On GDPR, amazing women, wax seals, youtube and Mr Darcy (of course).

About 6 months ago I became a member of a Facebook group full of inspiring business women. We chat about all sorts of things, support each other in business, explore work, life and happiness-related topics.

Last week, we were discussing GDPR and this video was posted as a quick explanation. 

In the last couple of months I have been on two seminars/talks on the subject, and these few minutes actually sum everything up better than the two courses I had to leave my office for did. 

Whilst commenting on that, I also found myself writing: "Kind of OT but: I also like the use of videos, I think they are a powerful instrument when it comes to stop people from scrolling past your post. On the other hand , I am really concerned about how my son can remember video tutorials he has just seen once, but he is incapable of retaining information unless he reads it several times. Are marketeers creating a generation of illiterates??" 

For me, an avid reader, what I notice in my son is really strange/alarming. I lived all my life with my nose stuck in books, I clearly remember my father coming to my room one night, when I was 15, telling me off because I wasn't going out as much as the other kids did. 

Still now, I find it difficult to work without the use of paper, and to read non-paper books, plus taking notes/doodling what I am working on is a major part of helping a new concept or subject stick to my memory (If you ever see me leaving a conference/course with a blank notepad in my hands, you'll know I was bored to death the whole time, and there was nothing there for me to learn/remember).

It was after my comment that the Admin of the group, the amazing Tracey Lee, suggested I could explore the work of Baroness Susan Greenfield , and get her book "Mind Change: How digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains".

And there it was. BOOM. everything I have been thinking about in these months. The fact that being a poor reader and an avid youtube watcher is influencing my son's ability to retain information and create 'stories' in his head unless he actually sees them before him. 

That sensation, looking at my cousins/children of friends in their teenage/early 20s , that they are actually not capable of finding a way to do things, unless they can ask google. 

It's there. All. There. And it's scaring me an awful lot. 

Go read it, especially if you have children who, like mine, are obsessed with gaming and youtubers, and practice the intro to their future videos while they play, aged 8, so AT LEAST 8 years away from becoming an actual youtuber.

But also, I FINALLY know why I could never quite agree with any of the "Which Mr Darcy is the most Mr Darcy of all" pieces I ever read. Because I KNOW MR DARCY. Believe me, I know him inside out. As the Janeite I am, I must have read that book at least 6 times in the last 28 years. And although I adore many of the actors who impersonated Mr Darcy over the years, I never felt any of them completely 'nailed him'. Thanks to Baroness Greenfield, now I know why.

There are many marketeers in my LinkedIN network. So if you are reading this, I urge you to have a look at Susan Greenfield's website, work, or buy her book. It's eye opening for those of us who, like me, have to concentrate 90% of their work on online platforms.

Just don't bother calling her to tell her she's your new major intellectual crush, I have tweeted her already (I figured my usual wax-sealed letter could take a teensy bit too long).