How Steemit Became Part of the Family

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The first time I heard about Steemit was about 3 months ago when my daughter, Jacinta, said she joined it. She said it was just like Facebook but unlike Facebook, people who post articles, pictures or drawings get paid for it. I was skeptical about the whole thing. I'm an old man and I like to do things the old fashion way.

There's this generation gap between myself and millenials that has everything to do with their music, language, clothes, hairstyles, and their inexplicable attachment to their cell phones. You ever saw a whole family eating at McDonalds all seated in one table with everyone looking at their cell phones until their orders are served? No one talking to another. Sometimes, even the mom and dad are in on it as well. I go nuts looking at this and I would say to myself, "What a waste of togetherness."

This irritating bond between yuppie and cell phone is like a plague. It's everywhere, including my home. My kids spend more time surfing the web than helping out in the household chores (my wife and I long ago resolved that with 2 daughters in the house, we do not need any maids). It was, and still is, a struggle to get them off their phones so they can help with the laundry or with the dishes or with fixing their rooms. Any of this sound familiar?

My daughters, as bonded as they are for life it seems to their mobile phones, also had another avocation. If they weren't glued to their phones while grudgingly doing the dishes or mopping the floor, they were always drawing. They would draw, sketch, color, paint while somehow managing to type messages at the same time on their phones. Wow. Talk of multi-tasking. I have to say, though, that their drawings were really special and artistic. At least for me they were. I am the father of these 2 girls and of course, I will always say their drawings are very good. Family and bias are closely related.

And so, my daughter joined Steemit.

She would periodically report to me that people would like her drawings and that she was getting paid for the likes she was getting. Oooh. Sounds good. But will she get the money? I felt so sorry for her already because I had this sneaky suspicion she was not gonna get the money at all. I kept on asking her, "Jacinta, when are you going to get your money?" And she would say, she still hadn't figured it out yet but a friend is willing to help her. Now this sounds even more fishy. I felt even sorrier for her. I did not want her to be let down. But she had the faith of a child, believing in this platform like a child trusting her parents. She began to draw even more, multi-tasking beyond what I thought was possible. She would invite friends to join Steemit, extolling the positive features of the platform even if she had not cashed out a single cent. One day, she asked me for my bank account because she said she was going to deposit some of her earnings there. And the rest is history.

My other daughter, my son and finally myself all joined Steemit.

I have evolved into someone I did not realize myself turning into. To my surprise, I have now developed a certain attachment to my mobile phone (WHAT?). I am perpetually logged into Steemit and I find it really very hard to resist the urge to open the site and check on my blogs, what my daughters are posting and what other Steemit members are blogging. My wife and myself have suddenly realized that this is just what my daughters need. A platform where they can express their creativities and have their peer judge them for their worth and weight in gold, or Steem for that matter. Now, I begin to see that being old fashion and sticking to the old ways of doing things may not be entirely good for the well being of those around you. Now I begin to understand why my daughters find it difficult to just drop what they are doing when they are asked to. It's called continuity and train of thought which if disturbed can lead to mediocrity what would otherwise be brilliance.

Adjustment? You bet. And it's amazing. Thanks to Steemit.