I am with my family in Orlando this weekend...we have a free hotel stay, and the girls wanted to visit the new Avatar exhibit in Animal Kingdom. While I loved the new rides, my mind was on the new material I have been reading and the discussion questions for this week.
I went to Disney World when it first opened; my grandmother was a newspaper editor, and she had gotten press passes. We had a book of paper tickets and a paper map. Even though we were only about 2 hours from home, we did not know if anyone we knew was in Disney at the same time, and we had no idea of knowing how long the wait for each ride would be. When we split up to go on different rides, it took a long time to get back together in one spot. We had to wait in line for more tickets and additional access.
Things are incredibly different now. My daughters posted pics of the entrance to Animal Kingdom on their Snapchat stories and got immediate answers from friends who were also in the park or in other Disney parks. One friend who was in Orlando but in a different park sent recommendations for rides. We downloaded the Disney app, where you can see the wait time for all rides and can access a map of the park. We also registered ourselves for fast passes for specific rides. While waiting in lines for rides, we were able to catch parts of the Argentina-France and Uruguay-Portugal soccer matches on the phones of the people near us and engaged in a little conversation about the games. My older daughter kept up-to-date on the family separation/immigration march from West Palm Beach to Mar-a-Lago, which her debate friends were attending. When we split up to go on different rides, we were able to reunite relatively fast with a quick text and photo of where we were except for the one time when I had all of the phones in my backpack, and we had to find each other the old-fashioned way. And to top it off, we received two texts from the hotel while we were out asking us how our stay was going so far.
Web 2.0 offers a seismic shift in control. It is a concept which has opened the way for the creation of tools to allow us to decide when, where, and how we communicate; to control our own access to events and attractions; to decide what media we want to consume and when; and to tell the story of those decisions with sound, photos, and text without going through a publisher or editorial review.
Like the ideas behind any kind of revolution, Web 2.0 presents many opportunities. It is the way that we develop and use the tools it inspired that will determine the balance of positive and negative effects on our lives.
I went to Disney World when it first opened; my grandmother was a newspaper editor, and she had gotten press passes. We had a book of paper tickets and a paper map. Even though we were only about 2 hours from home, we did not know if anyone we knew was in Disney at the same time, and we had no idea of knowing how long the wait for each ride would be. When we split up to go on different rides, it took a long time to get back together in one spot. We had to wait in line for more tickets and additional access.
Things are incredibly different now. My daughters posted pics of the entrance to Animal Kingdom on their Snapchat stories and got immediate answers from friends who were also in the park or in other Disney parks. One friend who was in Orlando but in a different park sent recommendations for rides. We downloaded the Disney app, where you can see the wait time for all rides and can access a map of the park. We also registered ourselves for fast passes for specific rides. While waiting in lines for rides, we were able to catch parts of the Argentina-France and Uruguay-Portugal soccer matches on the phones of the people near us and engaged in a little conversation about the games. My older daughter kept up-to-date on the family separation/immigration march from West Palm Beach to Mar-a-Lago, which her debate friends were attending. When we split up to go on different rides, we were able to reunite relatively fast with a quick text and photo of where we were except for the one time when I had all of the phones in my backpack, and we had to find each other the old-fashioned way. And to top it off, we received two texts from the hotel while we were out asking us how our stay was going so far.
Web 2.0 offers a seismic shift in control. It is a concept which has opened the way for the creation of tools to allow us to decide when, where, and how we communicate; to control our own access to events and attractions; to decide what media we want to consume and when; and to tell the story of those decisions with sound, photos, and text without going through a publisher or editorial review.
Like the ideas behind any kind of revolution, Web 2.0 presents many opportunities. It is the way that we develop and use the tools it inspired that will determine the balance of positive and negative effects on our lives.
What a great comparison to be able to share a Disney experience from when it first open, without the technology and social media we have, to your experiences now where you can be so connected to those within and outside the parks. I really enjoyed how you mentioned that not only were you connecting to people and events that were going on outside of your Disney group, but you were also connecting to people who were with you, whether finding one another if you split up or connecting with Disney itself through their Snapchat filter or their app. Sometimes it's easy to think our phones pull us away from one another, but it sounds like that in these ways it was keeping you all connected. I hope it was a fun trip!
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty amazing to go now and not have to interact with people, just a phone. My magic band comes in the mail, I get a text with my room number, I just go to the room and I'm in! You can mobile order food at the quick service restaurants now, too.
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