techno teens
the sub species of teen that has evolved with technology astounds me.
some things never change. when we were teens, magnificent and i could not wait to get out of the house and hang out with friends. after changing outfits (depending if their parents saw them before they escaped out the door), begging for coin, charles would scamper off to be with his posse. (my friends usually came to my place, my parents had an open door policy for which i was/am very grateful).
and where-ever we were, we would talk with our friends, or listen to music, or even, study on occasion. but interaction was involved. no one would wander off alone unless they wanted their ex-boyfriend to follow them and hopefully ask them to "go around" again.
cut to today’s teens. they get together, but there is no face to face interaction. they are all too busy sending text messages with someone who ISN"T there at the time. or if they actually do get talking to someone who possibly has carpal tunnel and can’t be texting away, if they receive a message with barely an excuse me, they turn away to commence communicating with the absent friend. what is the purpose of being together if you are just going to zone off with someone else? does this seem anti social? do those teens ever want to shake their friends and say, "hey i am right here?"
i suppose this is evolution…i can remember my dad’s arm coming around the corner to turn up the dimmer switch whenever the lights got too low and asking, "what’s the point in this "hanging around" if all you are going to do is listen to michael jackson?" but at least we were zoned out together. when charles went to the arcade (i wasn’t allowed to go), the kids focused on their own games, but at least their friends were around to offer assistance on where pac man could find the oranges and cherries? is text the millenium equivalent to pong and lp’s? or even call waiting?
is this ignoring those you are with to talk with those you aren’t some sort of symbolism for the state of relationships today? if we aren’t guilty of pulling the text trick, are we ignoring our spouses, children, and friends for the remote, the bottle, the book, or??? i don’t know, i just find it creepy these silent groups of congregated kids.
today when on the computer kids converse with five friends at a time on their instant messenger systems. by converation i mean:
hey
hey. wht r u dng?
nthing. u?
nah. lol. rotflmao.
brb.
and then going on to the next converation which is eerily similar.
i met my husband on line, but when i was out with friends, i didn’t carry on conversations with him.
back the text-teens…even when surily occupying street corners (so that people crossing the intersections need to walk past the corner in order to step up on to the sidewalk), you see them, bent heads and flying fingers texting away. or maybe even graduating to talking on their mobiles. instead of to the person next to them. some of them can rip themselves away from their conversations to shout rude things to people walking by, but it is clearly a sacrifice for them. kids, where are your voices?
if i were a teen, i probably would be doing the same thing. and thinking the old lechers in their 30’s were old whiskery trouts who didn’t get it.
and they’re right. i don’t.
