Social Media - do you tweet?

Social Media
I've been following and tweeting, and reading a wide variety of tweets. Out of interest, primarily on my laptop. It is a way of reading breaking news, see seeing what is going on in your city, region, country. Topics I follow are related to health care, safety, politics. 

I have been quite interested in the work, for example, of Toronto Police Services (@TorontoPolice, @trafficservices). I no longer live in TO, but their positive messages are truly reminders - I think they are powerful. 

We are human, and make mistakes. In a traffic incident the pedestrian always loses.

People Make Errors

I remember taking a class across the street in Nepean. I could hear the OPP siren, could see the cop barreling her way along the road on her way to an emergency (the station was just down the road), and still my gr. 6s who'd ran on ahead, ran across the crosswalk to the other side of the street.

People don't think. They consider themselves immortal. 'It won't happen to me!'

I am convinced that we cannot reach those who continue to take risks; driving, swimming, boating, to drink & drive, for example, but we 

have to target their family and friends. Pedestrians act completely crazy, in some cases. In downtown Perth, with voluntary crosswalks (I've seen them used as such). I've seen people walk out and THEN look.

Good Info

As a long time follower of Education for the Driving Masses  I think that this empowers the bystanders. 

Typical rural drivers

My interest began when living in Muskoka, when the 3 young men died after an afternoon of drinking. Drownings in Muskoka are appalling, not accidents, but incidents.

I was a Victim Services Volunteer and the ignorance and risk-takers, appall me. A siren every Friday afternoon. Our volunteer firefighters were burned out the year we had 90 in 2010, 87 in 2009, 9 in Muskoka alone. Drownings in 2008 mimic the action on the roads: people taking chances with their lives, lives of others on land and water.

Social Media and Services
It raises awareness. It might save a life. It makes people think twice. It warns of traffic slowdowns. From breaking news, to defensive pedestrians, they are performing a good service.

Heads up!

My Retired Teachers Org. tweets, I cannot find but a couple of people who follow them, most do not appear to be retired. When you look at who follows, you can often see that the target audience is there for glory, or PR, or to increase web traffic, not to perform a service or to have any social relationship with you. The content of their tweets are telling. Some obfuscate their twitter messages by commenting on a football game, in the midst of serious political messages, for example. This is why I've stopped having messages sent to my phone. I was overwhelmed. Like many my age, my phone is outgoing and only for emergencies, or important grocery store input. 

For-profits of all sorts have hijacked social media to their own ends. I have a lot of Twitter friends, who also run a business, but this is not true of all of my followers. Some are seeking information in my Ontario Seniors Healthcare blog, many are for-profit agencies, though. 

Typical rural scene

It is time consuming, and there has to be a purpose to it. In my age group, bloggers over age 50, while many of us are; sharing information, ideas, reflections, photos, most under that age group are selling something. Which is fair enough. 

On those cold February days, when housebound, when our pets are doing something kooky, I find it fun to read about their antics. I have had intriguing debates about many topics, been inspired to write some poetry, inspired to go outdoors and take some photos. I like, especially, busting the myth that those of us over age 50 eschew our computers! I taught it and gave workshops to students, peers, parents, special education educators. 

Cheers to my readers. 

To TPS, and all our First Responders: keep up  the good work!