The Times: What has come of today?

I'm not old by any stretch of the imagination, as a matter of fact, I am fairly young. But the more I see of the world today the older I feel. Have things changed so much that a 3 year gap feels more like a 10 year gap? I look around at things and take a step back. The thoughts running through my head dance along the lines of "What in the hell has the world come to? Do people not teach their children anymore? I wasn't that stupid when I was their age, have things really changed that much?" I'm really not even that far out of touch and yet I feel like I've lived under a pile of dirt for years.

So more to the point, what has come of today? When I talk about my childhood now I feel like I'm telling a fairy tale. "Once upon a time, in a land much like your own, I lived in. . ." People just 3 years younger than I am look at me with big eyes as I tell this masterful tale of the harsh days of my childhood where cell phones were not wide spread and dial up was the shit. Way back when you actually had landlines and called people instead of texting them. They gasp when I tell them about audio tapes, video tapes, and the fact that we did not have ipods, itunes, or satellite radio. They just can't believe that we only had one TV and computer in the house and that they weren't located in a bedroom but in the gathering room. All the time I wonder if they could have survived in my world.

By the same token I am often shocked by the fact that small children are running around with cell phones and cruising the internet without any kind of adult supervision. I go into MMORPGs and find 11 and 12 year olds grinding at 2 o clock in the morning. I hadn't even heard of MMORPGs until I was 17! I didn't get a cell phone until I was 16 and that was only out of necessity. I wasn't aloud unsupervised internet usage until I was 16 and I never had a computer or TV in my room until I was an adult! I didn't watch Adult Swim or South Park until I was 18. I am finding 8 year olds that can quote from Family Guy!

I guess maybe I lived in polite society (though I would never have considered it polite when I was a child). Because gas was not a funny thing but just a part of life. Foul language wasn't the norm, you were on the wrong side of the tracks if you were slinging the F bomb or even shit and damn. *gasp* Even hell was a dirty word. Of course I did tend toward the wrong side of the tracks but it was not the norm. Now I find small children spouting smut in wal-mart while their parents let them run wild. I'm left thinking, "By the Gods, my mom would have beaten me bloody if I acted that way!!!"

The times! What has come of today? Will it ever leave a tomorrow?