You know you’re getting old when you can say things about “kids these days” and mean it for real and not in an ironic kind of way.
Listening to a story on NPR about watches going out, or reading a NYTimes story on how textbooks are becoming obsolete makes me say “in my day…” and then drift off in to feeling old. And I’m not that old. But if I was 3 and met myself, I’d say I was really really really really old like a dinosaur.
The most interesting part of these stories is not the change itself (change is inevitable, go to your happy zen place, etc.) but the general feeling that “kids are so [insert quality] these days” leading directly to a “so we need to respond to this”. Perhaps I’m a bit wrong, but other than pop culture (music and the like) when I was a kid (there it is again) the fogeys didn’t say “gee you kids are such and such we need to treat you differently” they said “shut up and do what I’m telling you.” It was clear in 1989 that the map of Eurpose was being redrawn, but this didn’t stop teachers from making us learn the old map. It became clear in these years that the Cold War was over, but we still learned about how horrible Russia was right up to the end. We had walkmen and trapper keepers and pee chees, but nobody said “gee, we should get an audio tape of the class to these kids to listen on their headphones”, instead someone was yelling “get that thing off your ears and listen up or you’re going to go to the principal’s office”.
The idea that because kids are tech savy these days we need to deliver lessons and other educational matierials on computer, power point, or other format seems wildly accomodating to me. How long have schools been using books? I mean I learned computer typing out of a book for Pete’s sake, which is about the most backwards thing I can imagine. But that’s how it was, and we liked it (with Grumpy Old Man voice, of course).
Saying things like “When I was a kid…” and “Kids these days…” and “Back in my day…” and “You know the entire foundation of western civilization is crumbing when…” Okay, maybe not the last one so much.