I was talking with my sisters recently about how we are raising our children in a completely different world than the one we grew up in. We arethe first (and only) generation of parents to straddle a life experience both with and without the internet and countless technology marvels. Our generation being the last with a low tech childhood and among the first of the truly high tech parents. Important to keep in mind when we help mold young minds daily- their reality is completely different than what most of us knew growing up.
So we were coming up with words/phrases that had little to no meaning just 15 year ago that are now commonplace. Please feel free to add any others you can think of!
I often think kids/young adults consider wifi/data access to be as essential to life as we "older" people used to consider things like automatic indoor heating/air-conditioning and microwaves. I was considering where to plan a vacation for the family to "get away from it all" and realized that I will probably have to anticipate the usual 2 day withdrawal of internet before the teens (and my husband!) start to relax and enjoy the scenery-- and each other.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
One time I was reminiscing about my childhood and riding my bike into town with my transistor radio blasting rock and roll from the basket. My son looked at me quizzically and asked, "Mom, what's a transistor radio?"
One of my jobs is as a school nurse and there are times when the students (ages 10-13) use my phone to call home and are simply lost. The idea of pressing the numbers is weird to them and they often do not push hard enough. And, inevitably, after they dial, they ask "What do I do now?" when they find there is no "send" key. I tell them "Put the phone up to your ear and wait."
Once a student got a busy signal and handed me the phone and said "I don't know what's happening"
I was being the camp nurse for a weekend camporee and had a kid come down to the health lodge barfing. I said, "Do you want to call your mom to come get you, or do you want me to call her?" He said, "I will," and I showed him the phone.
A minute later I looked over at him and said, "What's the matter, honey, do you need some help?" And he said, "What's this?" I said, "Well, you know when they say, 'Dial a number'? That's a dial."
The station wagon comment made me think of stuffing kids wearing pajamas into the back of the family station wagon, along with blankets and pillows, to head to the Drive-In! Where you'd pull up to a post with a black box on it, and hang the box on the top edge of your window (rolled down just enough to have the thing stuck on there)!
How about 45s? As in, 45 rpm vinyl records :)
33s....LP (Long Play) records :)
I about fell onto my butt when I saw that local techie stores have started carrying actual TURNTABLES again! Apparently, my retro childhood is "in" again
Floppy discs, when they really WERE floppy.....and 'floppy' discs when they became hard squares
Used the word Napster the other day cause I couldn't think of the latest online app for music....15 year old looks at me like I was crazy!! LOL and I'm only in my 30's!
One time I was reminiscing about my childhood and riding my bike into town with my transistor radio blasting rock and roll from the basket. My son looked at me quizzically and asked, "Mom, what's a transistor radio?"
I'll be honest... I'm 25 and I don't really know what a transistor radio is. The only Transistor I know is a videogame.
Specializes in Emergency, Correctional, Indigent Health.
It may appear in the language, but the whole world is changing, and even my grand kids are in a whole different world. These social net works and apps like KIK and Whasup and Facebook, and the list goes on, are bringing communication to new heights, and that does not mean that the higher the better.
Bullying is now a digital art. I used to deal with the fact I looked Chinese every day of my middle school years. But today kids are truly suffering from the shear volume of the scathing cuts, and emotional injuries that are being transmitted over these social networks. These newer forms of communication are truly powerful tools. But being powerful means they can be misused as never before, and we as parents and grand parents are almost helpless to see the power these young people posses at the ends of their fingers, when applied with youthful immaturity to the keyboards of today's mobile phones. When I was 14 I was driving. Kids today need to be 17 to drive. Maybe they need to be 17 to have a smart phone? These "smart phones" are not smart in of themselves. They need an adult with a moral sense to use them, and having them in the hands of unsupervised children and young people is a travesty.
When I got our first home computer in 1985 the kids began to know more about it then I did in a short time. One went on to get his initial degree in Computer Science, and he is the one who is the tightest with his kids and their smart phones, even taking them away at times. He also checks their conversations and internet histories. The "Smart Phone" is now a computer without a cord. Do you know what your kid is doing with it? I do not envy the parents of today. I don't think my kids would be who they are today if I had to deal with with smart phones too.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I remember the day I was cleaning out the stereo cabinet...you know that bookshelf looking thing that held all the AV equipment.
I had a ton of albums and I brought one out to put on the turntable and my son wanted to know what the black frisbee was so flat....I bust out laughing and I said "It's record and it plays music"....he looked skeptical and looked at the CD player and said..."Well how the heck does it fit in there?" I was on the floor!!!
Then we got into VHS, 8 track, reel to reel tapes, cassette players.....I was on the ground laughing...how the world has changed
My daughter (8 or 9 at the time) came running down the stairs on day..eyes all wide and curious, bouncing out of her skin..."Momma...how many songs are on this CD?!?! It must have thousands of songs on it!!).....
anon456, BSN, RN
3 Articles; 1,144 Posts
I often think kids/young adults consider wifi/data access to be as essential to life as we "older" people used to consider things like automatic indoor heating/air-conditioning and microwaves. I was considering where to plan a vacation for the family to "get away from it all" and realized that I will probably have to anticipate the usual 2 day withdrawal of internet before the teens (and my husband!) start to relax and enjoy the scenery-- and each other.