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Twitter Christmas shopping
On “black Friday,” I didn’t stand in line at 4 in the morning for a $99 Blue Ray player, nor did I run through Walmart aisles on my way to a $9 toaster.
But I did venture out in search of a new computer for the family – preferably one that doesn’t spontaneously shut itself off in the middle of a writing project.
While in the “big box” venues of high dollar electronic consumerism, I noticed that the sales clerks seemed very connected to their jobs – literally. Various cellular communication technologies seemed to be giving the sales team instant access to management, the stock room, the affiliated store across town, and even to customers who were considering coming out to the store.
The New York Times noticed all the technology and social-media interaction going on:
Once upon a time, people mailed their holiday wishes to the North Pole and hoped for a reply on Christmas Day. Nowadays they are sending their wishes into cyberspace and are apt to get a reply in minutes.
America’s first Twitter Christmas got under way in earnest on Friday. Across the land, retailers and their customers used the social networking site to talk to one another about bargains, problems, purchases and shopping strategies.
In Bloomington, Minn., Mall of America used its Twitter page to tell consumers two of its parking areas were at capacity and that their best bet was to park near Ikea. Twitter permits public communication via short, to-the-point messages. Many people use it to send mundane updates to their friends, but increasingly, the nation’s retailers see it as a business tool.
Did anyone else notice this while out shopping?
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My granddaughter wanted to put me on facebook, but I declined the offer. I can’t imagine what I would put on it.
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My Dad joined facebook a couple of weeks ago (he’s 83). He called me to ask a question about the setup, and in the course of our conversation I found out he was getting hits from scores of people all wanting to be friends. I asked him if he knew them all, he has a huge family and vast aquaintence and he did know them…to varying degrees. So I sort of explained fb and how the friends conversations are open to other friends. After awhile he laughed and exclaimed–’Oh mercy! I only joined because I wanted to get updates from a ministry! This is a job.’
When I joined fb one of my sons sent me the message: “Mom! Glad you made it onto facebook; welcome to the best way to waste time this century!” Humpf. He hasn’t read WMB.
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Did anyone else notice this while out shopping?
No, but then I haven’t been out shopping.
“This is a job.”
Chas, I’m presently logged in to one of my personal blogs, to one of my Twitter accounts, and to my Facebook account.
“I can’t imagine what I would put on it” indeed!!
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No, I didn’t notice this when I was out shopping, but then it probably wouldn’t be as useful in the grocery store. I did see the usual use of electronics in Wal-Mart – people talking on their cell phones, usually men asking (presumably their wives) what to buy. Wal-Mart was completely out of creamed corn on Thanksgiving Eve, and this one man was standing there asking his wife what to do. (For myself, I solved the problem by going to a smaller grocery store near my house. And then discovered when I got home that I already had creamed corn in the cupboard, leftover from last Thanksgiving probably.)
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Pauline has it right about men and cell phones. My cell phone use consists almost entirely of:
“I just got out and will be home soon.”
“Where are you?”
“What did you say you wanted?”
“What do I do now?”
That’s about it.
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My hubby and older boys are on the phone a lot. Well, two of the older boys, one is not so much. My cell phone (hubby’s retired phone from six years ago, resides in my purse, turned off, awaiting an emergency. I tried turning it on once but apparently the ringer is turned off. Oh well. Guess people will have to call me when I am not off doing something else.
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My cell phone is also for emergencies, Chas, usually “um, I turned right at such and such a street and I’ve driven five miles, and I still don’t see the street. What do I do now?” or “I got behind an accident, and I think I’ll be a half hour late” or even my first cell phone 9-1-1 call: “I just got hit, and the driver fled.”
Normally the cell phone is in my purse, turned off, and it doesn’t have voice mail. Thus I don’t give out the phone number unless I call someone from it when I’m away from home and I get their voice mail. If anyone tries to reach me other than a time that I’ve told them “my phone will be on for the next two hours,” they won’t reach me that way.
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I can’t understand having a phone available and not having it on, unless it’s off for a specific reason (in a meeting, restaurant, etc.)
A couple of years ago, my wife’s sisters were driving to Myrtle Beach. One of them had a cell phone, but it was turned off. They stopped at a restaurant for lunch and left. Phone still off.
My wife received a phone call from the sister’s husband. She had left her purse at the restaurant. So, since there was no way to contact her, Elvera just waited. Then, when they arrived, they drove an hour and a half back to the restaurant to retrieve the purse. Three hours because she didn’t turn her cell phone on.
My cell phone is always on unless it’s off for a reason.
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Chas, leaving the cell phone on runs down the battery. Since I don’t have voice mail, people don’t have that phone number and won’t call me. Since I work from my home, I don’t spend long hours away from home when people might need to reach me (and I do have voice mail at home). When I do turn on the phone, I often forget to turn it off, and discover three days later that it has been on for three days, has received no phone calls, but has a half-dead battery. So it’s easier just to leave it off unless I need to use it or unless I’m traveling out of town (I do leave it on then).
Having a cell phone at all is a “compromise” for me, something I’ve only done in the last few years, and I only got one when I could get it prepaid and pay only about eight dollars a month for it. Leaving it on all the time, giving people the phone number, and maybe getting the number included in my church directory would end up meaning people would call me on it, and pretty soon I’d be paying a lot more a month for it. Since I have unlimited long distance on my home phone, I’d rather have my cell phone for its intended purpose–emergencies and situations “close” to emergencies (the sorts of times when one used to use a pay phone). If leaving it on didn’t run down the battery (and didn’t risk having it ring during church or while I’m driving), I’d leave it on. But since it runs down the battery and people don’t have the number anyway, I leave it off unless I need to use it.
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Cheryl, I used to leave my cell phone off for similar reasons. If I were single I probably still would. But when you have a husband and kids, they want to be able to call you anytime anywhere. (My husband was very upset the time that his father had been fatally injured in a car accident and he couldn’t contact me right away. Usually the need is less urgent, but he feels as a matter of principle that he should be able to call me if he thinks it is important.)
I’m on my third cell phone in ten years, and each one has longer battery life than the previous one. The first one seemed to need charging every night, and the next one did also, though that was mostly because I work in a concrete “bunker” where the cell phone had trouble making contact with a tower and seemed to use up a lot of power just trying to (when I didn’t go to work the battery didn’t run down).
The phone I have now (because the previous one quit working) seems to go forever without charging. Actually it’s probably only a couple weeks, but that seems like forever in comparison to how it used to be. One thing we learned when my husband’s previous phone wasn’t holding a charge was that it’s actually better to let them run down sometimes. Maybe it depends on the manufacturer, but that one by Motorola was made so that it needed to drain sometimes in order to fully charge.
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Pauline, yes, I usually let it run down completely before I charge it; if I see it getting low, I’ll leave it on when I’m not going anywhere just to let it run down. I’m not sure how many days it holds a charge (less than a week, I’m sure). But honestly, in the days before cell phones people weren’t available 24/7, and I don’t see it as “essential” now, though I’d certainly be willing if I were married and my husband wished that. But this idea of having to have technology available at all times is one I try to resist. Checking my e-mail frequently is my biggest “weakness” there. I really don’t want to be driving down the street and have my phone ring; that’s the time for driving. And it really bothers me if I’m having lunch with a friend and her cell phone rings three times during a meal. Cell phones keep us from being present where we actually are, talking to the people we’re actually with, and that’s one reason I resist them.
It works the other way too–if I call a friend on his or her cell phone, I don’t know what’s going on at the other end and what I might be interrupting. I’d rather call someone at home and know that she’s home and that her answering the phone says that she (probably) has at least a couple minutes she can talk and give me her attention without taking attention away from someone else or some task like driving.
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#110 “if I call a friend on his or her cell phone, I don’t know what’s going on at the other end and what I might be interrupting”
I feel that way even about calling someone at home. I’ve always disliked telephones. One thing I like about email is that the other person can choose when to read my email and when to answer it, and the same at my end. If we had a cell phone plan that allowed unlimited texting I’d much prefer that instead of voice calls – but we went with the lowest-priced family plan available, and it charges ten cents per text message (sent or received).
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We don’t even have a land line anymore at home, just cell phones, so of course we both have voice mail on our phones. Mine is always on unless I’m in a meeting, at church, or deliberately want to be out of contact for a short time. I do like email because the person can read and respond at their convenience. And although I just started facebook, I find it’s convenient for the same reason, and there are ways of having private chats there too.
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