The other night I looked around the living room while watching the recorded Lakers game and checking the surf forecast on my phone. Dawn was playing World of Warcraft on her laptop. Meghan was listening to Justin Bieber (presumably) on her Ipod touch, while cruising YouTube on her laptop. All the while, our DVR was recording shows we are 'too busy' to watch at the time they air. I love technology, but that scene made me nostalgic for the days when families got together to watch the idiotbox, play boardgames, or actually talk to each other. I'm guilty as anyone. I'm the biggest hypocrite. I will simultaneously watch TV, play Scrabble with Friends on my Iphone, and surf the net on the laptop.
I remember rolling my eyes and complaining about TV show viewing choices Mom and Dad made, yet still remember every episode of 'Dallas', 'The Love Boat', and 'Fantasy Island' ever made. Dawn and I watch a couple of recorded shows together, but it's difficult to recall all three of us sitting down and watching the same show, recorded, or not.
I started thinking about the technology factor, and how, at the same time, makes life easier, but somewhat less enjoyable. I can look at the beach conditions from bed, thanks to the webcams. Sure, it lets me write off days with bad conditions and score the days that are good, but allows everyone else do the same thing. Used to be we had to take a chance and hope for the best, sometimes scoring it good and empty. That hardly ever happens now, thanks to high tech forecasts and cameras. I can be reached anytime, anywhere. Great for those important to me, but it sucks for the rest. Dawn read about 35 books on her Kindle last year. Nice and convenient, but what happens when she reads a good book and I want to check it out. Books smell awesome. I like dog-earring the page to keep my place. I like bookcases full of books, not flashdrives full of books.
Meghan was watching 'Glee' in the living room while I ate in the dining room. I heard the theme from 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' being performed by a bunch of supposedly high school students who would have never seen the actual movie before. Meghan assumed it was a new song she had never heard before. This lead to a lesson on the RHPS, with the use of Iphones, Google, IMDB (Internet movie database), and laptops, no less. Dawn and I explained how people dressed up in costumes and went to midnight showings of the movie and all of the shenanigans that went on during the movie (dancing, throwing toast, etc) I said, "People did stuff like that to be with their friends. Now all people do to connect with their friends is 'poke' them on facebook, DM them on Twitter, email, and text. We had about 10 channels and nothing on in the middle of the day, shitty video games, no cell phones, no computers, no Internet, no DVDs, no movies on demand, and no Facebook, so we went outside, rode our bikes from friends house to friends house, gathering up the gang. Then spent the day jumping our BMX bikes, playing racquetball at the park, hittin Pup n Taco for lunch, and playing 'Ditch em' (hide and seek with teams)." To which she said, "Man, I totally wish I was born back then! That sounds sooo fun." I guess the grass is always greener, but Dawn and I looked at each other, recall our own time growing up, and said, "Yeah, it was pretty rad."
"Yeah Dad, it was 'Rad', what. a. dork." she said. And we're back.
4 comments:
What bums you out about technology, and what do you get nostalgic for?
You hit the nail on the head, so to speak. People who want to actually talk face to face, visit someone, etc. are looked at as "old fashioned -- get with the times". I wonder how many of the messed up kids I see in school could have an attitude adjustment by just feeling part of the family with a family dinner, or talk to each other before everyone leaves for their hectic lives in the morning. You can say we had dinner alot in front of the tv, but we were still sharing those moments together. How about the sharing time with your paper route at 4 a.m. with Dad. That was special time for both of you, although sleepy time too.
Everything is planned out for the kids these days. They don't seem to have time to just "play" and use their imagination. I know Meghan has a great imagination and used is so often which is good. Parents think they have to keep their kids busy all the time -- no down time. Kids say they are bored -- they could learn to find interesting things to do. Not knowing how the surf was going to be lead to different fun things if it was sloppy, like breakfast with your brother before going home. That was a great connection.
There is so much technology in our lives which isn't bad, but leads people inward in their lives many times. I see families at the restaurants with the kids listening to their Ipods and parents on laptops or phones. How many times have you seen two people eating together and both are on their phones either talking or texting not paying any attention to the other one. When is it time for FAMILY. Also time in the car with the family was always (usually) fun. Families talked to one another and entertwined their lives and talked about their surroundings and play car games like I Spy. Now you drive up to a van in front of you and you see videos going for the kids in the back seat. I am not saying that is bad -- it is a great help on long trips, but these are people just driving from one place in the city to another. Why can't they talk to one another? We all get in this rut.
You brought back so many memories with this blog -- I loved it.
So true. I'm guilty of the smartphone at the restaurant too often. It seems like the tech. Is letting us get more done in a day, but we are doing everything passively, instead of focusing on one task at a time. Having my attention split between so many things at once is exhausting. Then you get the, "Babe, I told you that two days ago, and you said 'Yeah, no problem.'" "But Honey, that's usually my go to, when I'm not listening to you." I'm pretty much every guy in that "Really?!" cell phone commercial.
I would comment on this post, but I am too busy answering emails, talking to a customer on the phone, texting Michelle, Facebooking, Tweeting and watcing the Quiksilver Pro live...
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