Those are a nice collection of today's reality. Someone on FB the other night posted pictures from the 50's, 60's of parents, kids, and others engaging in the one activities they could back in the day, fantastic pic's of people ice skating at several different rinks around the city, sledding, including a ski jump and a homemade wooden toboggan run down a hill. There was even a picture of adults ice skating out over the frozen river. They use to, according to descriptions in the pics, clear the ponds off and have the fire department come in with water to make a nice ice sheen on top of the frozen pond. There were also warming centers, or where you could also change into your skates in the buildings in the park. Years ago they stopped letting people skate out on the ponds, or at least by way of no longer maintaining the rinks, or opening the warming rooms, now there's just one rink downtown built on a concrete area that serves as a small concert venue during the summer.
All those tech pictures though speak the truth, I have one grandson though that having a VR has worked wonders for him, as hard as that is to believe. He drives me crazy always on that thing but somehow, after being the picked on grunt of the litter, so to speak, which carried a negative impact on his ability in school to get along with other kids as he took everything the wrong way, being on that VR has brought about social change in him, and his behavior and grades in school have picked up tremendously. I don't think he, like I do, happens to see the correlation that between being judged or picked on by others, that when you take that out of the equation because they can't see you, opened up a whole new level for him where he can concentrate among his peers to accomplish the same goals, and it has helped him do the same in his personal endeavors. I was way worried about it for a bit but once I found out he's flourishing at school and making friends, I figure sometimes I guess it can work out for the better.