Free Thoughts 6/14/13

Although I may be a car owner and driver I long for the days when children ruled the road.  When yelling "car!" was the universal 'time-out' meant to get everyone to wait on the curb until someone else shouted back "game on!".  I'm not a fan of the deep retrospect of 'it was a simpler time' but it really is the truth.  Technology has changed so much in the way we develop, infiltrating our childhoods that the newer generation couldn't possibly relate.

I don't intend this to be a tech bashing post, for one reason, I simply wouldn't be able to write this, or you read this, if it weren't for the technological advancements made since we were children, and more importantly   I would most likely not be a published author if it weren't for the same or similar technologies.

This is directed to the disconnect that's created for children that is going to change interactions as they grow. And there are plenty of studies already out there and still be conducted about the difference in socializing from then and now and what it might mean in the future.

This is clearly not one of those studies. This is just my observations of parents shutting their children up with tablets, teens listening to their iPods or texting at the dinner table instead of participating in actual conversation.  Surely at this point I sound like a crotchety old man, but I'm only 30 years old (not helping is the fact I used crotchety)

The peak of this, and one of my most shameful acts with the fairer sex (and trust me there's plenty) came when I actually asked a girl out on a date through a text.  This is something I'm vehemently against, however I hadn't seen or spoken to this particular girl in any form for months.  Still no excuse, but I convinced myself that since we've never spoken on the phone before, it'd be too awkward to actually call her for the first time after so long of no communication to ask her out.  After pressing 'send' before she replied I really hoped she had enough morals to not say yes to a guy who couldn't bother to put himself on the line and at the very least call her.  And I can let you know she did in fact say no. Now, I have no way of telling whether that was because of how I asked or because she had no interest (come on, we all know that can't be the case... right?) but I'm content in believing that she had more respect for herself than that.

This is compounded with the knowledge that I was recently broken up with via text.  As upset as I was about the break up, my real issue was with how she went about it.  And I know in the long run I won't care how she did, but as it stands, especially immediately after it happened, it really bothered me.  This was a relationship that technology played very little in the development of.  I'm sure the amount of texting we did helped expedite us getting together, but it was inevitable anyway.  We weren't, nor currently are, 'friends' on Facebook.  We never Skyped or anything like that, so for her to break up with me like that was a cowardish move and I told her as much... in a text.  While part of me does believe you can be friends with an ex, not that I am with any, her and I do not talk, and I think a large part of it, is because of her method of doing so.

Why put out those embarrassing stories? Mainly because I have much worse ones already out there and I have no shame, but also to illustrate the fact that even as someone who grew up yelling 'car' I'm subject to the negative effects technology has on our socializing and implore you to teach those growing up after us to learn to shout back "game on!"