Monday, January 16, 2017

Reflecting And Connecting Both Technology And My Childhood

One advantage being unemployed is having all the time in the world; in particular, to fix unexpected problems immediately. I discovered water inside the passenger side front and rear of my car earlier today. I vacuumed the water with a wet-vac. I placed the car mats outside to dry in the sun after I wet-vac the mats. I drove around on the freeway with the air conditioning on maximum cold and highest fan running errands for 45 minutes. I hope I unclogged the A/C drain. I ruled out a leaking heater core, leaking windshield seal, and leaking sun roof for now. I check my car tomorrow morning.

I looked at the children at a private school across the street between vacuuming. I was reminded when I was a child in grade school. My childhood didn't have smart phones, tablets, desktop PCs and the internet. My video game console was the Atari 2600. My childhood friends called each other on the landline telephone to communicate. My childhood friends physically spent time together to socialize. My childhood friends communicated silently exchanging written notes or letters. My childhood friends researched information reading books.

Today's children have access to mobile phones, tablets, and desktop PCs to access the internet. The devices give children many more choices to play video games. In addition, there are more video game consoles such as the Playstation, XBOX, and Nintendo. The devices give children more choices to communicate anywhere. The devices give children more choices to socialize even by themselves in their rooms. The devices give children texting, posting, and emailing to communicate silently. The internet is accessed to research information.

A common concern among today's children is social skills. Today's technology is creating more isolation among today's children. Children need to get out, meet people, and make new friends face to face. Children develop social awkwardness, weak self-esteem and poor communication skills when they reach their teenage and young adult years. My quick opinion is these experts don't know what the children's future regarding human relations. We don't know the future. Maybe the new social normal is communicating anywhere and anytime without face to face interaction. Friendships online is good as friendships offline. There is nothing to fear. Human communication is human communication. Today's technology gives us more communication choices. Everyone is talking to each other. There is less need for human face to face interaction socially, professionally, and with family.

Finally, I observed a couple walking their child. The father was pushing a tricycle the couple's child was riding. There was no communication between the father and child. The mother who appeared to be expecting their second child was on her smart phone. The distance between the mother and the father became longer because the mother slowed down her walking pace. I stopped observing when the mother stopped her walk and the father waited for her 75 feet away.


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