You're Missing Out, Grandma... The Great Debate

Unlike previous entries, I dedicate this particular post to my dear grandmother. This may seem strange, as my posts before today rely heavily upon academic sources, but it is after a long and somewhat tiring debate that I blog to reflect on the interesting events that have just unfolded around my family dinner table. The very behaviour I am engaging in now would horrify and confuse poor Grannie.

I believe that what I have just witnessed is a 69-year-old woman in complete ‘moral panic’ mode, a term coined by Stanley Cohen (1972) that I learnt about in my first semester at university. Goode & Ben Yehuda explain a moral panic to be, "...characterised by the feeling... that evildoers pose a threat to society ... and therefore 'something should be done' about them and their behaviour." I believe it is extremely necessary for me to explain that I am in now way suggesting my grandmother is unintelligent, quite the opposite. The debate in which my family, inclusive of two educated in psychology, a senior school drama and history teacher, a student in her final year of an early childhood education degree, a mechanical engineer, and myself – a second year student interested in the ways communication (and thus life) is changing, just took part in all started when one of my sisters spoke the three magic words: “Just Google it”. As innocent as the suggestion seemed, I opened a can of worms by voicing my observation of her dependence on ‘Google logic’, a term which Bruns (2008) explains as a way of “…measuring importance and relevance of information by tracing patterns in large-scale user behaviours.”

In the intriguing dispute that ensued, Grannie voiced her opinion that ‘technology savvy’ people possess an increasing air of superiority due to their use of new technologies and the internet, one which is unfounded and somewhat rude. Further to this, she is quite happy to pay her phone bill at the post office, thank you very much. The Internet: more convenient? Maybe. Necessary? No.

Having argued on topics such as access to news and current affairs and convenience with regard to ‘everyday’ activities (like paying phone bills and sending flowers), the conversation became more fascinating when the topic turned to communication with other people. Having been a devoted pen pal to several people over decades, my grandmother was always going to avidly defend the authenticity of a hand written letter as opposed to “… emotionless text created by a machine” that you would find in an e-mail. Herein lies the moral panic. Not only did Grannie nearly have kittens when the issue of giving credit card details over the internet was required to send someone flowers came up, but rebuttal was futile when trying to convince her that she was ‘missing out’ by not communicating online.

I would like to conclude this entry by drawing on a previous entry. If produsage will never completely overtake production, as Axel Bruns (2008) suggests, then why must we embrace the shift? Not only is my grandmother a fantastic examplar of this notion, but the debate we had opened my eyes to the idea that whilst online communities connect people, the reality of the digital divide is also pushing generations apart, evident by my lack of understanding of the way Grannie goes about her daily life, and vice versa.

Finally, at the end of the day… wouldn’t it be nice to receive a handwritten letter?
My grandmother and I are now pen pals... and I find it so refreshing I don't have to remember another password.

Til Next Time,

Sarah D.