#600 Grog and Nano

Recently I bemoaned the overuse of cellphones with our young.
I love that word. Bemoan. It means, “complained about” or “whined about” but it sounds so incredibly old-fashioned. I bemoaned her broken fine china. We bemoaned the lack of civility and etiquette.
Nowadays we just bitch about things.
It occurred to me that when society shifts, the young are quicker to embrace change and less likely to bebitch about it. So it’s no surprise that when the cellphone came along the younger folks saw it as one more tool in their gadget arsenal.
Remember, this is the generation of the Nano-pet—those little electronic beasts. From Nano-pet to Ipod Nano to I-phones was a logical progression.
So it’s probably high time I adjust to the world of You Tube and My Space, however much those names make Freud roll over in his grave.
Because if you stop to think about it, “talking” was once a new technology. And it was probably first made popular by the young. I can imagine my curmudgeonly equivalent during cave man times as the first words emerged and the kids started jabbering.
“I don’t know about these kids today, Grog, they’re always making funny sounds. It’s enough to drive a cave person crazy, what with the echoing in the cave and stuff. The acoustics hurt my ears.
“Look how they follow each other everywhere, like they have the same idea or something. How efficiently they work together to achieve a common goal by making those ‘words’ at each other.
“It’s unnatural I tell you. If the Great Spirit had meant us to do things so quickly, he would have made us like bees or ants. This talking thing is going to be the downfall of communication.
“Where’s the jumping, and the hugs, and the pats on the back, and the taking each other by the hand to lead someone to the creek?
“And it’s dangerous! One of them crashed into me the other day on the trail when he was trying to talk and chew gristle at the same time!”
This rant would, of course, have used the old technology—sign language, grunts, hoots—and bemoaning...
America, ya gotta love it