want to be the kind of person who would be so foolish.
Now (at 48) I find myself on Twitter. I'm being followed by a wide variety of people: some I followed first, but many are following me and I don't know why. And there is a small group that makes me wonder why they are following me - they are in web design. And they are teenagers. I'm being followed by melikbilge, a 14-year-old web designer. And 9miles Media, "a small, vibrant graphic/web design studio comprised of nine creative, talented youth from all over the world." (melikbilge works for 9miles.) And hayespotter, the founder of 9miles.
My first question is why are they following me? I'm definitely old enough to be the mother of any of them. What made them decide to follow me? Maybe one or more of them is on Geeks! or some other place they may have seen my nick.
Most of the people I follow on Twitter I follow for a reason. I usually find someone through the tweets of someone else I follow. I follow people who have life tips, web design tips, people who are crafty and people who are amusing. So I probably can learn from these young web designers. It still mystifies me why they are following me.
Years ago, I worked at a Circle K store in Arizona (convenience store/gas station). I had worked there for awhile and when a new employee was hired, I was asked to help train her. As I recall, she had been a nurse. She was in her 40s or 50s, I think - I was around 28. As I was telling her how things were done there, I got the impressions that she was disregarding me - and that proved to be the case. Everything I told her kind of went in one ear and out the other. Although I told and showed her how things were done, she did them her way.
I've always assumed that it was because of the age difference - that she disregarded me because she was older and "knew better" than me how things were done, even though I had worked there long enough to know that. It bothered me and I didn't want to be the kind of person who would be so foolish.
Now (at 48) I find myself on Twitter. I'm being followed by a wide variety of people: some I followed first, but many are following me and I don't know why. And there is a small group that makes me wonder why they are following me - they are in web design. And they are teenagers. I'm being followed by melikbilge, a 14-year-old web designer. And 9miles Media, "a small, vibrant graphic/web design studio comprised of nine creative, talented youth from all over the world." (melikbilge works for 9miles.) And hayespotter, the founder of 9miles.
My first question is why are they following me? I'm definitely old enough to be the mother of any of them. What made them decide to follow me? Maybe one or more of them is on Geeks! or some other place they may have seen my nick.
Most of the people I follow on Twitter I follow for a reason. I usually find someone through the tweets of someone else I follow. I follow people who have life tips, web design tips, people who are crafty and people who are amusing. So I probably can learn from these young web designers. It still mystifies me why they are following me.
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