50 Years

I say the below (and other posts like it) not to be the old man yelling "Kids these days!" but to encourage perspective and gratitude.

If you were a kid in 1920*, you got around by horse and buggy and had probably never seen an airplane. Fifty years later, the Concord was taking people across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound, and you had watched people walk on the Moon. 

But in terms of changing what it was like to be a kid, the last 50 years are unparalleled. 

In 1975, I could only watch whatever was on one of three channels at that moment (Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, Sonny & Cher). I could only watch whatever movie was at the local theater. I was limited to the books on my shelf or at the small local library (I read and re-read The Hardy Boys). You had whatever music your parents had on vinyl or was playing on the radio at the moment (there really wasn't any non-easy-listening music in my house). I had no camera. I had never heard of a "computer." I didn't know anything about anything (other countries, other races, atheism, vegetarianism, homosexuality, you name it). My window on the world was the Brady Bunch. (I hadn't yet been allowed to watch M*A*S*H.) If I wanted to learn anything not taught at my shitty Catholic school, I was SOL. The only smart kid I knew had been skipped out of my grade and then moved away; I wouldn't meet another smart person for ten years.

It is basically impossible to wrap our heads around how different it is today. (I try in Smart Phones and the Hedonic Treadmill.) Today, a smart kid can learn about any topic they want, watch just about any movie or TV show, listen to any song, or read any book ... at any moment. They can find any community based on any identity or interest. They can "hang out" with anyone, anywhere in the world. 

And air conditioning. Holy chicken - what a benefit! 

It is not all utopian, of course; hatred and ignorance and doomism are very prevalent. All the advances and advantages are taken for granted. But on balance, I'd much rather be a (smart) kid today than in 1975. (I can't imagine I'd be less happy than I was.)

Again: Saying with gratitude, not bitterness.  😎

*101 years ago, while he was President and arguably the most powerful person in the world, Calvin Coolidge watched his son die from a small blister on his toe. JFC.