It's Not All Our Fault: Exhibit E

More reasons for why our generation is messed up.

Exhibit E: The interwebs.  

Technology in general.  Did it make us a smarter, more well-informed people?  Or do we live in a fantasy and have no real drive to accomplish tangible things?  Both?  Laziness.  Debatable.

This is a baby that thinks a magazine is an iPad that doesn't work. Totes adorbs.  And also kind of sad.

This is Second Life.  People spend real-life money to buy things that aren't real.  And have relationships with avatars that aren't real, but are controlled by other people who spend their real-life money on things that aren't real.

I remember when DVDs were first a thing, Dad's favorite joke was that we needed to rewind it before returning it to blockbuster.  This is a group of people who have never seen a VCR, and don't know what a re-winder is, nor that it was considered polite to rewind your VHS tape before returning it to the video store.  Also, they've probably never seen a video store because they are all out of business now.

Also, they don't know why the 'Save' button in every software on the planet looks like this.

I once referred to different types of fonts as 'different types of handwriting.'

Did you know that, while teenagers aged 15-19 lose about 18 seconds of educational time for every minute they spend online, Americans aged 20-24 only lose about 7 seconds for each minute?  A number that continues to decrease as age increases.

I couldn't tell you my husband's phone number, but I remember all my friends' numbers from elementary school  when memorizing was still a thing that people did.

What will presidential elections look like in 20 years when people can go back and look at the candidate's college years on MySpace or Facebook?  Trouble.  That's what it will look like.

It's a million times easier to write papers, both researching and fact-finding, as well as looking up appropriate publishing conventions.  Not to mention how much faster it is to type a paper.  I still hear horror stories from my parents about discovering a typo on a page and having to retype the whole thing on the typewrite.  Gross.

Can we talk about spell check?  Because for good or ill, that little device has certainly made it's mark.  Publications are more accurate, but people are less certain of how to spell the word to begin with.

You can g-chat with your long-lost friends that are practically fallen off the face of the known world.

But also this article about our time spent online.

Thanks Al Gore.  For ruining our lives.  I bet you didn't wish you had taken credit for the internet now.

Things that aren't around anymore but should still be a thing

Starburst California Fruits.

Not Baja.  Just California.

It was quite possibly the greatest combination of Starburst flavors ever.  Wild Cherry, Strawberry-Watermelon, Raspberry, Plum Passion.  It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about the delicious juicy-ness.  Admittedly, it wouldn't be amiss to replace wild cherry with mango melon or kiwi banana (speaking of delicious but culled Starburst flavors...), but really.  How do you even try to improve on that bit of awesomeness?  It's like a fruit-flavor all-star list.  This team would win the candy world series!  And no one remembers that it was ever a thing.  How?  How did that happen world?

I remember writing them a strongly worded note about 10 years ago about how Starbursts fans around the world were falling into a state of depression without their California fruits.  Clearly mine was the only letter they received.

But I still remember you Starburst California.  I keep alive the flame of faith that one day Mars Corp will bring your flavors of deliciousness back to store shelves everywhere.

Stay juicy my friends.