Of late, the communications world seems distinctly divided between those who do and those who don’t. Those who do appear intent on expounding the virtues of social media and online tools like evangelical preachers coming to a village of Neanderthals. The Neanderthals are the ones running for the hills with their hands over their ears shouting,“I don’t get it; I don’t want to get it, leave me alone!”

I hear from both sides daily. The “resisters” are frustrated as much as the “promoters.” Both sides need to step back and help each other. Bridging this digital divide is essential for good communication in the home, the workplace and our global village. As a strong proponent of reverse mentoring, where age, experience and expertise meld and morph, we need to find ways to bring each other to a common understanding of the utility of our new communication tools.

The digital landscape is still unfolding and, without a doubt, we have a long way to go to effectively navigate these new forms of communication. In the late ‘70s I read Future Shock by Alvin Toffler and my biggest takeaway was to make sure I did not get left behind, no matter what was to happen in the ensuing decades. That doesn’t mean I had to be into the latest fad; it just meant I should embrace change and understand how it helped or hindered my life. My next post, Nowhere to Run, Desperate to Hide, will be techniques and tips for communicating when you feel out of your comfort zone or put on the spot.

So, here is a message for those who are fully engaged digitally — start helping our digital immigrants integrate into this new society. To connect, they must learn the language and the culture, just like any newcomer to a new country. Be patient and help them see the relevance and value. And, for the digital immigrants — just listen and lurk for a while. Get to know this new place. Even though you did not choose this new society, here you are whether you like it or not. I am going to give you a few safe places to go online to start getting your cyber feet wet. A final note to my digital divas, please remember the immigrants can still teach you a few things. While digital immigrants tend to be older individuals, that is not always the case. However, for the ones who do reside in the “greying” camp, think of them as people with more life experience and find ways to learn from them. My 88-year-old Mom calls email “the silent phone call,” and marvels at how nice it is to return emails on your own time and not be tied to the ringing phone of yesteryear.

Immigrants, take a look at the following sites: Mashable, TED (listen to a few speakers under the Communications tag) and while you are on your computer, go have a look at Twitter, and see what a search of an area that interests you brings up. You may be pleasantly surprised. You don’t have to have a Twitter account to go exploring. Then go to pipl and put your name in for a quick search of what is available about you. And, finally check out Trendsmap, this site will show you what people are saying on Twitter through hashtags around the world. People use hashtags (the # symbol) before keywords in their Tweet so they are easier to find. Clicking on a hashtagged word will show you all other tweets in that category.
And, to my digital divas, any other suggestions for a nice, slow entree into the world of social dialogue?