Yes I’m using it right now. Acknowledged. Bigger point: My older kids do nothing but use it. Now my 3-year-old can navigate through an iPad/tablet better than I can.
Thoughts?
Yeah I have some. Fuck you society. I don’t need this shit. I have enough to worry about. I don’t need your texting devices. I don’t need your laptops, GPS’s, apps, facebook, whatever. I don’t even need your caller ID. Give me back my landline to the family house where it was always a mystery as to who was calling. Give me back the awkwardness of a phone ringing several times and upon an answer me asking ‘is Michelle there?’ to a semi-annoyed 6th-grade parent, now having to go find his/her little girl to come to the phone, only to result in 30-45 minutes of awkward puppy-love talk and mostly silence, all so I can say…’yeah we’re going out’ to anyone in school who asks.
How great was that? Thank you 1994. Warren Moon. Wednesday after school bowling leagues. Study hall. Recess. Lighting…What a life. No excuse to not do anything active. There was always something. Active. Active. Active. If there was a fight,..it was over a basketball, football, or soccer game in the playground/neighborhood, and it was always quickly resolved/written off (even at that age) as a result of competitiveness.
Now a fight at that age happens after a few minutes on the couch looking at instagram/facebook/snapchat. I’m assuming out of jealousy/envy/replies. It makes me want to put my hand through a wall, and I’m generally not a violent guy. The thing that pisses me off the most: Society has put me in a position where I’m gonna be considered the old guy on the front porch, barking at your kids to get off my lawn… over this issue.
There is literally no way I can tell my two younger kids: ‘just cause everyone’s doing it doesn’t mean you have to do it too’ when it comes to this issue. It’s not like jumping off a bridge, smoking cigarettes or staying out late. This is how these kids communicate now.
Again. Fuck you society.
Everything my dad (best in the world) has ever taught me, I now have to work twice as hard to pass down. Why? See all the above.
He didn’t have to deal with me needing my phone. Or any other bullshit social media function.
He’d just hit me fly balls for hours, after which he’d still have plenty of time to windsurf. He’d go out on the Columbia River Gorge to a 4’6 wind, between barges, never worrying about my sister and I. We were too busy exploring, swimming, throwing rocks, etc…The only technology around being a CB radio in the motor home we’d occasionally screw around on.
Back then I loved Donruss baseball cards. Why? I wanted a Ken Griffey Jr or Kirby Puckett. Not a cell phone or an iPad. Anyone born after 2008 probably has no idea what baseball cards even are. Not sure they even sell packs of cards anymore for any sport. I doubt it. Still, I love the fact that every time we stopped at a gas station on our road trips I’d tug at my dad’s shirt asking ‘can I get a back of baseball cards?’. His response was always the same…’We’ll see’. Hahaha. Love that man. He’s always had such a good barometer of what’s going on around him. Speaking of which. He’s a Minnesota sports fan. And although the 1998 Vikings are the best team any of us have ever seen, the last championship to the twin cities came from this team: (and I didn’t have to look it up, trust me).
1991 Minnesota Twins starting lineup: (by batting order)
Gladden LF, Knoblauch 2b(r), Puckett CF, Davis DH, Hrbek 1B, Harper C, Mack LF, Luois (or Paglario) 3B, Gagne SS. Morris, Tapani, Erickson. Aguilara.
Anyway, I hope at some point, before its all over, the Vikings find a way to win one. And if they do, or even if they come close, Social media will have nothing to do with the contact my father and I, or my friends and I, have with each other at that time. I’ll make sure of that.
The worry is how can I expect the same from any of my four kids 1-25 years from now?
Fuck you social media.
