This morning I helped set up a book fair at a local elementary school and had the chance to speak for a few minutes with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while.
After some idle chit-chat I asked how her craft business was doing. She told me that sales on Ebay were flat, but that a few months ago she’d sold an item or two. Those sales were encouraging, but business had tapered off. I empathized about the state of the economy and the difficulties of marketing and finding customers and so on and so forth.
‘So, do you have a Facebook page? Do you do anything with social media to meet people who might be interested in what you’re selling?” I asked.
“People keep badgering me to be their friends on that thing, but I don’t want to spend five hours a day sitting behind a computer,” she said.
‘Well, what about a smart-phone? That would give you some mobility and you wouldn’t be bound to your home or office,” I said.
She then went on a five-minute rant about computers taking over the world, and people hiding behind cell phones and that if she had a phone –which she doesn’t, her kids would be calling her all the time and who needs that and on and on it went. And no she doesn’t know about Facebook business pages.
‘Does it cost money? Who has time to learn about all that stuff anyway?” she said.
In thinking about it afterward, I congratulated myself for holding my tongue. I’ve learned from experience that when such firm opinions are expressed, offering a contrary point of view can be perceived as a hostile act. No thanks. Technophobia is nothing to mess with lightly. I’d rather wrestle a wild boar.
While I understood her angst and justified criticism about misuses of technology and the avoidance behavior it allows, her throwing out the baby with the bathwater is all too common. She wasn’t open to seeing the greater picture; that the tools she held such contempt for could give her access to information and people anywhere, at anytime. And if she knew how to use these tools, she could meet people she would never meet otherwise who want what she has to offer! By learning to use Facebook, and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and a blog, she could reach a bigger audience than she has yet to realize.
It’s my hope that someday my friend comes around and sees the light. But she’ll have to adjust her attitude a bit and if she wants some help, I’d be more than happy to oblige. We might even open a market for her goods, in Brazil. Now wouldn’t that be exciting!
Bebel Gilberto -- Samba da Benção
