Our town has
sidewalks and tree lined streets. A
couple of days ago I was driving through town and saw a man and his wife walking
toward the college and behind them were two small boys that looked about eight
and ten years old. Both of these boys
had a cellphone out and were totally absorbed in whatever was on their
individual phones. This left me
wondering what these boys will be like as grownups. If they are so enmeshed
with technology at their age, what sort of social change will technology have
brought about fifty or seventy-five years from now?
Now I know I
am out of touch – I am supposed to be out of touch: I am old and of a different
generation.
Historically,
when old men yell at clouds it is because they have seen it all before; except
with a different cast of characters.
But, this
time it is different. I am still a
repository of cultural change; but change has never happened at this speed
before.
I lived
through a time when AM radio and newspapers were the standard for
communication; where passenger aircraft flew at 125 miles per hour; where
telephones had a real person answer instead of a dial tone. I have lived through and witnessed changes,
but these changes came along at a comfortable rate.
There has
been more technological and cultural change in the last sixteen years that
there was in the prior sixty years of my life.
Those two
boys should have been pushing and shoving and grabassing instead of walking
like two zombies controlled by an electronic media. What will their generation be like after a
youth void of human interaction and after a childhood void of imagination and
wonder? I am sure they will fit into
their future; but I can’t help but wonder what kind of alien future they will
exist in.
Change has come at a remarkable speed. Technology has replaced personage and
redefined human interaction.
If you are a
young person, fasten your seatbelt - because the world of tomorrow is going to
look nothing like the world of today.
the Ol'Buzzard
the Ol'Buzzard
I see that all the time..wonder what life will be like for them in 15 years.
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