Remember when we were kids and after a week of waking up early and going to school, come home, and have dinner with the. family after homework and running around outside. We’d then encounter Saturday mornings. We’d wake up early, get ourselves downstairs to the kitchen, pour some cereal into a bowl, and sit in front of the television and watch cartoons? Then on Sunday if we grew up so, we’d go to church with the family. And then later perhaps visit the grandparents. Help them around the house, have an early dinner. Talk about everything. And then do it all again.
This seems missing from kid’s routines these days. Not much outside time. Not much dinners together as a family. No looking forward to an early Saturday morning. It’s all instant dopamine from devices. Sleeping in. No thank you notes or greeting cards. No phone calls, but quick messages with deliberate misspelling. And I think humanity is slowly suffering for it.
It’s a wonderful time of technological advancements no doubt. But it’s a huge social downgrade for many kids and adults alike. Phones at restaurants. Phones at concerts. The inability to sit in a car an watch the world go by. Can’t wait in a line or waiting room without stimulation. Can’t take a hike or get lost in the woods. Or ride bikes on dirt paths until the street lights come on.
The 80s were better. Atari 2600. Apple ][+. Typing code from magazines. Cracking software. Enjoying the best time for music in recent memory. Going to football games and hanging out at a pizza shop afterwards. Calling for dates and talking on the phone for hours until your ears hurt. Walking places. Getting outside as much as possible. Experiencing more of life with others.
It was all so glorious. Kids miss out on this stuff today. And when adults try to help these kids out, we’re made to feel insignificant. If only more of these kids figured it all out in time. Alas.