Societal norms have changed a lot. Government "interference" in daily life has changed a lot. How parents rear their children has changed. And how kids interact with the world at large has changed IMMENSELY. And I got examples!
When I was a kid in the 70s, corporal punishment by a teacher or principal was legally and ethically fine. I know this because on one occasion in the 2nd grade I had been punished by the principal with a paddle. Not fun at all. Kids were raised to respect their elders and many parents used corporal punishment at home. Mine sure did.
Today's youth seem to be allowed to bully their peers, their parents, their teachers, and there are a lot of stories of kids calling the authorities on their parents if they touched them. What was once acceptable discipline, is now possibly against the law in some counties. Striking a child with a paddle isn't, at it's heart, a very fun thing to do. And I mean one good whack on the tush, not a repeated thing intent on injury.
We were given a choice of paddling or standing in the corner. I always chose the least painful option, and stood in the corner. This was at home mind you. When I got older, no choices, it always was "go to your room." I was a sassy teenager. I admit it. If I heard my Dad raise his voice, it was cringe time, and time to shut the heck up! Kids nowadays don't even care about all that. They just talk louder right back. Some parents have become their children's friends, and opt to do no spanking and let their children seemingly do whatever they want in public. This always disturbs me, cause it seems like some parents have let the child take over the household. That never would have happened in my parent's home. NEVER!
After I graduated high school things seemed to change quickly, and now you see and hear more kids being verbally belligerent, ignoring authorities, and more bullying and unfortunately criminal behavior with guns and mass shootings in schools. My has the world changed so much in 30 years.
Of course technology has changed immensely since the 70s. TVs only brought in local channels. Most were huge boxes with vacuum tubes and giant monitors. And, oh dear, you had to get up and turn a dial or touch some buttons to change the channel! Most families only had 1 or 2 TVs and most kids didn't have their own TVs in their bedrooms.
Computers in business, computers in schools, computers in the homes....this phenomenon didn't occur until the 80s. We never had a computer in the home until after my brother graduated high school. I first learned how to write a simple computer program in my senior year. It was on a Radio Shack TSR80 computer. The monitor only displayed 2 colors, black and white. No pretty dance of the spectrum of the rainbow. That came a few years later.
When I was a kid, art was my world... common mediums were markers, pencil, wood, glue, and paper of all kinds. Now things are created on computer screens with many different programming tools. 2D is common, 3D is the rage now. And kids can create many things I never even dreamed of when I was in elementary school. They pick up any computerized gizmo and suddenly are like Rembrandt to a canvas, they design things as if it is no big deal!
Now I like the changes in technology, don't get me wrong. I'm a sucker for my IPhone, IPad and computer. I can communicate with more people in a click of a button than the number of people I ever knew in my 13 years of schooling (before college). What I realized over the past several years, is they can become your life, become addicting, and change your moods. Not good if you cannot control what you do with them and how long you spend on them or in front of them.
Society has not been able to KEEP OUT the unwanted things though with this rampant technological age of changes. Spam hits our emails, graphic sexual displays are clicks away for youth to see, hackers get into every kind of business' computer system and steal names, numbers, and destroy people's financial lives and sense of security.
I never ever thought of the number of ways technology could be used to harm others while I was learning about computers. I was always amazed and engrossed in the ways text could be manipulated on the screen, the background colors could be arranged, the way you can click on a word on the screen and something happens. THAT was amazing to me. Knowing how to ruin someone else's life was not in my heart. That part has always stumped me, but I guess some people get a kick of out the evil they can partake in, at the expense of others lives and well-being.
Parents have to be diligent to monitor their children in new and inventive ways. Parents are busy with their work and careers, now they must be cognizant with what their kids are doing on computers and who they interact with. I don't recall being concerned with so much when I was a youth. And since I don't have children, I have not had the same worries as those peers of mine that do.
Life has gotten crazier in many respects. And I believe some of it has to be from disengaging in personal one-on-one interaction and caring about others. I love my computerized gizmos, and I love "talking" with others on them; but they do not make up for the human connection through personal touch, hugs, and kisses, and companionship while sitting in the same room as another. The art of everyday conversation has turned into the art of texting while driving and hoping to avoid the next accident.
.... in some ways life brings new exciting things, in other ways it loses its sense of meaning. Hold on, we'll be back to my life's journey next time.
