Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Way We Were

Children in Jerusalem.Image via Wikipedia

     A few days ago I had the rare chance of bonding with my former neighbors whom I missed so much.  We had so much fun reminiscing our good old days when we used to play hide and seek in some deserted houses nearby.  I rudely interrupted the conversation as my eyes gazed upon the cellphone a friend was holding.  "Nice phone dude," I said to her.  "Oh, thanks.  It's not the one with the Apple logo but I like it a lot.  I can track down my friends' whereabouts.  You know, everyone is addicted to facebook."  We laughed at her comment but we noticed that she frowned, revealing deeper lines between her eyebrows.  "Hey. what's the matter?"  I asked her.  "Well. I saw this cute little boy outside their house holding the same phone I have now. Kinda strange because I remember, when I was at his age I wouldn't know how to use this gadget and yet..."  "You are so insecure!"  Another friend told her.

     That makes me wonder...Our childhood days were full of fun, laughter and kicks without those gadgets like cellphone, digital cameras, Kindles and the likes.  I could never imagine ourselves holding them without our parents' permission.  We were contented with simple, little things but gave us tremendous joy in our lives.  At least, during our younger days diabetes affecting children was unheard of because we were always outside our houses and we would always run and run until we run out of breaths.  Although we were always drinking chocolates every  morning, the sugar in our blood was always used to the max because the activities that we used to do required us to move a lot.  But now, I see children with big tummies and hands that could break any cellphone by just a minimal pressure.

     Another gadget that was missing then but really needed now is the computer or laptop.  I really like these stuff but the danger is that nowadays, very few children go out and play the way we used to do.  Children now spend too much time sitting in front of the computer and chat along with their friends in social networking sites.  There is nothing wrong with that but it makes them lazy to go out and stretch out.  Before they reach adulthood, they will be bothered by illnesses caused by adapting a couch potato lifestyle.  They no longer spend some energy to meet up with friends outside their homes and they just greet them through their pages sometimes with words only they can comprehend.

     Really, these new inventions have their pros and cons and people must be aware of them.  Some would never live without them.  It is good to have them really, but not to the point of making them the only the way to socialize and live a novel kind of life.  There is also life outside your homes.  Much more real and cheaper, most of the times.  Socializing with people face to face is still the best way to gain knowledge and also confidence.  Holding them in person makes them feel so real to you.  Their true motives are  not hidden, what you see is what you get.  You get to move a lot, laugh a lot and that means, you are burning your calories.

     Life is like that.  You gain a point but sometimes you lose two points at the same time.  Be wary of what you are doing now.  Your interests widen making you appear like an intelligent, well informed person.  But then, how is your health?  Your true worth? What really is important to you now?  Be your own judge as you travel to the next decade where the robots are said to take the place of some human assistants.
 
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1 comment:

Grysh said...

This reminds me of my last visit to my old preschool. The place is the same, same uniforms but with different faces. I sat down in one of the benches and guess what I saw, A kid, sitting by another bench and was playing Facebook on his laptop (or notebook since the size of it is either a laptop or a notebook). I was surprised. A little later, I saw another kid with a PDA phone. I was like, WTH? I didn't have those things when I was a kid. But then again, my parents didn't have a computer when they were my age. Lol. I ought to blog about this someday :))