Tag Archives: Baby Boomer

Dispatch from the Hideout: Social Distancing

Definition of Social Distancing (Medical) – Protecting the public health by separating communities so that people who are stricken with a contagious illness cannot pass it on to others who are not. It includes, e.g., having children stay out of school when they are ill; closing workplaces, postponing meetings, and avoiding large social or religious gatherings or sporting events. It is designed to stop the spread of epidemics or pandemics but is not as strict a limitation on social interaction as quarantine.” — Source: The Medical Dictionary – thefreedictionary.com 

Definition of Social Distancing (Psychological) – …describes the distance between different groups in society, such as social class, race/ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Different groups mix less than members of the same group. It is the measure of nearness or intimacy that an individual or group feels towards another individual or group in a social network or the level of trust one group has for another and the extent of perceived likeness of beliefs.” — Source: Wikipedia

This is the fifth in a series of Dispatches from the Hideout which I began writing three years ago. This is the first installment of my COVID-19 dispatches written during the pandemic. Continue reading

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Three Things I Don’t Need (or Want)

Why I still think like a baby boomer…

As a person who falls somewhere in the middle of the continuum between fogey and creative innovator, I find myself at the threshold of the past and the future — again. As a baby boomer born in 1950, I was a late adopter to technology — though I’ve embraced many of its tools, often following some initial resistance — I’m now dependent on devices and software that enables communication, commercial and bureaucratic transactions, access to media, intellectual content, navigation, and social networking. On the flip side, most days I still enjoy direct person-to-person interaction. I’m not as fond of autonomously-powered tools or systems which rely on AI (artificial intelligence). I’m not sure how many robots I’d like for roommates. Did you hear that Cortana, Siri, and Alexa? Continue reading

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