It is not a secret that right now in America and around the world our children are spending more and more time on their phones, tables and on computers. Unfortunately, this phenomena is also showing to have an effect on their ability to verbally communicate away from text messages. This is a story of a teenager who isn’t the typical. They have a respect for technology but they recognize that the more time we spend on our devices the more disconnected we become from being able to do simple tasks like have a conversation. They take us on a ride of what it’s like in the classroom when their classmates struggle to do assignments that require them to put their phones down and how funny they think that it. The turmoil within his family because their parents are concerned that their younger sibling might be addicted. They remind us of all of the things that they see on a day to day basis that should be reminders of how far we’ve gotten away from what was normal and what is now a rarity. A here and now kind of journey where the performer asks the audience a simple question, are we able to have a simple conversation anymore, or has technology secretly come in and stolen that ability from us? And if it’s been stolen, will we ever realize that it is a skill that we need to get back.
Simple Conversation
I always thought it was so annoying when my parents would start sentences with, “I remember when.” Then they would go on and on and on about these memories that they had about life when they were younger. As much as the memories annoyed me sometimes there was something very special about watching them go back and forth reminiscing about times that were much simpler than the way we live right now. They remembered things like walking to school and not because they had to but because they wanted to. Isn't that crazy? Literally a group of friends would meet on the corner and they would all just walk to school, some of them were on bikes and some of them were on skateboards but it was like a thing for them. I think that's what we've forgotten about, the things that bring us joy aren't simple anymore. They are these complex technology driven applications and television shows that probably aren't age appropriate for teenagers like me. My dad tells me that I am years ahead of my time. I think that's his way of giving me a compliment by saying that I am more mature and the way that I think isn't the normal teenager way of thinking. Because you see, I think about things like the future. And to be quite honest, it scares the hell out of me.