*Old writing*
Now, let me just begin this by saying that this story is a different kind of rant than the one I’m posting soon about airport logic. This one is just one that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. Instead of a story about what pissed me off, I figured I’d tell a more lighthearted one, one that people actually might read. I love telling this story and kinda snicker a little whenever I think about it, so strap yourselves in for this crazy ride, because this story covers my early memories to how I freaked out a group of millennials and made their parents laugh in one move.
I was born in the late 90’s, when technology was still expanding-not as much as when Apple first came out, but still becoming more readily available, and definitely not as available as it is today. Statistically speaking, we were pretty “modern.” We had a home phone and I think my parents were just getting used to cell phones (nothing like today’s phones). I didn’t have a TV in my room, but we had a big one in the living room. My brother Ian and I used to watch Saturday morning cartoons and play with puzzles on the weekends (I’m lookin’ at you, Rolie Polie Olie and PB&J Otter. Those were the days), and my parents would watch the local news and weather channels. We had a computer that I would play educational games on, but my parents would limit my time. However, Steve Jobs was doing his thing and by the time I hit high school, everyone and their brother had a smart phone.
Most of my free time was spent outside. There was a family two doors down who had kids around Ian’s and my ages. We spent hours on end riding our bikes, playing tennis in the street, swimming in their pool or mine, and raking leaves in the fall. We had a big tree in our front yard, and one summer, my dad put up a swing from the tree. One day, I climbed that tree and it took me three hours to figure out how to get back down. After the 2004 hurricanes, my dad used the busted-up fence posts to build a pirate ship in the backyard. A few years later, he built a zip-line that went over the pool so we could drop in midway. We loved those things so much and usually ended up exhausted and sunburned. If it was raining, we would usually bake cookies or play in the puddles. When Tropical Storm Fay hit back in 2008, we went out into the middle of the street and played tennis in knee-deep water. Those are some of my favorite memories of my whole life, really, and something I hope to pass on to my kids.
Fast-forward about ten years. I had just turned twenty and was working in merchandise for The LimeyBirds (go check them out) at the 2018 Brevard Renaissance Fair. When I wasn’t working, I would sometimes hang out backstage with a bunch of the kids in Youth In Harmony, the group I sang with for two years, and their parents and other adults we shared a stage with. Some of these kids are younger than the iPhone, so they can’t imagine a life without their precious portable devices. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I spend too much time on my laptop, but I’ve got nothing on these kids. Their devices were running out of juice and they were starting to get restless and even panicky.
That was when I did something I’m really good at-not thinking before I make a move. I sat up straighter and said, “You know, back in my day, we didn’t have any of these crazy devices.”
The kids looked absolutely traumatized. By now, I’d finally thought about what I’d said and realized that it probably wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, even if I hadn’t fully thought it through. I looked over at another adult in the tent (an adultier adult, an adult who knows how to adult) and she just had this Look on her face that said, “Well, I can’t wait to see where this is going. This should be hilarious. How old is this chick, 15?”
I continued, not even thinking about what I was gonna say. “That’s right. We didn’t have iPhones or tablets or even texting. If you wanted to show someone a picture, you either brought a digital camera or printed it out. You know that picture you have on the home screens of your phones? We kept those in our wallets. We couldn’t take selfies or put a filter on it or make ourselves barf rainbows. If you wanted to talk to someone, you could either email them, call them, or talk to them face-to-face. We didn’t get phone calls on our watches. We got them on our phones and if we missed that call, we called them back if we were lucky enough to have caller ID. And we didn’t spend hours watching Netflix. If we wanted to get a movie, we either shuffled through our collection of VHS tapes and DVD’s or walked down to this magical store called Blockbuster and prayed we didn’t get lost in there. We barely even had social media. We had MySpace, but you couldn’t make your pictures disappear after five seconds. Trust me, you guys are living in a much more advanced world than the one I grew up in.”
By now, the lady in the background was dying of laughter, as were the adults backstage who could hear me. The kids just looked at me like I had just demonstrated how to murder someone. Then, out of nowhere, this little girl asks, “So, what did you do?”
“I went outside. I made friends in person. I played with the neighborhood kids. We made up this game where we would watch one person perform a sort of route in the cul-de-sac and tried to replicate it the best. We tried to have a lemonade stand, but we didn’t get much traffic. We climbed the trees in the neighborhood. We went swimming if there was any water deeper than a puddle. If we were really bored, we’d play with our dolls.”
By now, the kids looked like they were watching their first horror film. One of them looked up at me and said, “That must have sucked.”
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I busted out laughing, along with most of the adults.
Now, this story is not me shaming anyone who uses technology, even if it’s a bit excessive. This is about realizing that I live in a different world than the one I was born in. I’ve known this for years, having been born before the tech revolution and other recent historical moments (some good, some bad), but this always stuck with me.
I’m 20 years old. I am a full-time college student and lifelong performer. I am only about 8-12 years older than the kids I shared a stage with at RenFaire. While I was having the time of my life, playing outside and getting coated in dirt, these kids were just learning how to sit up. Now, while I’m trying to figure out college algebra, these kids are the same age I was when they were born and they have gadgets that we were still dreaming about when I was their age.
I agree that technology is developing and it has many positive aspects. But I also really wish today’s kids could have a childhood remotely similar to mine.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go climb a tree now.
All my love,
Chenna
A Ginger's Journey 