By The Bel: What's in a Keek?

What’s in a Keek?

I was told I was living in the technological dark ages by my, recently turned 60, father, last week. I laughed it off, because I think it’s hilarious that my dad knows more about modern technology than I do.

What he actually said was “I sent a picture of my birthday cake to your phone.” To which I had to tell him my phone only did text messaging and phone calls. His answer was “Well what’s the point in that.” See, technological dark ages.

I guess if I were to go the ‘smart’ phone path, I’d be a little intrigued by some of the strange things people do with them. Things that have little to do with actually making a phone call.

Like Tweeting. Up until a couple of years ago this was something cute little birds did at 5am to drive you up the wall, letting the world know that the sun is rising. It is now a way for politicians to lose voters, pop stars to snipe at each other and for book lovers to brag about their latest acquisition.

The restrictions on tweeting (I do the tweets for the burn bright book club from my computer) are a mystery to me. How can one person possibly spark such an uproar in 140 characters? What would happen if we were allowed, say, 200 characters; would that be enough to create world war 3?

Apps or applications are a screaming hit. Angry birds, fruit ninja and whatever else is hot right now is right at your finger tips to keep little kiddies occupied.

Then there’s the whole FaceBook from anywhere idea. I will admit I am extremely addicted to FB. After fighting it for so long, the thought of being able to access it even when I’m out in public, scares me a little. I would be mostly concerned with the privacy settings as some people on my friends list end up having their location posted when they go out in public. Which to me screams… HEY I’M NOT HOME! ROB ME! See, I may be a little paranoid. But just because I can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me.

Youtube is filled with people making videos from their ‘smart’ phones. School children fighting, how make-up lasts through a normal day, and just generally random silliness caught on camera and uploaded for the world to see.

But finally there is the joy that is Keek. This concept as a viewer is cute, as a contributor, the thought of only having 36 seconds to get a point across seems impossible to me. But people do it. The woman who has me going back to keek regularly lately is the youtube sensation katers17 http://www.keek.com/Katers17 She’s a British chick in California working and living with her boyfriend who is also a rather famous YouTuber. Unlike so many other keekers (is that even a word yet) she goes out of her way to keep things cheery and light. We all need a little of that every once in a while. And quite frankly 36 seconds sure is the epitome of little.

While I can still remember a time when you either used a phone box, or you waited until you got home to call someone, this whole idea of being connected to everybody every hour of every day both excites and exhausts me.

What’s your favourite thing to do on your ‘smart’ phone?