What Connection?

I was 10 when I got my first phone. This was late for my generation. I had been surrounded by technology since I was born in 2001. The computers used to see me inside my mothers stomach, the cell phone my mom used to call my dad when her water broke, the radio my parents listened to on September 11th, all of these technologies had no place in my parents adolescence. I asked my dad what he did when he was bored and hot in the summer of the 70s. “I dragged my brother to the river about a mile from our house. We stole my moms cigarettes and my dads beer. We spent everyday waiting for something exciting to happen while we sat on our porch trying to gather enough courage to ask out the girl next door.” To me, this sounds like a movie. Probably one I was never allowed to watch. When I am bored in the summer, I lay around until I hear my phone ping and see that one of my friends is on her way over to lay around with me until both our phones ping and we see someone we don’t care about is having a bonfire. We get dressed and put on makeup to drive to their house only to sit around until our moms text us to come home.

The ironic part of my American creed is that has hardly anything to do with where I come from. Every American teenager in the 70s rode their bikes aimlessly and smoked because they didn’t know any better. My American creed however, has everything to do with where I am going.

I don’t know anything else besides technology. I can’t imagine my world without it. Parents will yell and urge you to put down your phone, take out your earbuds, get off the computer, and look around. Look at the world passing you by. I feel bad, I really do. What right do I have to ignore those closest to me just so I can try and build a better connection with people across the globe who won’t ever understand my American creed. Todays youth allows the distraction of technology to interfere with the lives those who came before them have tried so hard to build.

My great grandmother came to America when she was 18. She left her family and the life built around her to seek a life of more opportunity. I wonder what she would think if she saw me today. I can only imagine how upset she would be with herself for allowing this to happen. Her daughter, her daughters daughter, me. Look what we have become. So engrossed in our screens, we dare say we miss something! How did this happen?

The first computer was released in 1981. My mother was born in 1964. 17 years. For 17 years, my parents generation lived day to day life without wifi, but some would argue they had a much better connection.