Think

Earlier this year, it was reported that women 55 and over are the fastest growing segment of users on Facebook. Just yesterday, however, Inside Facebook released a 60-day update, finding that fewer people in the same age group are revisiting their profiles.

The original report was seen as a sign that older generations are beginning to embrace social networking. Citing similar patterns (for example, people aged 45-64 being the f astest growing demographic in mobile texting), a new-found optimism for boomers and their relationship with the Internet emerged. However, the new revelations have stunned the digital community who have started to question whether the technological learning curve is just too great of older users.

A glass half full will always lead to disputes—unless, perhaps, it is half full of whiskey.

Last month, I was graciously invited by Ian Fitzpatrick to contribute to the Optimist Conspectus. In his words, it’s a “compendium of contemporary optimism, one perspective at a time.” He asks What you are optimistic about? and then looks at commonalities among the answers.

There's a new Kindle in my house, and we're excited about it. But I wonder if the mainstreaming of the e-book is taking something away from our relationships.

Going back. My wife and I are book people. Readers. My wife has spent over 20 years in book publishing and is currently the senior publicity executive at a large publishing house. I used to be a writer, and while my writing was for the screen any writer is by definition a serial gobbler of books. We're both pro-Kindle, at least to the point of giving that thin little machine a chance to show us that we can happily read on it.