The Case For Older Generations Using Social Media

I have have come to the conclusion that we need to convince our older friends and family to use social media.

Toward the end of The Amazing Spiderman Peter was listening to a voicemail from his uncle who had passed away. That reminded me of a friend of mine who’s sister had passed away. I helped my friend preserve some voicemails from her sister so she could listen to them and remember her.

In both of these cases there was something tangible left behind to keep their memory alive.

Taking this a bit further, if you look back at all of the interactions I have through social media you can probably get a decent idea of my personality. Plus it is all recorded for perpetuity.

Did you know, there are ways to post to social media following your death?

Taking this even further, ignoring the Big Brother concern of the NSA recording everything, a profile of everything we do electronically is being created from things like cell phone calls, texts, emails, and social media. Using this information, someone could get an even better idea of who I am and also hear what my voice sounds like.

Taking it one last step. More and more people’s lives are being recorded in YouTube, social media, phone calls, etc. If enough data is collected computer programs could data-mine that information and create an electronic version of you which approximates you in look, voice, Google Goggles and interaction. Ignoring the potential negative concerns this is almost like living past your physical death and allowing your descendants to see what you are like.

What if you had a YouTube Clip of your ancestors a 100 years ago?

Coming back from our sci-fi ride, if older generations  start using social media we could show younger generations what they were like. For instance, my mom just started using Facebook. Now my niece, who was born less than a year ago, will be able to show her children what her grandmother was like.

Don’t force anyone to begin using the internet or social media but if you think it is important give them a good reason to. They have to want to use it.