Ever Feel Like a Dinosaur?

In the decidedly confusing era we are currently living in, do you ever feel like your head is on backwards? Do you feel like a dinosaur? I am sure you will agree we grew up in an entirely different time – the sharp contrast between the 1960s and 2024.

The world has changed significantly over the last 60 years and boomers have had a front-row seat for most of it. Baby Boomers have been a transitional generation where we were raised by two generations that witnessed the birth of powered flight with dope and fabric flying machines to jets to rockets to the Moon and beyond. We’ve seen it all. Those who raised us – our parents and grandparents – grew up with dirt streets and outhouses – then – evolving into a new era of indoor plumbing and hot asphalt streets and marveling at the result.

Boomers came of age with carburetors and having to hand-wash dishes – then – automatic dishwashers, electronic fuel injection, and self-driving cars. Do you remember vintage Bell telephones that actually had a bell and cathode ray tube televisions with glass screens – then – living in the new age of cell phones and digital video communications? The cell phone? Didn’t Mannix and Rockford have those while running around catching the bad guys in their classic muscle cars? You can see the person you’re conversing with today – like the futuristic Jetsons did in the 1960s.

These are all terrific advances in civilization that have made our lives better. At the same time, we’ve witnessed a pronounced decay in civilization – the absence of common decency and an increase in self-absorption. We’re just not nice to each other anymore. Greed over giving. Self-absorption instead of a collective spirit of giving and sharing. The filtration and editing our thoughts before speaking instead of the obnoxiousness and freedom to say whatever is on our minds no matter how rude and insulting it might be today. I dated someone long ago who believed you were better off hearing the brutal truth than getting soft soap. I suspect she has grown old alone.

Hard to know who to blame for this culture shift in America. Maybe no one is to blame. Perhaps it has been a fluid transition from mutual respect to the complete and total absence of it for others. Dunno about you – but I don’t like it. It leaves me wondering what society will be like in a decade.

In the past decade, we’ve evolved from an atmosphere of mutual respect (until proven otherwise) to routinely insulting others, especially in social media. In social media, there’s no face to connect with the name so why bother with mutual respect when you can get away with rude and insulting – saying things you’d never say to someone’s face. We have all kinds of courage at a keyboard.

Personally, I like conveying a positive message where possible in social media. Not everyone does and I have my moments I become unhinged. Social media has replaced community – sitting around a bar, restaurant or community gathering spot where we spoke face to face. To me, social media isn’t community, but instead a faceless environment and recklessness where we are missing the boat and that all-important pastime of really connecting with others.