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Friday, August 31, 2012

Today's Zombie Apocolypse



This concept 30 years ago would have impacted people like a meteor.  Today, there's a trance-like Stepford Wives sort of acceptance of being connected to the network.  We do it without even thinking about it.  Shouldn't we at least THINK about it?

30 years ago we were all concerned with how straight the part was in our hair, and mostly no one ever saw it.  Today, parts aren't so important... and everyone sees them.  It used to be rude to interrupt someone when they were talking to you... now, we say, "Wait a minute" in the middle of someone's sentence and answer a conversation taking place via text message.

We wish 50 people a happy birthday via Facebook, but don't make personal phone calls to many of our closest relatives on their birthdays.  I used to call my grandmother every other week at the minimum. Does anyone do that anymore?  I knew her phone number when I was 6 years old... I used to call her before my mom woke up on Saturday mornings. At family holidays we played with our cousins - actually interacting with them (sometimes fighting with them) - now there's a video screen they stare at.

We think we're so connected.  Remembering how different it was for me as a child, makes me sad for the "feeling" of being a child that today's children will never experience... the outdoor play, the imagination we used in building forts and matchbox car layouts from whatever we found on the ground... twigs, leaves, a rock that we scraped the roads into the dirt with.  Now someone in China makes those things, with colorful plastic and stickers all over it.  The reason it's so dangerous for kids to play outside is because there are so few of them out there.. so few of their parents sitting on the porch having a glass of iced tea and keeping an eye on the neighborhood... the shades are drawn so you can see the TV - nothing happens "outside the box."


What personal relationship aspects of your childhood do you see missing today?  

2 comments:

  1. Now they even have an app to help you play/act during your walk. Why didn't I think of that?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh... the apps are crazy!! Someone suggested an app for reminding people to LOOK UP, just to remind them to participate in the real world. LOL

    ReplyDelete