As I was cruising the Internet looking for some meat on local politics, I happened upon the local WJR Radio web site, and stumbled upon a podcast by novelist-slash-sportswriter-slash-radio personality, Mitch Albom. This precious piece of radio history outlined the (ridiculous) ages of some people who have MySpace pages.
According to this podcast, which I thankfully missed when it originally aired on April 1, Mitch Albom thinks I (and others of my age group) am too old for a MySpace account. In fact, he and his sidekick, Ken Brown (who, in my opinion, is infinitely more humorous than the New York Times' bestselling author), randomly picked out a few “elderly” MySpace owners and made fun of them for a good five minutes.
Too old for MySpace!
I know Mitch Albom is a big fish in the little pond that is Detroit. He probably figures that with his novels and his schmoozing with sports figures and politicians, a guy like him feels smug enough not to need a MySpace account. Approaching 50, he likely feels too distinguished to lower himself to social networking. (I did check it out, but the only Mitch Albom MySpace pages are fakes.) As an aside, “Mitch Albom” did have a Gather page last year, as did I.
Too old for MySpace?
Well, buddy, I’m *cough* a couple of years older than Mitch, and I not only have a MySpace page, I also have a page on Facebook as well.
This led me to wonder; when is anyone “too old” for anything? I’m certainly not too old for social networking. Sure, when I first accessed MySpace, it was solely to spy on my teenager, but since then I’ve learned the tricks for customizing it to reflect my personality. I’m not on there (or anywhere else) to troll for dates with babes. My MySpace page has evolved into a tribute to what I love most: music. A lot of my people are older musicians, some of them in their 60s. MySpace is a cheap (i.e. free) and easy way to stay in touch with friends and family.
Article comments
1 - Diana Hartman
excellent, excellent...that's all, just excellent...
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Can't try out for American Idol. BAM.
3 - Diana Hartman
Can't try out for American Idol. BAM.
there's an age limit on inaccurately assessing one's ability to sing? what the heck...
4 - Joanne Huspek
Yes, Diana. You can only make a fool of yourself (uh-hem, try out) on American Idol if you're under 35.
5 - Dr Dreadful
"Likewise, Iβm probably too old for shopping trips to Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch..."
Bah. Anyone who's had the umbilical cord cut is too old for those places.
Dunno exactly how old you are, but my wife was in Abercrombie's "men's" section a year or two ago looking for shirts. The assistant asked her if she was shopping for her son.
She was 30 at the time.
6 - Dr Dreadful
The reason for the age limit on American Idol is twofold. The record industry is looking for someone young enough to be:
a) dumb enough to be exploited;
b) a worthwhile long-term investment.
[/cynicism]
7 - Joanne Huspek
Gosh, Dr. Dreadful. I don't know if I should be ashamed or secretly pleased, but I'm old enough to be your wife's mother, and I'll still find something to wear there, although I refuse to buy the large-logo items.
I guess the American Idol age limit coincides with the one for the FBI. If you're over 35, you're too old to begin a job there. I'm sure there is a correlation but I'm not sure what it is... ;-)
8 - Alexandria
That was perfect! I'm glad the poll encouraged me to read it.