Going Forward to the Past
Editorial Board
Issue date: 3/16/10 Section: Opinion
Remember life without Google? Remember when iPods were CD players, or even those portable cassette/radio players? How about when you had to use a pay phone or other landline phone instead of your cell phone?
What is happening to our childhoods? They are slowly being lost to new and exciting technologies that are meant to make our lives simpler. But we all made it here, so were those devices (or lack thereof) all that complicated to begin with?
Our generation, much like the generations before us, is entering a point where we will eventually look back at "how things were" with longing eyes. We will wonder what happened to VCRs and tapes, which will soon be replaced entirely by DVDs and whatever replaces that. Technology grows at an exponential rate, but should we accept the future or hold on to the past?
We have one idea: that finally society will become so mechanized that the individual will lose all personal freedom. However, he will have become so slow whitted, and over-stimulated by his environment that he will not long for the freewill that he has freely handed over to those powerful few who now control his existance. He will be comfortable, living his life in the same manner as an old house cat. If he ever does find himself wanting for more he can always take a prozac or play with a ball of yarn.
But that will never happen, right?
Society needs to move forward, we get that, and for the most part the innovations that are becoming a part of everyday society are more of a blessing than a stigma. We love that if we don't know something, we can go "Google it;" that we will never have to deal with rewinding anything ever again in our lives; and that we can talk to anyone at any time anywhere.
But at the same time, will we have to tell our kids to go Google something when we don't know the answer ourselves? Or even worse, have them correct us when we tell them something is true only to have it thrown back in our face? And what about those cell phones? Okay, so you're nervous about your kid whenever they're not around, but is giving them a cell phone when they're in middle school the right answer? We obviously got around just fine before cell phones on people were as common as shoes and underpants. We think your 12-year-old will be fine too.
What is happening to our childhoods? They are slowly being lost to new and exciting technologies that are meant to make our lives simpler. But we all made it here, so were those devices (or lack thereof) all that complicated to begin with?
Our generation, much like the generations before us, is entering a point where we will eventually look back at "how things were" with longing eyes. We will wonder what happened to VCRs and tapes, which will soon be replaced entirely by DVDs and whatever replaces that. Technology grows at an exponential rate, but should we accept the future or hold on to the past?
We have one idea: that finally society will become so mechanized that the individual will lose all personal freedom. However, he will have become so slow whitted, and over-stimulated by his environment that he will not long for the freewill that he has freely handed over to those powerful few who now control his existance. He will be comfortable, living his life in the same manner as an old house cat. If he ever does find himself wanting for more he can always take a prozac or play with a ball of yarn.
But that will never happen, right?
Society needs to move forward, we get that, and for the most part the innovations that are becoming a part of everyday society are more of a blessing than a stigma. We love that if we don't know something, we can go "Google it;" that we will never have to deal with rewinding anything ever again in our lives; and that we can talk to anyone at any time anywhere.
But at the same time, will we have to tell our kids to go Google something when we don't know the answer ourselves? Or even worse, have them correct us when we tell them something is true only to have it thrown back in our face? And what about those cell phones? Okay, so you're nervous about your kid whenever they're not around, but is giving them a cell phone when they're in middle school the right answer? We obviously got around just fine before cell phones on people were as common as shoes and underpants. We think your 12-year-old will be fine too.
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