Our dear friends have been visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday. Their son, Morgan, who is in college, is like another grandkid to us and spent nearly a week with our family. It's been fascinating to have a chance to watch a true Millennial thriving deep inside the world of technology. And to realize just how much we skim the surface.
As you know, Dan and I have been writing this blog and I was happy to show Morgan a couple of stories. He was enthusiastic and seemed to appreciate what we'd posted on Facebook and quickly gave me a couple of simple shortcuts. He laughed good-naturedly, then helped us to navigate Instagram and link it to FB. Despite the fact that I uploaded Instagram a while ago, I really had no idea what to do with it. Then, I posted my first photo on it!
As if this weren't enough, a couple of days later, Morgan explained how to use Twitter. Just because everyone in the media seems to read it, doesn't mean we all thought it would be a good idea! Till now. I think we might follow a few friends who are not associated with politics. So today, we find ourselves crawling forward like an aging Alice in Technoland toward the twittering Cheshire cat.
There's a lot more out there most of us Boomers wouldn't begin to discover. For example, I'll bet you didn't know there's a video series by a guy named Brutal Moose, which happens to be hilarious. He reads food reviews, dissects frozen foods, makes fun of advertising and describes how to eat Hot Pockets, Jimmy Dean sausage and other fast foods. Seriously! He's animated, quirky and casual. He'll tell you what the worst breakfasts are in case you never knew. And although he posted his video today, he already had over 71,000 views by this afternoon.
An alternate universe opened up the day Morgan showed us Twitch. If you've never seen it, this is an online platform where people post videos about how to play and enjoy video games. Most of us don't realize there's a subculture out there of people who not only play video games... but who also learn to play from others. The "others" are often college kids. They make money by streaming their experiences playing a particular new or challenging game. If the information is entertaining, people who watch the videos donate money. Who knew? We donated. It was fun!
After spending so much time learning about the online offerings, last night our heads were spinning and we decided to take a break and play some games around the dining room table. Dan brought Cranium and the original Trivial Pursuit down from the attic just as Morgan was setting up the computer for us to try Jackboxtv.com Everyone got out their cell phones and Morgan set up the computer. It took about 5 minutes to get ready to play and then the party games began. We each used our cell phones to log in answers or to draw sketches. My favorite was a fast-moving game called Quiplash where you make up funny answers to prompts on the computer screen as an upbeat commentator urges you on. Then, you vote on which was funniest. Hate to admit it was more fun than the board games, but it was.
Vacation is ending. It's time to return to real life. I just checked my cell phone. Morgan posted a beautiful photo and message on Instagram thanking us for our support and love. Folks our age can say what they will about what's wrong with the internet and what's wrong with Millennials. You just won't find that here.
We love you too, Morgan and so appreciate your knowledge and support! Thanks for sharing with us a little piece of a Millenial's world this holiday... including introducing us to Brutal Moose!
Have you got a Millennial story this week? Please share.
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