The Good 'Ole Daze

The Good 'Ole Daze
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Remember the Good Old Days? You know-back when you were a kid and things were different? It always seems like things were better then...the way we all remember it. We had better shows, better schools, better politics...or was that just the way we remember it? As we get older, we sometimes get a little nostalgic when we see something we enjoyed claiming it was ‘better’ when in reality, it was terrible.

Technology comes to mind first. What did we have that was groundbreaking technology to enhance our lives? A TV? A television is just an over-sized, non-interactive iPad with very limited choices of content.

When I was younger, we had just a few channels-and we had to get up off our butts to turn the TV on, turn the volume up or down and change the channel to one of the other 2 or 3 channels available. NO REMOTES. That’s right-back then the only remote control a parent had was a child. Parents had to procreate three or four children just to make sure they always had one or more child they could shout at to change the channel or the volume.

All we had back then was network television and when the president spoke, he was on EVERY SINGLE CHANNEL! Now we have hundreds of channels, yet we still complain that ‘there’s nothing to watch’. We were so thankful when betamax video players came out and we could watch movies from home! Eventually that movie watching from home evolved to a VCR, next to a laserdisc then to a DVD player to a Bluray and now we just turn on our TVs and stream everything.

What about driving directions in our vehicles? Can we even imagine a world and a time when we didn’t know exactly where everything is? Back in the day when men were too proud to pull over and ask for directions, men would literally drive around for hours looking for that road or street until a wife or a girlfriend would whip out an enormous, outdated paper map or force her man to pull over and ask for directions at a gas station. These days, we have apps on our phones that not only tells us where a restaurant is but also whether it’s open, what the average rating of their food is and where similar restaurants are that may be closer. Our technology will even call the restaurant for us and tell us if there is road construction or speed traps on the way there. Now instead of a wife or a mother in law yelling turn-by-turn directions at you, a GPS will do it for you in any accent or language you prefer.

No one wants to talk about it, but the fact of the matter is that someone is probably reading this while they sit in all their glory on the porcelain throne...yep, I said it. I know discussing this stinks, but we all do it. I suppose it’s even possible for me to be writing this from the great white throne-you don’t know.

Heaven forbid we use the restroom for 10-45 minutes without our phones! We would be disconnected from the world! We may miss an email, an important political status update from one of our ‘friends’ or worse yet-a picture of the food someone ate before it turns into the very reason we’re on the toilet in the first place. What if someone texted us? What would we do without our technology?...read a magazine?...a shampoo bottle?...or worse yet-focus on the matter at hand? Well that would stink now wouldn’t it?

One of my favorite things our devices help us accomplish is avoiding people. Remember when you had to sit in the car or public transportation and actually engage with other humans?...How terrifying. Now thanks to technology, we don’t even have to look at other humans near or around us let alone speak or engage with them.

What about children’s toys? Of course today, I think we’re calling everyone under 10 “pre-adults” in order to be politically correct. When I was a child We had things like the Pet Rock and Rubik’s Cube. In 2017, the Fidget Spinner phenomena is sweeping the globe...and I thought we were dumb for buying a rock to pet....

Outside of the fidget spinners, kids these days are pretty technologically advanced. I’m pretty sure most teenagers I know could take my job from me mainly because they’re quicker with and more up to speed on technology. Today’s toy companies are actually struggling to make ends meet due to technology being all the rage. I used to play with G.I. Joe action figures and Transformers and today’s kids want iPads, video game consoles and laptop computers. Hey...I have an idea:

I could go on and on, but I’ll wrap this up with the wonderful invention of social media. What would we do without it?

Can you remember what it was like before Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? Our grandchildren will never believe the day ever existed. How did we do it? How did we make it? How did we know everyone else’s business as soon as it happened? What did we do for the countless hours a week we now spend on social media?

Social media has done great good by helping us find long, lost loves or friends and even family. It helps us meet strangers that think alike and strangers as well as friends that don’t think alike. It has plenty of problems and is still relatively young, but for the most part it’s been a great invention. Social media is a tool. Some of us can be tools also-especially when we don’t use social media for good.

It’s been heartwarming to see people come together to help children in need, collecting money and supplies for hurricane victims and victims of other natural disasters. I love seeing this and watching gofundme and other fundraising accounts helping children with serious illnesses and diseases. Complete strangers can all give to assist their fellow man. This is love. This is what social media can do when it’s used in a good way by people who are willing to love and pitch in to help their fellow man. So many times greed, pride, narcissism, lust and hate can wield this fantastic tool for evil. Let’s remember what it feels like to be lonely and be empathetic to those who are in need. Let’s think twice before posting that negative comment-even if it is true. Let us remember what greatness can be accomplished if we each do our part to uplift, motivate, love and encourage with each post and contribution we make on social media. Let’s put our mother’s warning aside and TALK TO STRANGERS (on the internet) and see what we can do to help each other.

Remember, the good old days aren’t just yesterday-they’re today and tomorrow. We’re living them so let’s all work together to make these days “The Good ‘Ole Days”. Now put a smiley face emoji on and happy posting!

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