Monday, March 07, 2005

Techno Kids

Well, the two middle boys were watching Star Wars the other night up in my bedroom because the oldest was playing Nintendo downstairs. So naturally when it was time for dinner, they didn't want to come down. I told Hubby to remind them that our oldest couldn't continue playing while we were eating, so they could bring the tape down and watch it while we ate. Hubby came back down, trailed by the budding sci-fi fans. The five year old was upset. "But Daddy, that video doesn't have scene selections. How will we find where we left off?" Thus my 5 year old hit on the only advantage video tapes have over DVDs - you never lose your place.

It got me thinking, though. How will my kids ever understand the vast difference between the world in which I grew up and the world in which they are growing up? I commented that I had seen Star Wars when I was six. Hubby said, "In the theater?" And I had to remind him that "in the theater" was the only way to see movies in 1977. If you didn't see it in the theater, you didn't see it! Now, of course, I would rather wait for the DVD so I can see all the bonus material and listen to the commentary. I have probably spent over 40 hours on the Lord of the Rings trilogy alone. Of course, I did see those in the theater.

My kids are so used to technology that they don't even think the same way I do. My second son is only 5. It's simply a matter of time before he's writing his own blog I suppose. In the meantime, I will continue to regale them with tales of how, once upon a time, you had to watch whatever was being broadcast on the television at the time. No video tapes, no TIVO, no DVD recorders. After all, would we really have chosen to watch that many reruns of Gilligan's Island if we had a choice?

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