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Linda Crownover's avatar

I've been thinking about your post all day. I think everything you said applies to just about everyone I know who is 40+. But when it comes to all my relatives, friends, and acquaintances under 40, I don't think much applies. They don't want to live the lives we've lead, any more than we wanted to live our parents' lives. They go to concerts and movies - but to those we would hate. They communicate in person, but have zero interest in phone calls - and that is just fine.i can tell you from hanging out in the high school atrium or cafeteria, that when teenagers are together, the noise is deafening. They are talking non-stop. (They text DURING class 😂)

I spend a few days a week with elementary school kids, too, and have never met a single one who didn't love reading and who wasn't excited going to the "library class." I know this is also true of my many great nieces and nephews in Colorado. I stay away from middle school, but even in high school, they read a lot. Yes the books are online, but so what? Isn't the objective to absorb the content? And I've never seen little kids more excited about math then when the lessons are on their iPads.

It kills me sometimes when I realize most young people are not that interested in learning from my experiences, or want to avail themselves of my hard-fought wisdom. But that's perfectly normal and perfectly fine. We already lived our youth - they deserve the same opportunity. Their ideas about what makes a well-rounded adult are going to be different from ours. And as difficult as it is, we can't keep telling them we know what's best for them - they aren't going to listen. Did we? What we can do is lead by example and trust the best of what we have to offer will make a meaningful impression upon them.

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Tim Dineen's avatar

Ah... my fervent dream would be for religions - all religions - to disappear. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished...

We have season tickets to our local Musical Theatre Company - saw "Grease" last week - and a local "Immersive Theatre" - seen some great shows there, as well - Clue, Misery, The Mousetrap, to name a few. We had season tickets to Footlighters in Berwyn when we lived east. LOVE live theatre!

We don't do movie theatres much, anymore... There's really no bang for the buck. I'll see a live performance in a heartbeat. Movies, at home.

And I read... My local library has a ton of digital books out and I download them onto my Kindle. Yes, I like holding an actual book, but I have access to bazillions of books whenever I want - I can read on my phone, my Kindle, iPad or computer and have each sync to where I left off on the last. That is some positive computer usage.

And, yes, I go to the physical library, as well. And we just donated six boxes of books to them!

Victor was a Travel Agent! Ah... the perks we used to get with his IATA card! I never knew the back of the plane existed!

When I was in the Hotel Biz, we would host "Fam Trips" - Familiarization Trips - for Travel Agents. We would wine and dine them, and entertain and schmooze the living shit out of them to get them to sell our property. They were over-the-top extravaganzas.

Hotels paid commissions to them. When Travelocity, et al, first came into existence, hotels switched to them - less commissions paid. Then, when they realized they could save even more money, they brought it in-house.

Today, it is generally less expensive for the consumer to book directly with hotel/air/car than use an online or independent agent.

Automation has led to the demise of jobs since automation first came into being. We no longer have elevator operators, switchboard operators (I've run a plug-in PBX board in my youth!), pin boys... Milkmen and breadmen are now niche jobs for niche dairies and bakeries.

I kinda get what Douthat is saying - Zager and Evans immediately comes to mind - but I think he's also giving the human race a lot more credit to fight the changes than we deserve. My first thought was about smallpox. A Vaccine was developed in 1796, but in 1850 New York City, there were so many smallpox cases that they actually built a hospital for them on Roosevelt Island. People wouldn't take the vaccine because they thought it would deform babies, people would grow hooves, personal liberty, and any number of ludicrous reasons... Notice how far we haven't evolved?!?

Shopping Malls destroyed Downtown. Barnes and Noble destroyed the independent bookseller, Amazon destroyed shopping malls, Barnes and Noble, and everything else.

The common thread in all of this is - besides mere technology - is corporate greed. Monopolies controlling our newspapers and airwaves. Controlling travel choices, availability, and pricing. Controlling our politics. Controlling. Everything.

The Earth's population is projected to reach 9 billion people by 2037 - 12 years from now - and 10 billion people by 2058. It seems as if Douthat's idea of reproduction is a bit off - unless, of course, he just means white, European-types.

I'll be 85 in 2037 when we reach 9 billion - and I plan on still being around because there are just too many people I haven't yet annoyed. 2058?!? Probably not. But I can guarantee you that I won't be in a plot in the ground with a headstone.

And I will continue to buy real books for my great-nieces and nephews - as I did for their parents before them. And continue our vegetable garden - we redid the raised beds this year, already! And I will continue to find joy with Victor, in cooking and baking, in travel when we can (we're off to Vancouver, BC tomorrow for a week!), and all the new babies in our family - last one born early March, next one due late May.

We have fucked up this planet so badly, that maybe a complete reboot wouldn't be such a bad idea...

Hopefully, not tomorrow, though. There's a particular Canadian Whisky that I want to revisit...

And is it bad that languages disappear and, at some point, we all speak a similar language that we all understand? Is it bad that artificial lines drawn on a map disappear and people migrate freely as we once did?

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