As you know, when it comes to certain matters (white skirts post Labor Day, underwear as outerwear) I'm hopelessly old fashioned—and I prefer it that way! But when it comes to communication, I absolutely must be plugged in at all times—whether it's iPhone blogging in the back of a cab or Facebook friending in the waiting room. Yet sometimes, a text doesn't take the place of an old-fashioned phone call—or does it?
When you hear a piece of up-to-the-minute gossip do you spill it via text or make a few phone calls to share it with friends? And how do you prefer to hear from the gossips in your life?
We live in a technology craved and savvy society. We were raised on computers and completely avoided changing the ribbon in a typewriter. Where email was once considered a great and convenient form of communication, IM quickly followed and replaced such. ICQ, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! robbed our youth of precious hours, hours that we should have been spent studying or doing anything productive. Text messaging now has become the latest and greatest form of communication. In a situation where you can’t talk or know your recipient will not be available, send a quick SMS. Trying to reach out to the masses? What better way to send a message to 100+ people letting them know the latest gossip or the location of this weekends party, as opposed to individually calling all of them. Face it, we are no longer Chatty Cathy’s, nor can we afford to be so unless the person whom we are calling has the same cell carrier or (choke - $$) you have unlimited minutes.
While we all pine for the new cell, computer, PDA, etc…we luckily were taught (and some of us retained), the value of a dollar. However, it appears that our youngest generation is spoon-fed the latest and hippest of technology. Elementary kids now peruse the malls and movie theaters with iPhones and Blackberries, often with their Louis, Coach or Prada in tow. At that age, what can all of them be gossiping about via text?? I shutter to think if there is any similarity in conversation. Not to mention, this winter’s Chanel might be a fashion staple, but seriously, how much Bonnie Smacker lip gloss can one really use to carry such? You know that it doesn’t or shouldn’t hold the wallet, checkbook, keys – and if for any blessed reason it does, then we really need to ask ourselves, “How and why did we get here?” Kids are growing up even faster now days; provocative clothing, sex, drinking and drugs. Rather than enabling them, shouldn’t we want them and just let them be kids?
We live in a technology craved and savvy society. We were raised on computers and completely avoided changing the ribbon in a typewriter. Where email was once considered a great and convenient form of communication, IM quickly followed and replaced such. ICQ, AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! robbed our youth of precious hours, hours that we should have been spent studying or doing anything productive. Text messaging now has become the latest and greatest form of communication. In a situation where you can’t talk or know your recipient will not be available, send a quick SMS. Trying to reach out to the masses? What better way to send a message to 100+ people letting them know the latest gossip or the location of this weekends party, as opposed to individually calling all of them. Face it, we are no longer Chatty Cathy’s, nor can we afford to be so unless the person whom we are calling has the same cell carrier or (choke - $$) you have unlimited minutes.
While we all pine for the new cell, computer, PDA, etc…we luckily were taught (and some of us retained), the value of a dollar. However, it appears that our youngest generation is spoon-fed the latest and hippest of technology. Elementary kids now peruse the malls and movie theaters with iPhones and Blackberries, often with their Louis, Coach or Prada in tow. At that age, what can all of them be gossiping about via text?? I shutter to think if there is any similarity in conversation. Not to mention, this winter’s Chanel might be a fashion staple, but seriously, how much Bonnie Smacker lip gloss can one really use to carry such? You know that it doesn’t or shouldn’t hold the wallet, checkbook, keys – and if for any blessed reason it does, then we really need to ask ourselves, “How and why did we get here?” Kids are growing up even faster now days; provocative clothing, sex, drinking and drugs. Rather than enabling them, shouldn’t we want them and just let them be kids?
1 comment:
I definitely agree with you KCG, in regards to the children of today growing up far too quickly, but what is a parent to do? The only thing that can be done is to not "push" them into maturity, but you also must be careful to not pull them back into "immaturity". They must be allowed to grow at their own pace, which will undoubtedly be influenced by countless outside sources that are dangling the idea of being a "teen", and then next a "twenty-something".
Post a Comment