Half the world spends two to six hours a day on social media, and those numbers keep going
up.
A lot of the credit goes to Steve Jobs, the inventor of the iPhone (and co-founder of
Apple Computers.)
But when you picture Steve, make sure it’s with his head up, addressing a crowd, looking
into someone’s eyes, or exploring the world, not bent over the little screen so many of
us hold in our hands.
Steve Jobs was the least likely in any crowd to be gazing at social media!
He didn’t use Facebook, and he didn’t use Twitter.
Like most inventors, Steve was always looking for the next idea, and he believed there was
no substitute for a good old face to face exchange:
He once said, “There’s a temptation in our networked age to think that ideas can
be developed by email and iChat.
That’s crazy.
Creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.”
And while Steve Jobs did invent the iPhone, he didn’t do it alone!
He shared that credit with more than ten other inventors!
They had a lot of meetings.
You could say that the recipe for inventing Apple’s Facetime was a lot of real world
face -to -face time.
(Especially with a man named Roberto Garcia—thanks Roberto!)
Another reason Steve didn’t spend time on social media was that so many of his good
ideas come from the random inspiration he encountered in the “real” world.
When discussing creativity, Steve talked a lot about “connecting the dots,” but it
might be more accurate to say that Steve believed that first you had to “collect” the dots.
Let me give you an example.
You’ve probably heard that Steve Jobs dropped out of college, and that’s true, but it’s
also a little misleading.
It’s more accurate to say that, instead of becoming a “Drop-out” Steve became
a “Drop-In.”
Not only did Steve stick around campus, he kept taking classes!
Steve “dropped-in” on all kinds of classes, including one that would have a huge impact
on modern computers and influence the look of almost everything you read today.
You see, once Steve no longer had to worry about fulfilling “requirements” for a
major, he was free to observe any class that interested him.
With less on his schedule, he could take more walks.
He could attend concerts and lectures that peaked his interest, even if they had no apparent
connection to his field.
A lot of these events were advertised on posters.
Really nice posters.
Steve began to see the posters not just as information about events, but as works of
art in themselves.
Works of art that encouraged him to expand his world.
How did they do this?
Well, one way was through calligraphy, which is a fancy kind of writing that Reed College
(the school Steve dropped “out of” and “in to”) happened to excel in.
It wasn’t why Steve chose the school.
It wasn’t what he was looking for.
But calligraphy was everywhere, and Steve noticed the result: Great posters.
Steve “collected the dot” and “dropped in” to a calligraphy class!
Years later, when he was designing the first apple computers, Steve used the things he
learned in Calligraphy class to design the first suite of computer fonts.
Here’s how Steve put it: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward;
you can only connect them looking backwards.
So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence
to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path; and that will make
all the difference.”
It’s ironic that these connected dots replaced Dot Matrix!
Your grandpa knows what that is.
Dot Matrix is the typeface that digital dinosaurs (and people in the 1970’s and early 80’s)
used.
It was ugly and hard to read.
Thank goodness Steve took the walks … that took him to the posters … that took him
to the class that—years later—inspired a fountain of fonts.
If he’d simply looked up concert dates and times on the web, or used Twitter, we’d
still be using dot matrix today.
“Wait a minute!” some fast-fingered Bright Sider is shouting.
Look!
Steve Jobs did use Twitter!
Here’s his Account!
https://twitter.com/stevejobsceo?lang=en
A quick scroll through it reveals this tweet:
Steve Jobs @stevejobsceo
• Oct 17, 2011
Obviously, I'm not Steve Jobs.
But I liked him so much that I made this Twitter account.
So if you, unlike Steve Jobs, are constantly attached to your screen, always do your research.
That’s what third party trackers are doing…their research on you!
More on them later, but for now, just remember the meme where Abraham Lincoln (or sometimes
William Shakespeare) warns you that not everything you read on the internet is true.
A good tip for browsing the web is the classic “If something sounds too good to be true,
it usually is.”
For example:
It’s a bummer, but that Prince from a far away country who wants to give you his fortune
is only trying to break into your bank account … then he’ll take all your money and use
your credit cards.
And that no-skills job from home that pays thousands of dollars a month for watching
TV?
The information you give them when you sign up creates a window for cyber criminals to
climb through.
… then they’ll take all your money and use your credit cards.
Never give out personal information like your social security number or mother’s maiden
name.
And what about those Third-Party trackers?
Now, we all like parties, but third party trackers aren’t really party guests, or
even party crashers.
These guys are spies, and the party they’re spying on is you and everything you do online.
When you move from site to site, they follow your ”tracks.”
Yikes.
You won’t even know they’re there, at least not at first, but they leave a few tracks
of their own.
Here’s a couple ways you can tell if a third party is tracking you.
-If you’re researching the Ancient Colosseum in Rome and an ad pops up for Gladiator Wear,
you’ve been “tracked.”
-You get an email, like from that prince who wants to send you money.
Careful!
Email is a favorite way for cyber criminals to spread computer viruses.
Sometimes the email will look like it came from someone you know— but it’s not.
In the year 2000 the “ILOVEYOU” virus hit 50 million people and caused billions
of dollars of damage!
Every day, countless new viruses hit the inboxes of unsuspecting computers.
You get the virus by clicking, usually on a link, so—don’t!
It’s not just cyber criminals and trackers you have to watch out for either.
The person who can do you the most damage on the web is you!
Never post anything on line that you don’t want to have “Track” you forever.
Be especially careful with the jokes.
Well I’m in trouble…
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you can belch the alphabet!
In fact, it’s so great, that twenty years from now, that burp video might be the first
thing an employer sees when you apply to conduct the symphony.
Who knows, maybe she’ll have a sense of humor.
Maybe you’ll conduct the debut of Bach’s Branden Burp Concerto.
Get me a ticket!
But…maybe not.
And some jokes have disastrous consequences.
Getting into Harvard is a dream come true.
Congratulations!!
But—if you’re not careful, social media can take your dreams away.
In April of 2017, officials at Harvard discovered a Facebook group where accepted students made
some jokes in bad taste.
Even though the students insisted that it was all in fun, and many of the jokes were
about themselves, Harvard revoked the admission from ten students
Don’t let that happen to you.
If you’re smart enough to get into Harvard, you’re smart enough not to post offensive
material.
This doesn’t mean you have to give up social media.
It’s fun, informative, and lots of jobs and schoolwork require it.
Just practice safe behavior.
And, if something does go wrong, take heart!
At 30, Steve Jobs was fired from his own company.
The board of directors at Apple asked him to step down.
What could go more wrong than that?
But Steve said it was the best thing that could’ve happened.
Once again, he was free to explore new things; to “collect more dots.”
Steve Jobs founded Pixar and NeXT.
And, in 1996, Apple bought NeXT and Steve Jobs came home to his company.
All this before he even invented the iPhone!
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