Life in the 21st Century has become very complicated. As a result of our ingenuity and in an effort to make life easier, tens of thousands of time saving devices have been invented. As a result, we spend more learning to use a multitude of new products than the time we might actually save by using them.
Just think of the things that we did not have 20 years ago: The World Wide Web, GPS navigation, MP3 devices, digital cameras, the Windows operating system, wireless networking and HDTV. Cell phones were in their infancy, and were reserved for those wealthy enough to afford them.
And as soon as we purchase one of these cutting edge technologies, it is supplanted with a later and greater model, making our shiny new purchase obsolete within two years. So everything we had to learn about using the product is also in need of replacement.
There is something both unsatisfying and unsettling about this endless cycle of innovation and obsolescence. There is always an underlying gnawing at the spirit that tugs our consciousness away from the essence of what life really is.
When I was growing up, life was parks and picnics and zoos. It was sandlot baseball and touch football in the street. It was hiking through the woods, building tree houses with scrap lumber and picking up discarded "pop" bottles to carry to the penny candy store. A bottle was worth two cents of candy, and with ten bottles, you would get a sack full of treats.
The highlight of every week was on Sunday, after church and dinner, we would all go to Grandma Weisser's house for a visit and root beer floats. There were twelve of us and often our cousins were there, and grandma's house was very small, but somehow, it never seemed crowded. Instead it emoted only feelings of unfettered joy and happiness.
I would trade my laptop, my GPS, my digital Nikon (gulp) and this plethora of electronic gizmos for just one more root beer float with grandma on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon.
Photo courtesy of SmokyPhotos.com
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Mmm... having two boys is actually bringing a part of my childhood back. Sandlots and zoos, going on a picnic... with the latest technology - e.g. portable DVD player and 200 movies, cells phones that download the lastest Disney episodes and play video games - ROTFL. Yes, Richard, I see what you mean... :-)
Richard, Sunday afternoons at Gramma and Granpa's house was such fun. Ah, and sooo much great food and aunts, uncles and cousins! Yep it was a 3 bedroom ranch with only one bath, but there was always plenty of room! Thanks for bringing back such great memories!
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Richard, I just had to come back over here and feature this post. I can't stop smiling while comparing what I used to do to what my kids do today for entertainment. My six year old has access to stuff that wasn't even imagined (LOL).
Thanks for taking our minds back in times --- to the good old days! Precious memories!
Richard, It was a different time that sadly, will never return. Back then I could go out with my friends in the morning and my mother would say "make sure you're home in time for dinner." I feel sorry for parents nowadays who have to wrap their children up in a bubble to protect them.
Now, if I could only have one type of charger for the plethora of electronic devices I seem to need to run my life I'd be happy. Somehow, I believe that none of our "Grandma's" are that far away.
Carolyn...
I was going to add something like ... we can't even have dinner without a text message beeping or someone with buds in their ears ... lol thanks for saying it better than I ever could! And thanks for the feature!
Laura...
Do you ever remember saying something like "I don't have anything to do" while at grandma's house? I don't! THX
Norma...
I long for simplicity! I'm ready for a rocking chair and a root beer float! lol and thanks.
Well ya know...it's hard to mass-monetize a trip to the park or grandma's house. That's why we have all these gadgets, 'cause somebody wanted to make some money...but we can say NO to many of these things and be perfectly happy.
When they were small, my daughters asked me what videos I watched when I was little. I told them we had no videos and only black & white TV. They of course were shocked. When i told them we had to get up and physically change the channel on that TV, I think they were actually traumatized for awhile.
Take care.
Yes you said it Richard...my kid is 12 and is already asking me for a new laptop..what...the one you have isn't enough? Where was mine when I was 12? How about the new cell phone? I had a bag phone when I was in my 20's:)
Suzanne...
I know that our economy is better as a result, but are we better as a society? I agree with you, do we really NEED them? Thanks so much!
Cindy...
LOLL (Laughing out loud LITERALLY) My daughter asked if we had TV when I was little. Now, I was a black and white manual 3 channel changer, but I'm not THAT old! I am exactly the same age as OPIE on the Andy Griffith show. ;)
Neal...
I remember those ... Costly, wasn't it? I saw one on a "Friends" episode once.
I have one friend, but only one that does not live with much of the modern technology. She doesn't work. Her cell phone is kept in her vehicle, which she rarely drives. She checks email once a month and pays bills by writing checks. She is not old but old fashioned. Her attitude is, "Why do I need all of that? I am doing fine without it." On the other hand, she is very impressed with my ability to take digital pics, download instantly and email around the globe. Perhaps one day I will teach her.
Mel...
I envy her. Of course, I love my digital camera. Oh, and pay-at-the-pump is the best invention EVER! But no, let her stay in her little world ... it's not just the camera ... it's the computer .. and the Internet ... and all of those mind-numbing things that go with it!
Look at US! Do we want THIS for our friends? lol
Richard,
After living all over the U.S. I somehow returned to Miami and live only 10 miles from where I grew up. I drive out there (The Redlands) to see the old spots. Andersons Corner store, (long closed and boarded up)it had 1 cent candies, cold pop and fresh fruit. Thanks, took me back to the front porch days, screen doors and sweet tea and the smell of sunday chicken after church.
Richard, my grand pop lived in a row house in South Philadelphia. Our Sundays included push up ice cream and ginger ale. If you didn't want an ice cream, Grand pop would say in broken English, don't be shamed, hava iceacream. Italian was never spoken as he was ashamed to be an immigrant and wanted his children to speak English. It's hard to believe that we walked everywhere. My parents didn't own a car until I was a teenager and my dad never drove. I was my father's remote control as it was my job to stand by the TV and keep changing the 5 channels we had until something he wanted to watch came on! And, believe it or not, it felt like kind of an honor when I was very small. On summer evenings, the entertainment was sitting out on the stoop with all of our neighbors laughing and talking. On really hot nights, sometimes someone would turn the fire hydrant on. Mr. Softie would come by and if it was a flush week for my mom, we would get ice cream. And aside from some issues with my dad, I was happy. With almost nothing. We had one wall air conditioning unit and when it was really hot we would drag our mattress downstairs and sleep in the living room! I had my mom, I had my cats and I had my books. Life was good.
What's sad about today's plugged in world is that even when we try to have those lazy Sunday evenings or trips to the park and the zoo, the blackberry keeps going off. Sometimes I really long for those days when you could really plug out and connect face to face with people, sigh!
Richard- She thinks I am too stressed!
Susan's comment is very touching. Takes me back a long way...
On the flip side, what's nice about technology is that people like you and I (and others) get to become friends even though we would probably never have met face to face.
Those were great times. We were still able to find our way around without a GPS and it was always fun waiting in anticipation wondering if our pictures were going to turn out. We also spent many Sunday's with our grandparents just being together without the aid of MP3's, cell phones or a laptop. Thanks for the memories.
Hi Richard. Your post gave me the chills. That is good.
Time moves forward. We age, we learn, and hopefully we can still see life innocently through the eyes of our children and grandchildren.
Thanks for writing,
Ken
Richard: Like the new header! And I agree 100% with your post. Technology does take us from what matters most. I refuse to buy a Blackberry....a cell phone is enough connectivity. Sometimes, you don't want to be reached....like if you were sitting in someone's kitchen enjoying a that blast from your past--the root beer float and good conversation.
Life was so simpler! We make is so complex w/all our gadgets & STUFF we "can't live without!"! We lived on a cul-de-sac & my 2 sisters and I would play and play hoping mom and dad would forget we were outside. When it got dark & we had to use the bathroom my older sister would say "NO! you can't go in! Mom will remember we are supposed to be inside & make us come in!"
NOW we might bring our laptops outside for some fresh air but that is the extent of it. I am guilty of having and using all the latest technology gadgets & loving the communication I have wherever I am. At the moment I am writing this comment I am sitting in the airport on my laptop waiting for a plane to Chicago & beside me are tons of other people on their laptops. What the heck is so important that it can't wait? Nothing. We just need to be entertained non-stop while before we had other ways to entertain ourselves. We used our imagination & we liked it!
I often think of what it will be like 20 years from now. With all that we have now that we didn't have THEN & we think we are so far progressed it will be insane 20 years from now.
Richard, speed and the next technology gizmo, are NOT what life is all about. Root beer floats on Sunday afternoons are much better for the soul I agree.
This post and the comments really touched me. It made me think of my dad and summer Sunday afternoons with the whole family in the back yard. My dad would buy a watermelon every week and we would all sit out back and eat it. Of course, we 6 kids had seed spitting contests. So many warm feelings wrapped up in that memory.
It's sad to see what we have become. I used to play ball with the neighborhood kids most every day, nowadays, they don't play unless it's an organized league. Kids don't know how to play ball by themselves!
Hello Richard-Awesome post ,and oh so true, never truer than last night when I was trying to upload all those photo's for the blog I told you I would do and not being able to figure out why they weren't in "My photo's" like they always were when I download or upload(always forget which it is) them to my computer from my camera. "I did it" as you saw but it took an awful lot of time. Got to figure how to do it faster or just got to get smarter "technology wise".
I love the idea of the root beer float and simplicity. Unfortunately we are not in that time anymore and if we don't somehow keep up with everything to the best of our ability then we get left behind. If we didn't have all this new technology stuff and a lot of what makes life what it is today, many of us would get bored and there would probably be even more crime as nowadays we all need to be entertained. It is so much different today. Our entertainment was simpler and life was less stressed even though we didn't have a lot of material stuff we had the most important things.
It sad to think that is gone, never to return. I think we need to carve out some of that simplicity for ourselves in this crazy world. Easier said than done though, but I think for a lot of us we must try hard to do just that. Lots of good comments. I loved Susan's comment. This blog must have taken some thought and time putting together. thank you for your time and effort. It is great information, now I wonder how many of us will put it into practice. Take care my blogger friend. Got to go do the other stuff that comes with life.
We really do live in a fast paced world now. I really would like to slow down and enjoy life.
Richard, The days at Grandma's house were the best and this brought back so many great memories for me.
My oldest got a stuffed animal for a present when he was young....looked at me and said "Mom where's the batteries and what does it do?" He was serious. I remember when a wheelbarrow and a pillow was a toy...and it requires push power not batteries!
Richard- Thanks for the pleasant walk down memory lane. My grandparents lived too far away to spend much time with them. It was usually at holidays...Christmas and Thanksgiving. Lots of fun and good food.
I can also remember collecting pop bottles for the coveted candy. There was a Safeway only 2 blocks away from our home and we would load up the bottles in our baskets that hung on the handle bars of our bikes. Cash them in for Charleston Chews!
Richard - I think many people yearn for the days that you describe here. I also get tired of fast-moving technology and news. This was a touching and thought-provoking post - nicely done.
Thanks Richard for carrying me back in time, you know I would trade it to. We didn't go to Grandma's but we went to something like a McDonalds but it had a big bottle of Root beer on top and we would get to have a float and play on the playground that they had. I sometime think that is what heaven will be like. Man I miss all that.
Darin...
By some strange coincidence, our little store was on Anderson Road! lol
Susan...
And it was all good, because it was your world. I miss those happy, crowded, noisy, simple pleasure times. BTW Post that in your blog ... very well written!
Stacey-Ann...
We have lost something, haven't we? We cannot free ourselves from work at all.
Mel...
Well, you might be!
Stacey-Ann...
OK, I don't have an answer for that! You are absolutely correct!
Michael...
OH, waiting to see how the photos turned out was very exciting ... many more disappointments than thrills though. THX.
Richard, the simplest things in life are free.
Thanks for the thoughtful post
Bo
Ken...
We have come so far technologically in our lifetimes. Amazing, isn't it?
Chris Ann...
You're the first to comment on the "new look!" Thanks for that, and thanks for the thoughtful comment. I agree!
Kristin...
You comment would make an excellent blog post! Happy flying and have a safe trip!
Gary...
I believe that it is that simple! thx.
Terry...
Oh, I forgot about the seed spitting contests. They were great. Once I swallowed a watermelon seed and my brother said that it would grown and burst my stomach. I worried for MONTHS!
Bill...
I NEVER played organized baseball, just out in the field. It was the best!
Pat...
One of our agents mentioned today in sales meeting that it took 5 hours to put photos in an all of the websites for one listing. It certainly isn't getting any easier! Thanks for writing such a nice comment. I really appreciate it!
John...
I just don't know how to stop this train to get off!
Cameron...
I'm glad that you enjoyed it, my friend!
Mandi...
And we had to use imagination! Imagine that? lol But it was fun, wasn't it, and we never felt deprived!
Congratulations on the feature!
Richard,
And what about non-stop news? I get tired of it.
For the technology issues, you hire a techno "pup" to help.
;-)
Ann
Lori...
Pop bottles were the currency of kids back then. If I recall correctly, all of my relatives still lived in Pittsburgh, so we never had to travel far to see anyone!
Jason...
Thanks, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And it comes from the heart!
Charles...
I still love a good root beer float. Back then Grandma used "dad's" Root Beer. I wonder if they still make that brand?
Bo...
And yet we fail to give them proper appreciation!
Mel...
Thanks! ;)
Ann...
I really don't pay attention to the news all that much these days! It's too depressing! lol
Ahhh, brings back memories of the one black and white television we all sat around as we watched our favorite shows together. Social networking involved convincing my siblings to watch what I wanted to see! It required communicating with family members. That was back in the days when we actually had to get up and walk across the room to change channels or turn the TV off.
By the way, the little church in the woods looks like the one I attended as a child!
Nice blog Richard, I'd share a root beer float with you anytime! Congrats on your star! :)
Richard, I am dating myself but dishwashers and microwaves were not invented until I was a young girl - what a thrill to be one of the first families to have the new technology! Life was simple then and many times I wish I could get off this merry-go-round we live on now! However, as hard as it is to keep up with technology, if we don't, we will be left in the dust of generation x & y having no clue about how this world works. Even this blogging and social networking is highly advanced for many of my collegues who have never heard of it or looked into it. We are keeping up with the times for sure!
Richard...and while we were blissfully playing outside, our parents were worried about the Russians! IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING! (hey, my middle name is Roseanne so I can do a Roseann-Roseannadanna if I want to, LOL). Thanks for the touching post.
I don't know what I would do without my gadgets....I have a friend who refuses to buy a gps and is constantly asking directions...it drives me nuts...with gps and mapquest, who needs to ask for directions!
I wonder how we functioned sometimes without all todays gadgets, if I had to pick an age to stay at forever, it would be 10 years old and hanging out at grandmas house.
I have no idea what I would do without my IPOD. Were it not for it, I would actually have to listen to my clients while I am driving them around. Congrats on the feature my friend.
Norma...
I like your definition of social networking. BTW the Church is the Methodist Church in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
April...
We will do just that one day! Thanks, as always.
Diane...
I remember showing my mother and advertisement in a comic book that said that you could cook crisp bacon with microwaves. She laughed and said it was a fake!
Alyce...
How funny! If it's not one thing it's another, I loved that Gilda Radner character.
Sonja...
But you'll never find that hidden treasure in the "wrong" road! lol
Your nostalgia is catching as shown in the remarks. Yes, life was simpler in years past but times have changed for better or worse. It is fun to remember the simpler times and when we just enjoyed "being" where we were and what we were doing. Kids and people now have so much to do all the time that it is not good for them. People need time to "be still" and hear our own internal voices. Great post; good reminder to do just that.
Sorry, I must have hit my enter key one time too many. :) Cannot erase them.
Sheila...
I still enjoy making my own fun, finding things to be, and I like to be happy where I'm at. Thanks for the comment, I was able to delete the extra!
My friend you are so right. All of the new innovations are time savers(?) but I sure do miss the good ole days sometimes.
BTW, congrats on the feature.
Hi Richard: I have such wonderful memories of my grand parents homes. One of them had a front porch swing (loved it!!) and grandma would let us swing as high as we wanted ahhhh.... it's the little things that make us happy. :-)
I sometimes wonder what my kids, kids lives will be like with the ever changing and advancing technologies...will they even have the opportunity to appreciate the small things in life??
Congratulations on the Feature!
Most of us on Active rain have lived equally in both half's of that. We have little choice however as to which kind of life we want to lead, if we ant to stay in a competitive market such as this one, so technology will have to be embraced. We do have our memories however.
Richard~ Yes, Our lives were so different tha the children growing up today. I sometimes yearn for those good old days when our large family got together and just hung out, ate, sang and played games outside- we played outside for hours! I mean we played jacks, hopscotch, double dutch jump rope, (yes, I know girl stuff...)Mother May I, One , two, three, red light- green light! What kinds of games did you play as a child? weren't they fun? Life was so simple then, wasn't it? There is always trade offs, isn't there?
Richard,
The news can be depressing, but it is more depressing when you realize you forgot the charging for your cellphone and you have two more days to be away!
UGH!
Ann
Technology is OUR FRIEND! We need to continue to learn and to grow with it, if we don't, we will fall behind our competition, especially the younger agents! I get most of my business from technology and I think most of us here on AR probably do as well. What about the older agents in your office who refuse to embrace it? How are their sales doing right now? Just curious...
Richard- the root beer float sounds delicious right now....I could go for one! Congrats on the gold star man!
I really enjoyed reading this wonderful post. All of the comments are good to. Thanks for sharing.
Now I'm missing kick-the-can and cherry soda where they actually added the grenadine and cherry's to it! Not to mention now that it is fall the smell of apples from my Grampy's trees, walnuts we had to crack and shell, and the smell of pumpkin spice and cider. I think I'll indulge this weekend and make apple sauce, pear butter, and gingersnaps. I bet my BP lowers a few in the process!
GREAT POST!
The hardest part is keeping up with it all, but VERY important in this day in age.
Hi Richard, This is so very true. I too, am fairly spoiled by our many gadgets but simpler times kept us a lot more humble and closer to God. Would you like to trade your Nikon for a root beer float ;-) God bless