What times we live in now . . .

I started thinking about this last night when a friend of mine in Portland, Oregon was letting several people who play a computer game, Diablo II LOD, that for the next 24 hours the family would be helping with a school project assignment of “living” without electricity as in medieval times.

It was interesting to see the responses from fellow gamers on the “spirit” of the assignment and how the family should handle the very different lifestyle without modern conveniences.

The family started at midnight last night and it will be interesting to see what activities and how everyone coped without “items” everyone has become used to.

It started me thinking on how tings have changed in the last 100 years and more importantly the last 50. Progress has been made in the medical fields, science, and added many “conveniences” to our everyday lives.

I talked with people all day on what they thought about the challenges faced with this project and what they would not “give up” even for 24 hours.

A few things come to mind:

Televisions – Plasma, Flat screen, HDTV, Color just to name a few.

Cable and Satellite TV – 100+ channels now

Remember our black and white with 2 or 3 channels that shut off at 11 pm with the Star Spangled Banner and then the test pattern.

Remote controls – Remember getting up to change the channel? The only two choices were Bonanza or Gunsmoke.

ipods – CD players – 8 track decks – stereo

car phones (remember the bag phone with the 100 foot cord)

faxes (I remember my first one, 3 pages an hour)

cell phones and satellite phones

computers – games – xbox – Playstation - Nintendo

I think where we as a society lost part of our way was when families quit talking with each other. Kids went their own way without the “discipline” of the past. The now ever present threat of “child abuse” as opposed to our parents giving us a quick backhand for “back talking” or “mouthing off”, where did we lose this time honored tradition?

Sitting around by the fire reading or talking is a thing of the past. Going outside to “play” is something most children today lack an understanding of. That imagination of playing with a stick or a rock or a bottle cap has been lost. Did “pong” change us forever?

Did we lose more than we bargained for by reaching for the stars with the several accidents in our space program? Are we content with only 12 men “walking” on the moon or do we aspire to even greater voyages in space?

For those of you old enough to remember in 1966 the first episode of Star Trek when they were talking on the communicators that today almost everyone uses one in their “flip” cell phone. Who knew? For those that use their PDA’s it is like “Bones” McCoy using his Tricorder for medical emergencies or the other crew members using tricorder scans of areas for information. We use ours (PDA’s) for so many uses now that it makes me wonder did Gene Roddenberry have some idea of what was to come.

The massive size of our televisions now can boggle the mind. The 60” HDTV is getting more popular than ever as the price comes down and can show multiple channels at the same time. More bang for the buck? I think not as it gives more input for the brain and makes us even more dependent on the “instant gratification” and instant information age we live in now.

I remember some nights in the summer everyone sitting on the front porch, talking, and friends or neighbors would walk down the street and actually would come over to talk with my parents. The kids were all in the yard playing with not one electrical or battery operated toy.

I hope my friend and the family “survived” the 24 hours with no modern day activities or appliances. I’ll try to report back to you on the experience.

What do you think? Have we lost our way?

Ice