We all talk about how the kids today don't get outside enough to just play. Everything does seem to be organized, supervised and scheduled. Back in my day you could get yourself grounded. You were grounded to return you to being grounded ! When you did something wrong you were losing ground and so you had to stay home to find that which was lost. Sometimes that grounding only confined you to your own yard. The far worse scenario was being confined to your home, inside ! If it was really serious, television may also be withheld. I have experienced all three of these situations. Not to brag but I wasn't often grounded but when I was it was effective. That's probably because I wasn't grounded often. Wait a minute, the intent is to be grounded ! It can be confusing. But, I was thinking about this because I have noticed the big punishment today is apparently taking your phone away !
Now at my age taking the phone away seems like a silly thing at first. My phone will take a picture but I only make phone calls on it and an occasional text if you don't answer. The grandkids phones however are smarter than that, that's why they are called smart phones. They're televisions, gaming systems and the library. too ! Taking that phone away is cutting them off from society just like having to stay indoors did to me. The big difference is the number of " contacts " they may have. We didn't have " contacts " we had friends. Those friends were of varying degrees and having their phone number was an indication of how intimate a relationship that was, especially with the opposite sex. Even when I was grounded I went to school and so saw my friends. I did have to tell them that I was grounded and take the walk of shame as they went to the movies or the malt shop. A little bit of that got you grounded again real fast ! You returned to being sensible and well balanced. You found out it didn't make much sense to do stupid stuff. You learned to balance the risk with the reward. Sure, smoke that cigarette behind the hardware store, you'll be cool. Got to be on ice for a week after that ! That's cool.
The kids todays have their contacts. You can send a friend request, we only did that to girls when I was young and you really wanted to be more than friends. I hated that when the girls just wanted to be friends. We can still be friends, right ? Arrg ! Now they also post to their profile, we didn't have profiles back then, you had to face us head on. I can post, to my profile page that I am in a relationship. That means I'm going steady, maybe. Really it means message me. You know, what we called passing a note. So the removal of their phones effectively isolates them from contact with their friends. I think more " courting " is done on social media these days than in real life. That is a sad state of affairs in my opinion. No more love letters, now they write essays ! It is sad to think that the kids of today rely so heavily on their phones for social interaction. Now the " grounding " of our children is more like a disconnect ! Maybe that is contributing to the disturbing attitudes we are seeing in society today. Are our children being disconnected from living in the real world ? The denial of " service " is todays grounding.
Now at my age taking the phone away seems like a silly thing at first. My phone will take a picture but I only make phone calls on it and an occasional text if you don't answer. The grandkids phones however are smarter than that, that's why they are called smart phones. They're televisions, gaming systems and the library. too ! Taking that phone away is cutting them off from society just like having to stay indoors did to me. The big difference is the number of " contacts " they may have. We didn't have " contacts " we had friends. Those friends were of varying degrees and having their phone number was an indication of how intimate a relationship that was, especially with the opposite sex. Even when I was grounded I went to school and so saw my friends. I did have to tell them that I was grounded and take the walk of shame as they went to the movies or the malt shop. A little bit of that got you grounded again real fast ! You returned to being sensible and well balanced. You found out it didn't make much sense to do stupid stuff. You learned to balance the risk with the reward. Sure, smoke that cigarette behind the hardware store, you'll be cool. Got to be on ice for a week after that ! That's cool.
The kids todays have their contacts. You can send a friend request, we only did that to girls when I was young and you really wanted to be more than friends. I hated that when the girls just wanted to be friends. We can still be friends, right ? Arrg ! Now they also post to their profile, we didn't have profiles back then, you had to face us head on. I can post, to my profile page that I am in a relationship. That means I'm going steady, maybe. Really it means message me. You know, what we called passing a note. So the removal of their phones effectively isolates them from contact with their friends. I think more " courting " is done on social media these days than in real life. That is a sad state of affairs in my opinion. No more love letters, now they write essays ! It is sad to think that the kids of today rely so heavily on their phones for social interaction. Now the " grounding " of our children is more like a disconnect ! Maybe that is contributing to the disturbing attitudes we are seeing in society today. Are our children being disconnected from living in the real world ? The denial of " service " is todays grounding.
No comments:
Post a Comment