I didn’t start a blog when a friend suggested it back in 2010 (when blogging was still fresh and hopeful). I really, really wanted to but I was too scared. I joined Facebook under the enthusiastic pressure from a friend and only then because I also needed it to stay up-to-date with some work events being organised on that platform. And I didn’t join LinkedIn until a workshop facilitator assured me that without it I couldn’t function successfully in my professional world. Put my real name online? Where other people could see it and know it was me? Where those other people might judge what I said? I don’t think so!
Working in Health meant I was drilled in all the facets of privacy. The confidentiality of our patients is a given but we were also trained to keep ourselves our of sight. I protected my personal life at all costs. I learned to keep where I live and the details of my family life a secret, created a personal email that stayed private, never shared my mobile number. This was shepherded by policy into never, ever engaging online.
I watched in horrified awe as colleagues more reckless than me ventured into this brave new world. They used nom-de-plumes and protected their identity but they had a go. Expressing a personal view without explicit permission… whoa, very few are brave enough to do that!!! It wouldn’t surprise me to find that there is a huge proportion of people who are my fellow online ‘lurkers’ (there but invisible and silent) who come from somewhere in the public service. They’re insatiably curious but equally terrified of making themselves known.
What if I made a fool of myself? Or, worse still, failed???? If it’s online then it will always be there and I will never be able to hold my head high in public ever… Sigh. My old friend Fear sticking his nose in and making himself known as usual!!! And now I’m on Instagram!!! Fear is having a a field day. Should I have listened to him or not???
Living an online life after a lifetime of obscurity is proving to be quite the education!!! I’m soooo late to this! I have been militantly terrified of the online world. It’s a fear I now see was borne of ignorance. Definitely not unfounded but perhaps more than a wee bit uninformed.
I really was unprepared to actively participate in the online world. I know now that a lot of this is not completely the fault of the Health industry. I mentioned my experience to a friend who looked at me quizzically and shared that her experience had been the exact opposite. She had maintained quite an active online presence during her career in the public service where social media activity presented her with an escape, a type of numbing behaviour that distracted her from the more difficult things she dealt with in her day job.
Ah… so this is just about me! You’re relieved, I know, that I’ve finally realised it and you don’t have to point it out to me. That would be awkward! It’s been so easy to ascribe my own perspective to ‘us’, my response to my work as a facet of being ‘in Health’ when in reality I should be wearing this ‘developmental delay’ as mine and mine alone. Neophobia is not restricted to the young! Coming Home still catches me offguard with these discoveries and is sometimes unexpectedly humbling!!!
The job of a parent is to expose our children to as many things in life as we can and help them learn how to manage through the good and the bad. It’s easier to learn these things when our parents and adults are there shepherding us through the uncomfortable moments. But this online thing caught all parents and leaders unprepared – this road hadn’t been travelled before and the ‘how-to’ guide was in constant draft form. Keeping up has been nigh impossible. Consider these examples of technological leadership in my own life.
Example 1: The early adopter. In 1984 my Primary School invested in multiple early (= massive) computers to ensure that we students would be able to stay abreast of this new technology. The intention was to ensure we wouldn’t be disadvantaged in this brave new world. We were learning how the systems worked even as it was being invented.
Example 2: The wait and see. Compare that forward thinking with my first job, just over ten years later. In 1995 I worked for a service employing over 100 staff that provided access to only two computers. It meant we health professionals were behind the times even whilst shepherding a generation of children towards a life full of computers and mobile phones.
Example 3: The (mad) scientist. My dear Dad tried really, really hard to bring us along with progress. We had second hand computers in the late 1980s and he was experimenting with writing code and developing programs for his business even then. He knows how to take a risk and find a way to make it work for him, does my Dad. It’s impressive. I inherited lots of things from him but with this one I’ve been slow on the uptake!
It may have taken me far longer than ideal to get here but I don’t want to hang back and be ignorant and uninformed with my head in the sand and my hackles raised waiting for a handwritten invitation to the party. This time I’m prepared to consider it objectively even while acknowledging that my familiar Fear of the unknown is real and that the unknowable end point of its impact on human life is scary! I’m not ever a first adopter but I’m quite good at being one of the second followers . I’m possibly bringing up the tail here but I am happy to take the lessons of courageous leaders who boldly tested this new frontier and found a way to make it ok for the rest of us to follow.
Technology is mind-boggling in its potential and capacity to transform our lives. Artificial intelligence is no longer a science-fiction story it is a reality we are living with (hey, Google, turn on the TV). And now we have ChatGPT4 here to challenge us with its seemingly limitless potential to … write*.
There are many justifiable reasons for Fear to have his hackles up. Identity theft is a real thing, online scams and cybersecurity real issues that need every single one of us to take responsibility for protecting our personal data. Being invisible online still has many things going for it, personal and financial safety being two of the big ones. I miss being a wee bit smug about that. This new space online comes with vulnerability in more ways than the obvious one.
To my family, friends and colleagues who still shy away from social media and the new Dr who rarely even uses a mobile phone – I see you but I will never push you to join me in this crazy place. It’s out in the open with very little shelter to protect us from the weather. It’s still an uncomfortable place to be and I’m not sure it’s right for all of us. That said, I’m so glad to be writing the blog. It may now be old school, a bit passè, ok, it’s really old-fashioned. But that’s me. I have been old school since the day I was born.
I’m here because I need to be online to find customers for my business and readers for my writing. It’s the marketplace of these new workplaces of mine so I might as well enjoy it. How about you? Are you here with me revisiting the way we used to do things? Or are you fascinated by a glimpse into the mind of a digital foreigner?
Whatever the reason, I am having a great time learning how to travel in this space at long last. I’m glad you’re here for some of the ride. All maps, must-do’s and travel tips welcome.
*I’m still on the fence with ChatGPT as I can see so many exciting opportunities with it and so many potential problems for humanity. I’m prepared to walk alongside it for a little while and learn a bit before I decide. I’m interested in your perspectives and experiences with it though.