Our generation has become so dependent on cell phones we can barely go a day without using one. If you look around, everyone either is on his or her phone, or it is less than a couple of feet away. We are obsessed with knowing every little detail about what is going on with the world, that we lost the true meaning of living. I have had my fair share of days where I have spent hours and hours on my phone just pointlessly scrolling and wasting my time. Then I got myself thinking about how much different the world is today. Look around you, society is changing, and it will continue to, but I personally miss the old days.
When I was a little girl, I loved playing dress-up or with anything I could get my hands on. I loved Polly Pockets, Bratz, Legos, TinkerToys and Barbies. I think we all did because that was what we were used to and what we grew up with. My parent's generation played games like Red Rover and freeze tag or card games and marbles. Children nowadays play with iPads, Xbox systems and video games because that is what’s normal to them. Now having a phone at the age of 10 is considered too old. My parents didn’t let me have a cell phone until I was in the eighth grade, right before I went off to high school. Up to that point, I remember memorizing my best friend’s home phone numbers, calling them off the house phone and asking them if they can come out and play.
I think I can still remember their home phones, even though those barely exist anymore. Teenagers see cell phones as the Holy Grail, and adults, well, they are asking their children for help with their phones. There is so much one can do on a cell phone, from apps to social media, it is almost impossible not to stay connected to what’s hip this week. Even the way I looked in 8th grade, is different to what 8th graders look now. I would pimp my pictures out with stencil flowers and “Best Friends Forever” quotes courtesy of picnic.com.
Now, you can barely tell a 16-year-old from a 26-year-old, with the flaw-erasing filters you can now put on pictures. With the improvement of technology, communication has become much simpler. It is easy to pick up your cell phone, press the home button, and tell Siri to send a text message or make a phone call. But when Siri wasn’t around, we resorted to passing notes, writing letters and using AIM. The fun of it all is coming across a letter you wrote to your crush years ago and laughing about it now with your friends or finding an old status you wrote that reads, “shoppingggg with my BFFs, ttyl :* txt me.”
Everything seemed so innocent and pure back in the day. I miss everything about it, long phone calls before bed, letters from your best friends, notes passed underneath your desk at school. It is crazy to think in such a little amount of time, how much change can actually take place between generations. Apparently, writing letters and playing outside is “outdated,” but to me, those are the things that make me still think there is hope for the future.
