Forget Twentysomethings; Let Carol Brady Teach You Social Media

I thought I'd gotten it out of my system--my weariness about constantly reading/hearing about how "young" people are the only ones who can inherently "get" social media because they've grown up with it....but like a pesky stomach bug that seems to go away only to return with a vengeance, I had to stumble on this post and now I'm back in rant mode. Most annoying quotes from this piece:

"In formal programs or informal sit-downs, companies are assigning junior staff members to serve as social media guides for their senior ones."

"Many organizations eager to strengthen their presence in the online world have discovered that they have the perfect consultants on their staffs: 20-somethings who live in that world."

Dude. We ALL live in that world now. My freakin' MOM is 70 and she "lives in that world"--recommends video blogs about makeup, refers me to articles about Facebook and Twitter, keeps me up to date on what the Bloggess is up to. Carol Brady (I mean, Florence Henderson) lives in that world and wants to be the steward to other older people. So does Jane Fonda.

Pretty please, mainstream media--can you stop perpetuating the myth that the only appropriate guides for "older" people into the scary world of social media are "younger" people? Seriously. It's getting really, well, old.