I suppose it’s bad form, and probably even poorer grammar, to begin a column with, “…uh…well…”
Or I could begin by confessing that I probably am what a colleague characterized me to be: “An analog man in a digital world,” but I’m not entirely certain that I know what that means. I suspect it alludes to the fact that I am somewhat anachronistic, but that sounds a bit like saying that something is a “little prehistoric,” which makes no sense at all; thus, I’m reduced to beginning this column with..
…uh…well…
It appears that I’m being dragged, kicking and screaming, into a few years ago; specifically, into the world of “social media.” I think you all have pretty much gotten the drift by now that we at “Information & Assistance” are in the business of providing “help;” interestingly, “help” is of remarkably little help if you’ve never heard of it or don’t know where to find it – That isn’t news.
Now it seems that a number of people who might reasonably partake of “help,” if they’d ever heard of it or knew where to find it, are “finding” their information on social media; specifically, in this instance, “Facebook.” To that end (or means), “Information & Assistance” has decided to join 500+ million of our closest friends and are developing (if that’s what one does when one…”Facebooks”) a Facebook page (I think).
Good for us.
Then I was informed that, in order to see said “page” and interact with the folks who might be looking at it and asking questions, etc (which is, after all, the whole point), I had to have a Facebook “profile.”
Oh-oh.
…uh…well…OK.
So, now I have one, and to date, I’m containing my enthusiasm. There is next-to-no information on there, because I spend way too much time on the road to “update my status” or put things on walls or whatever, or even to respond to “friend requests,” so please don’t be offended if I don’t “friend” you; alas, I appear to have achieved the zenith of my technological capacity with the advent of e-mail, so that will remain the best way to get to me directly: harvemb@dshs.wa.gov . I will check said Facebook page from time to occasional time for messages or whatnot, but don’t hold your breath waiting for me to tell you what I did on my summer vacation; besides, major portions of it are generally classified.
And I do not “tweet” (at least, he said, sighing, not yet).
So, the point of all of this is that we have a Facebook page! – “Olympic Area Agency on Aging-Information & Assistance!” Just search for it when you are in Facebook. There are links to things that genuinely help, and there will be more; in fact, if you have ideas for links (or other stuff) that would actually help real human beings, let’s hear them. Please feel free to leave comments, start discussions and “like” it, which will keep you updated with our latest posts.
You’ll also find a link to my “blog,” which, I’m told, is a place in cyberspace to archive these PENINSULA DAILY NEWS columns from the first of this year. You can get to this blog-thing by going to http://markharveyshelpline.blogspot.com/ and, I’m told, you can also leave comments and questions and Lord-only-knows whatever else there, too, so I’ll check that on a regular basis, too.
I remember when one could “compute” on an abacus, and I confess that I found rotary phones seductive in their simplicity, but here we are and here I am, being a little prehistoric.
Look, the medium isn’t the message; the message is that there’s a lot of help and information out there for people who need it and want it, and many of us are quite capable of using that information to conduct our lives, and aid-and-abet the lives of those we care about, IF we can find it. It should not be our job to hide information, or make it seem so “secret” or “sophisticated” or abstract that, somehow, regular human beings cannot – or should not – have access to it. It should be our job to make all of it as public and accessible as we possibly can, in order to rationalize calling ourselves “Information & Assistance.”
So, into the Facebook and blog frays we go.
You will still have questions, because you’re smart. You will still need to tell the story of what’s happening to you or yours to a living person, so we can help you understand what you need to care about – And what you don’t. That won’t change, and there will remain decent human beings at any of the numbers at the end of this column who will listen to you, and not make you feel like an idiot.
But if “Facebooks” and “Blogs” and whatever-else are ways to give people what we all have a right to have – Information! – Then, bring it on; so: “Olympic Area Agency on Aging-Information & Assistance.”
And, Yes, I do remember helping my grandmother put ice INto the “icebox,” but that’s only a little prehistoric.
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