Just a couple months ago I had the weirdest reality check I’ve had in a while. I was at a family gathering and began talking to someone I didn’t know. When it came time for me to leave we decided to do exchange contact info to keep in touch. Naturally, I asked for a phone number and assumed we’d keep in touch through at least one of the many instant messaging apps. Well, they did in fact have a cell phone, but not a smart phone. They had one of those old Nokia models that used to be very popular and I might even go as far as saying that they were most people’s first phone. To some people it might seem like like this person was a weirdo, I mean seriously, who doesn’t have a smart phone these days? But I sympathized since I had only recently gotten one myself. Since we didn’t live in the same country and I tried to avoid paying international rates for calls and texts, I figured I’d move on to asking for their e-mail.
When it came time for me to give them my e-mail the strangest thing happened (yes, my reality check). They looked at my address and said “I think you have it wrong. I think you meant to write @hotmail.” I laughed (How do they know more about my e-mail than me?) and answered, “No, I am pretty sure I wrote it correctly.” They were clearly not expecting this response and seemed quite taken aback. Finally, they said, “But…how…how can it be an e-mail if it’s not hotmail?” Realizing that this person was not joking, I felt embarrassed and guilty for laughing. I went on to explain that there’s also gmail and yahoo and school e-mails (…) and that I would still receive their e-mails. Honestly, I felt like I had just told a kid that Santa didn’t exist.
So yeah, not everyone is up to date on this whole internet thing…
So this goes. 