Technology

I have to say that my nieces and nephews (primarily my nieces) have always been good at introducing me to new forms of technology that make me feel young and hip (OK, does using the word hip just negate that last statement?).

First, there was AIM (AOL Instant Messenger for those of you who do not know). I have a screen name. I message with my nieces. Nowadays, this tends to be the youngest one who has just been given permission to get a screen name. It is kind of fun...I've learned the language...LOL, IDK, my BFF, Jill? (Like the commercial-I actually don't know any Jill). You get the idea.

Next came texting. Again, same language. I actually am not a fan of this one, however, because of the cost. It is $.15 per text with my plan. I could add messaging to my plan, but I don't get enough of those to justify it. I do, however, have a cool little phone with a qwerty keyboard-VERY handy...


After texting came Facebook. I do enjoy being able to get a hold of nieces and nephews via this medium. They actually respond quicker than regular email. I actually get to add fun things to that one like my Goodreads list! Sometimes, I am not sure the college aged nieces are too keen on the fact that I can see all of the pictures of what they are up to, but they do know that if it's not something that will hurt them, I keep it to myself-kind of the aunty code of silence.

I discovered my next new toy out in cyberspace a couple of days ago. A little program called Skype. It is a phone/video conferencing tool over the internet. My niece, Maggie, and I use it to video conference with each other. The one thing I could do away with is the little box in the corner that shows me. I just don't need to see how bad I look on camera! I am glad that thus far, it has not turned into the wave of the future-it would give whole new meaning to crank calls!