Unlike my granddaughters who are avid users, I have strongly resisted using TWITTER, SKYPE, or FACEBOOK. My feeble excuse centres around the fact that to date I have not shown the slightest interest, or the need, to learn how to use these devices. Much to my surprise it has suddenly occurred to me I have become a communications resistor like Sammy McMath, the Scottish neighbour who rejected the telephone. Is it possible that my granddaughters view me as an obstinate old stick-in-the mud? Behind my back of course!
If long-dead generations could return to our modern world, they would be perplexed to see crowds of people strolling down the street of our urban centres, staring intently at a small rectangular object in their hands. They would find it impossible to believe that these pedestrians are sending and receiving written messages, talking on a phone, watching the news, researching a topic, or watching a movie. Like the young boy, before he looked into the storefront window in Cornwall Ontario, reports of their impossible-to-believe activities would be viewed as the ravings of a madman.
As a nine-year-old in 1945, no one but my comic book hero, Superman, could have dreamed up the communications revolution that has taken place in my lifetime. But after living through it, not only have I enjoyed it, but with minor obstinate exceptions, I have become a communications junkie!
