I talked a while ago about approximeeting:

A group of young people rendezvous by successive approximations, starting with a general idea that they’ll get together, then trading messages among the group to tighten details until they’re all in the same physical space.

I love the word, and the demonstration of how kids will use new tools like cell phones to do what we couldn’t have done. But I saw the flip side of that last weekend. I went to a rock concert at New West Fest. The B-52s played to an outdoor crowd of several thousand. (And yes, everything I know about the B-52s I read on Wikipedia.)

It was a street concert – no seats – and we were jammed. Cell phones were lighting up everywhere in the darkness, and most of the conversations were about the same: “That’s where I am, but I can’t see you….”

In the squash of this crowd the cell phones were useless, the technology failed, the approximeeting strategy couldn’t work.

Now, Rick and Paola and Carol and I could feel amused and ever so slightly superior, because we had agreed that there would be a heck of a crowd, and we’d be smart to meet exactly at the NW corner of Library Park and stick together when we waded into the concert crowd.

My point? Having new skills doesn’t necessarily obviate the need for traditional skills. Anticipating situations. Planning accordingly. Recognizing when the usual method may not work. Recognizing that a plan isn’t working. Problem solving alternatives. Having a back-up plan. Not wearing sandals to a rock concert. (Yeah, OK, I forgot that one….)