Born at the Right Time

Great post, Tynan. This coming from someone from an older generation, but completely agree. And it’s always nice to see someone with that appreciative attitude.

Being 43 years old, going on 44 next month, I feel I’ve been part of the transition between our newer, tech-driven age and the end of the old industrial era. I’m part of the last generation which will know what it was like to hand-write school reports on paper and then type them out on a typewriter. I remember watching television on a black and white tv as a 4 year old; no cable, just 4 local channels and CBC (I lived in Michigan). No X-Box, PS3, Wii, just the outdoors, bikes and my imagination while playing with friends.

I think our transition as a society has been very interesting to watch. I am more jealous than scornful of the younger kids today. They have so much technology and information available to them without leaving their homes, a world to explore on the palm of their hands. A world that is much smaller because of technology (internet, cable, cell phones, cheap air fare, etc etc). Wow!

Yet there is this battle now in the U.S. and the world. There are people from all strata of society, from all corners of the world, who want to scare people of this potentially newer, more open world. It seems terror and fear is the reaction (and over reaction at times) to individual incidents where problems arise, crimes are committed or things fail because of our new tech-driven world.

I’m rambling, but I hope you see where I’m going.

Being older has made me more cautious of new technology, but I do not really fear most of it. Anything that opens our world up so people can continue to see we all have the same basic needs and desires is good as far as I’m concerned. Technology used for spying of innocent civilians… well, that’s something I’m not happy about.

Regardless…..

In spite of our current economic problems and some of the extremists of the world who are trying to disrupt the progress of our society, it’s a great time to be alive. It truly is….

I get the exact same feeling, but I also remember my dad saying the exact same thing about HIS good old times.

I also remember feeling that he didnt get that nintendos and ataris and movies werent really screwing our heads up, in fact, they completely burst open our imaginations. When we got outside, everything was part of some bizarre nintendo-fueled storyline, and we’d spend hours trying to build a space shuttle or a boat or whatever it its that had grabbed our imagination lately.

But the point remains that that precise spark of childhood creativity happened outside, playing with tangible things and socializing with other kids. Those are the moments i have good memories of. I cant really think of many “good old days” memories where i just sat on a couch and played video games. These things fueled our minds, but the real magic happened when we turned the thing off and applied it to the real world. When I tried to make a guitar with a piece of rotten wood, when i biked up and down the streets with my buddies pretending every little obstacle was some death trap, when we made a wooden wagon with wheels and a seat to drag behind a bike at full speed and see who crashed in the most spectacular way. When i went diving and spent almost a month recovering car pieces from 30 feet down a lake.

THATS the golden stuff right there. And just like my dad laments that we didnt get to play with fireworks and guns and go hunting and drive old trucks without our mothers getting hysterical, i lament that most kids today wont be able to do that without a dozen security measures and a park supervisor and adult supervision and a bunch of silly precautionary measures that completely squeeze the fun out of it.

My kids, 13 and 11, think the rotary phone at their grandparents’ house is the most amazing thing…

We keep progressing and every generation is from the next luckiest time to be born in.

I have a niece who is just a few years older than you. While she has been on the net she doesn’t own a computer and doesn’t feel the need to own one. She lives in a rural area of Minnesota and I don’t beleive she locks her house or car doors very often. Her 3 children are free to roam the fields and the few streets of the small town in which they live. There are a very few pockets of the USA where the net hasn’t penetrated very deeply though they are shrinking rapidly and may very well disappear within a few years.

I’m pretty old to have young kids – I’m 47, and have three boys between 6 months and 5-1/2. I’ve always thought kids growing up after the 1980s had totally boring lives. I guess the cutoff isn’t so hard.

Anyway, I run a blog and am writing a book all about giving our kids a life of neighborhood play. Check out Playborhood.com. There’s a lot of info and discussion on this topic there, with *lots* more to come.

Yes the internet is awesome and so are cellphones. I bet wheels, printing presses and chocolate were just as cool when they were invented (Actually all those things are still pretty cool). In a hundred years from now I bet people will be thinking how lucky they are to be alive when the first teleporter is invented or when the Jetsons comes true.

I think what I am trying to say is that life is incredible no matter when or where you are if you take the time to realize it!

I have very much enjoyed your recent posts Tynan. They have been very thought provoking. Thank you!

Yeah, i grew up in a town of <300 until i was about 11 so my childhood was pretty much all outdoors, rural lifestyle. Now, i see all my friends with kids that are all cooped up playing XBOX all day…

I just came across a bunch of printing industry trade magazines when I was decluttering. They are from the 90’s. It is amazing to see how in 1995 almost no ads have web addresses, and then as the years go forward the percentage rises rapidly. By 1999 it is only the rare company that has not added a website. Leafing through these mags is like a timeline of web evolution. Intriguing post, Tynan!