Entry #7 Back In My Day

Story time

Com'on kids gather 'round so I can tell ya a story. Let me just grab my readers on the side table here so I can see what I'ma readin'. Oh, that's right a story about the pound sign. Now if most of you youngins didn't know, the pound sign is the bottom right button on your telephone.

See it there? The pound sign...

Not one of those confounded cellular phone gadgets. The pound sign back in my day told automated telephone computers that I had finished inputtin' the information it requested to send me to the right directory. So when I was callin' Moviefone that little automated man knew what movie I was wantin' to see. I can still hear his voice, “Hello and welcome to Moviefone!” Times were a simple back then. Now those new aged internet programs have appropriated the pound sign and everyone is callin' it a hashtag. Don't get me wrong youngsters I'ma quick old lady and have used this new discovery of the pound sign for a few social media programs. I especially liked how it puts everythin' I post into a Dewey Decimal like system. Who knew the pound sign could organize internet files into

Yes I used this to look where books were located in my library.

 specific categories! Ya'll know how I like everything to be organized, everything has a place and likes to be in its home. Speaking of organized, many of those new social media movements were first organized by creatin' hashtags that people could look into to get information about the action. The first occurrence of this type of internet activism has been noted since the late 90's but the most recognized and successful was the Arab Spring in 2010. Then shortly after that the US created the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 that started out by hashtags and word of mouth. Since then creatin' political movements by hashtag is so common there is a new hashtag everyday, and my old mind is havin' trouble keepin' up.

 From #BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, #ICantBreathe, #YesAllWomen, #IdleNoMore, #FreeTheNipple, #OscarsSoWhite, #RapeCultureIsWhen, #OPKK, #HoodsOff, #MarriageEquality, #RefugeesWelcome, and so many more. Comin' from an ol' fogey this new hashtag business with activism can be a stupendous way to spread the word lickety-split. Just remember security culture kids, if any little ol' lady like myself can find your hashtag so can the authorities. Be mindful of the revolution you start online and the information shared through the internet. No one is free when others are oppressed.