I’m a definite T2…3rd generation. I am also 59 and not very tech savvy. I love TuD and Bloodsugar 101 because they are user friendly and not a huge step from Facebook.
Let’s face it, many T2s are diagnosed at an older age. Many of us are just entering the world of Social Media. The best way to reach out to us is through Facebook.
I really wish we could get the word out there. Please create a Facebook page for your blogs so we can “like” and then have the info come onto our Newsfeed each day. Please “like” these pages and then share some of the info on your own page.
I know that this is a generalization but… who knows?..it might just work.
Thanks
Joanne
"Many of us are just entering the world of Social Media. The best way to reach out to us is through Facebook."
Uh… this is not the case for all middle aged people. I think Facebook is a huge time/soul drain and wouldn’t consider wasting my time there. I don’t know if my opinion is more common in our age group or yours, but I find your statement a terrible generality. TuD is as close to social media as I’m going to get. There is a great short story called The Machine Stops written by EM Foster in, I believe 1919…yes 1919. It is about the internet and people who no longer leave their rooms because all their contact is done on “the machines”. It’s an anti-utopia novel.
Ok, rant done (and I apologize). I just don’t like generalizations whether about diabetics or middle aged people.
I think you have a good idea Peetie. I know there are a bunch of bloggers that now have Facebook pages – I have found a bunch that I read regularly and liked them so they show up on my wall. I can’t figure out how to get them to show up on my blog page though. I would like to do that because the people that are reading my blog there would probably benefit from seeing some of the other blogs.
From what I have heard, there are a bunch of older people that are there because their kids set them up to keep connected to family that is spread out. They might not realize that there is a whole other world out there.
My mother is 79 and doesn’t have a computer. My brother is working in Afghanistan so phone calls can be very hard. They send messages to each other thru me. One day she told me that she wanted to get email so she could send him a message. When I said something about the internet, she said she didn’t want the internet, she just wants email.
Oh Zoe I wasn’t talking about people like you…I was talking about people like me. Of course there’s Nel and Seagator and the amazing Clarence.
What do you think is the reason that, while the majority of diabetics are T2, they are in the minority on TuD? Certainly TuD is a friendly place for everyone.
I like Facebook because it doesn’t take much time. My niece had a baby 2 weeks ago and I saw the pictures right away. When the baby needed a spinal tap I didn’t need to wait for a phone call to hear the results.
Thanks Kelly: I love reading your blog.
LOL. I’m not that bad, Kelly. I’ve been online for 15 years and teach online using course management software. And of course I have my pump. When I was living in Guatemala I had Skype long before my tech savy nephew knew what it was. I pick and choose among new technologies for ones that will improve my quality of life vs ones that, imho detract from it. Cell phones and facebook for me come in the latter category.
I didn’t mean to imply that you were bad Zoe! I think we are all different and like you said, we need to pick what works for us. When I was working, I had a cell phone only in case I had an accident on my way home from work - I would often work late and come home when there weren’t many cars on the road. When I quit working, I got rid of it. Now I have a prepaid one just in case the power goes out so I have something in case I would need help. I am not a big cell phone person either!
Thanks Peetie!
It’s tough to find a pay phone these days. I too have an emergency cell phone.
I couldn’t even tell you where one is anywhere around where I live.
Oh, no problem, I’m joking around, Kelly.
I used to teach till 9:30 at night then drive home an hour and a half on a winding mountain road. I maybe saw a couple cars the whole trip. I had a friend who was concerned so gave me an old cell phone he had “in case of emergency”. I threw it in my pack and forgot about it. Then one Thanksgiving morning I ran into a patch of black ice and ended up over an embankment. I climbed up to the deserted country road wearing a light jacket in 30 degrees because I was on my way to the airport to fly to LA. I remembered the cell phone Richard had given me. I pulled it out…and yeah, you guessed it, the battery was dead. (Someone drove past 10 minutes later and took me to the ER).
Yes! Jenny just put Bloodsugar 101 on Facebook!!! Thanks Jenny!
At least someone came past to help you. I hope that you weren’t seriously hurt.
My first cell phone was a Christmas gift from my mother and she paid for it for a year. She was worried after I came home for Thanksgiving in a bad storm. She said she had been thinking about it but after that night, decided it was a good idea. When people ask me for the number, I just tell them I rarely turn it on so it won’t do them any good - I go months without turning it on.
Yes. I read that story so long ago and I’ve never forgotten it… eerie!
Oh, I just overreact on those things, Peetie, sorry. And you certainly seem tech savy enough for what you want to do! That’s how I am too, if I really want to do something I manage to figure it out - if I’m not that motivated it never happens! That’s why it took me 2 1/2 years on TuD to get a pic up (my nephew took it and sent it to me!)
That’s cool you’ve read that story,. few people have heard of it! I went back and read it after the internet came and was amazed how much it prophecized things! And it’s still getting closer. I saw an ad for the IPad last night that really made me think of it because it said “we still go to meetings, etc we just do it differently”. I remember in the story people spoke to each other over “the machine” and went to conferences and lectures.
Just checking in to say I love that story!
I agree with Zoe. I see no real value for me in facebook. I’m a very private person and maintain only a small circle of friends. Or maybe I’m really just technolgy challenged, I’m am after all still trying to figure out why texting is better than actually talking to someone.
But hopefully, unlike me, you keep it charged!
No, I wasn’t hurt, just some bruises, amazing since the car was upside down! (I could do that Subaru commercial where the guy buys another Subaru after a bad accident because he came through it ok). The woman who stopped was going in to do some work on the holiday morning and actually lived on that road. (The road was known for black ice in winter and I took it because it cut 10 minutes off the trip to the airport - should have known better).
I actually could see some circumstances in which texting would be better: Like one person wants to say “Let’s meet at 8 instead of 7” and the other person responds, “sounds good.” I hate when you get on the phone for just that brief kind of information. You hope the person won’t answer so you can just leave the message, otherwise some body feels compelled to chat because they are on the phone. But I’m still not going to be getting text messaging anytime soon. (hard to do without a cell phone )
Just read this on FB …
http://socialmediatoday.com/brandsprout/330622/open-letter-teens-re-social-media
Something to think about ?
I recall googling a person’s name and some nasty stuff was mentioned …and as far as I knew the person , comments were very UNTRUE …it can’t be deleted ! I realize this article is related towards teens.
Hi Nel: That is a good article. I have a niece who posts…well…we worry about her.
At school, we have had many incidents of Facebook bullying. The trouble is that we can’t control what others post or write about us. Such sites as “Rate My Teacher” worry me but I never visit them. There are many pictures of people in compromising positions and they don’t even have FB. Truth be told… my FB is pretty tame… I am more worried about my rants on here. lol