I remember, as a child, what I did when not in school and how I spent my time. Now mind you this was before the cell phone, the internet and even before compact discs. I grew up in the days when our telephone was a landland that was posted up on the wall in the kitchen and 'hands free' meant that you held it in the crook of your neck and got a cord extension so that it could move around the room while my mom talked on it and did her chores. Or if you were trying for a little privacy you could take it around the corner to whisper.
We didn't have computers yet, at least they were not mainstream. but we did have a television, only one, and it was stationed in the living room and had a set of pliers to change the dials and wire hangers for an antenna.
I remember that in the mornings after the news, I would watch cartoons like Tom and Jerry, The flintstones, The jetsons, Voltron, He-man and the superheros like wonder woman, isis and superman.
Once all was done inside then it was time to go outside and play with friends. We didn't have hoverboards or any of the fancy new fangled toys. We had basic stuff like skateboards, skates with four wheels and bicycles for those lucky enough to afford those. We didn't have video games so all our games were the product of our imagination and we were only limited by what we could invent. We played kick the can, stick ball and boy if anyone threw out a mattress...there was no limit to the games we could invent around it!
We fell, we got up, we fought and became friends again. We dared each other to do gross stuff. We ate dirt, got dirty and interacted with each other.
Our interactions were face to face and when you called someone a name you did it to their face and you would deal with the consequences of whatever they did to you.
We faced our bullies...win lose or draw and we banned together. We didn't need watches because we knew that we better be home by dark and every grown up in the neighborhood was a spy!
I remember that all your friends knew who had a crush on who, we wrote letters to express our feelings and we passed notes..........if you love me, check yes or no!
I look back on those times now and I mourn the loss--many children will never know that type of freedom.
Technology in its beauty and innovation has become a prison. We are now chained to phones, computers, video games, and tablets. We rely on social media for interaction and we are judged popular or worthy based on the number of friends or followers.
The art of conversation is lost to cold easily misunderstood modified text language.
Even when we are together we are so busy looking at our phones that we miss looking at each other. Nobody knows their neighbors anymore. Fights are done in digital space where you don't have to face the person and the cultivation of cruelty is fostered because there is no fear of repercussion. Every inane moment of your life has to be posted, there is no confidentiality, nothing is private or sacred because everything is post worthy.
When I look at our "progress" in its totality, I realize that we have not progressed as much as we have given up our freedom for the construct.
