Social Media: Collaborative and Distance Communications Tools

I cannot even imagine being an elderly person living in this day and age. Technological advances can feel so overwhelming to even those who are caught up in the midst of it all. I would like to say I am somewhat computer literate and can navigate my way around social media. But I have to take the side of amazement with senior citizens when I processed the idea of this article. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/09/24/skype-away-online-therapy-is-still-exciting/

Mental therapy has been around for ages. Therapists have been accessible in their offices by appointment and in emergency situations. If your shrink was out of town, tough luck, resolve things on your own. That was then, this is now. Therapists are reachable for help with a few clicks of the mouse. Videoconferencing, or Skype, allows two individuals to stream video footage in real time in order to communicate face to face. To me this is absolutely remarkable.

Most services provided online are incredible to me so perhaps I am not the most fitting judge as to what is truly innovative. It seems that such advances are taken for granted and just expected at this point. I wonder what will be commonplace in 5-10 years from now?

Something I confess I know nothing about is second life. From what I do understand it is a virtual realm of interaction between avatars that take part in real life activities. If that doesn't make you scratch your head as to what people are thinking, I do not know what will. The purpose of second life, as understood by a first lifer, is to mingle and meet new people while altogether pretending to be someone else. It is an opportunity to display otherwise taboo feelings or self expression. This whole thing wreaks of fiction right? According to Time Magazine it has become a serious matter. Real problems have begun to stem from disputes concerning fictitious things. More can be found at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651500,00.html.

An individual could take part in second life for a number of reasons. Some users participate to fill a void of loneliness,  others approach the virtual world as a way to finally express themselves as they really are. It becomes a more accepting society where they can feel free of judgement and shame. A small amount of second lifers are just simply bored and or addicted to the game. I refer to it as a game because to me it is. The most interesting feature to me is the ability users have to buy and sell virtual real estate for real cash. You just read that correctly. But someone somewhere is the proud owner of a nice piece of online property. Sometimes I think the wrong people are stuck in the psych wards.