I always hear older folks say things like "when we were young, we didn't sit around the house all day, we played baseball and spent entire days outside."
They didn't have the internet. Don't get me wrong, I love the outdoors but I wondered how do you think having the internet would've changed our teen years (those of us who are 40 yrs and older)?
Would we have been on MySpace, Facebook, etc..I've got to think we would have been no different than todays youth.
Posted by footgirl0226 (Member # 29201) on :
Well my son is 16 and is on maybe 20 min a day. He is still outside all day. Then again, he is really into sports. Maybe that makes a difference. Not to mention, there are rules and one is - only 30min of computer a day anyway but we have never had to enforce it. He just would rather be outside or with friends.
Posted by Eliza Durden (Member # 22995) on :
30 minutes a day....Gees mom!
We used it at school. My mom was lucky if I was home 30 minutes a day!
Posted by FootLongSub Zero (Member # 19380) on :
I'm under 40 but didn't have the internet in my teens... I go where my intersts lie, If I had the internet back then I think I'd be a fat guy now ....
Posted by footgirl0226 (Member # 29201) on :
quote:Originally posted by Eliza Durden: 30 minutes a day....Gees mom!
We used it at school. My mom was lucky if I was home 30 minutes a day!
I know... We are so mean! lol Funny thing is, he could care less. He is so busy with school and sports and friends... so far it has never been an issue! I guess we lucked out. lol
We shall see how easy it is with our daughter years from now... Then again, same rules apply so...
Posted by LeDaemon (Member # 198) on :
The entire world as the way we know it changed in the 90s when the internet became easily accessible to everyone. You don't have to have real live face to face human contact to do business or make friends, go shopping, booking reservations, etc. Younger people may not go out and have "real life" experiences that we had by being outside, dealing with people more face to face. I don't know how many times I've read posts here from folks that don't know how to talk to a girl in class that is a "friend" of theirs on Facebook or MySpace. There's also "instantaneous" gratification for finding information now. Before when you needed to do research you had to deep dive into several texts in a library and get into the meat of a subject. Now you just google, cut, paste, blammo! Life experience is now about what you did on MySpace, YouTube, or Halo 3, not about a camping trip you made with your family, riding bikes on dirt trails with your friends, building a treehouse in the backyard, or a game of baseball in a vacant lot. In fact where I live if I take a walk in the neighborhood you never see or hear any kids outside playing. My daughter is even getting caught up in this at age 11.
Of course you could say the same for television back in the 1950s when everyone started eating TV dinners and gathering around the boob tube all night long. I'm guessing the farther advances we have with technology to make life simpler for us and keep us entertained the more it seems it kind of sucks the life out of life. I don't know if that makes much sense or not to anyone. I've just started coming to this realization with all my nieces and nephews and watching them look like zombies at a computer, holding a Nintendo DS, or watching the TV.
Posted by footgirl0226 (Member # 29201) on :
No i get what you are say LD. I see it all too. My one nephew is 11 and socially backwards but knows how to read comics front to back without making one wrinkle and play every video game system known to man... I just want to slap my brother and his wife and say GET THE KID OUT and among peers. He cant even carry on a decent conversation without getting all... fucking wierd lol... I know- I am such a bitch as an aunt but when his ass comes over here- NONE OF THAT! He is going to play and we are going to go out and do things. By time he starts to act somewhat civilized- its time for him to go back. lol
I agree with you on many who come in here who are young and seem to have such issues approaching people but live on the internet. I think I would die, yet some must feel like it would be horrible to talk with people face to face...
I could live without email, internet and my cell phone. I couldnt live without day to day interaction and bullshitting! lol
Your daughter is at that age where its make or break... Cause EVERYONE has facebook dad! lol
Posted by Cain (Member # 8492) on :
YEah i could see myself on the computer alot more cause i was on video games alot when i was younger. Its a great way to pass the dreary winter blues after December. The internet would have helped when i was like 15-19. When i was 19 all i did was party and now at almost 36 i am on this PC about an average of 8-10 hours a week.
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