Perception is everything - the iPhone edition

Recently I did a round of visits to some clients North East of Melbourne's CBD. 

While waiting in reception at the third company that I visited , I took out my iPhone, and proceeded to share up to the business Facebook page a photograph that I had taken earlier that morning at the first client I had visited. 

Now, most of my clients are printers, and they almost all invariably have an old Heidelberg, or some other older antique piece of print history somewhere onsite. 

The picture I had taken was of a really old original printers tray displayed in the reception area. It's not something you see very often. It was (at least to me anyway) a beautiful piece of history. 

While I was  typing in the text and comments to go with the picture, waiting in reception at client number 3, they came out to meet me and saw me on the phone. 

My client started laughing and said something about not playing on phones, and being present in the real world. To which I replied with laughter, that I was in fact working. 

His immediate response, "No, you're playing games, that's what you all do" 

So I showed him the photograph, and explained that I was putting it up on Facebook, tagging my client in it, and referencing how much I loved these little pieces of history. All of which would get some publicity on my client through our social media reach. 

He was a little stumped. I don't think he quite believed me that this was work. 

The whole exchange got me thinking though. The obvious place to go to explain his assumptions is his age, or make it a generational thing. But it's neither of those, because I doubt that he's much older that any number of adult Australians that do embrace technology and social media. 

No - I think his immediate assumptions and comments point to an internal struggle to adapt that is more about his personality type than anything else. 

And I see it as siren call to all printers, one that I repeat ad nauseum whenever I'm in a crowd of printers or print industry types. Adapt, or die. At least try to change. 

The work, and the world, will change around you, no matter what you do: so you have a choice, change with it, or fall behind.

Whatever your perceptions of technology, if the rest of the world sees it differently, you're going to be little stuck eventually if you don't come with us.