Stop saying "In my day"

there is an odd thing going on in my day.  It seems like I am the pivot in a teeter totter of opinions.  Thanks to the wonders of the internet I talk with people of all ages, races, sexes, income levels, political types, music taste or other things and one that that really bugs me is this things were better, are better attitudes that are out there.

The current discussion I am having is with people who are arguing that kids spend all their time texting, playing videos games, etc and don't go out to play.  They make the argument that kids don't play outside.  Heck you are seeing it everywhere but the thing is I don't see it.

Having a ten year old living at home and owning an xbox, DS and computers I have an idea how much time a kid will spend doing things.  Yes, I admit there are days she will sit and watch cat videos on Youtube but most days we have to remind her to come in for dinner and bedtime.  She rides her bike, builds tree branch forts, hunts frogs, catches fish with her hands, picks flowers, playing silly games on the playground equipment and just do all the things we used to do as kids.

Is it that she is so different than other kids?  I don't think so.  I think it is because interacting is fun for her.  We allow her to play, don't EXPECT her to.  Modern society is constantly scheduling kids to do things and then complaining that they aren't being kids.  Yes sports can be good for some kids but we don't need every kid to become sports stars.

Again I seem to be switching themes but it is true.  North America, and yes I mean the US and Canada seems to have this thing where if you aren't a TEAM PLAYER then there is something wrong with you.  What happened to doing your own personal best? 

But back to the original argument.  Parents of my age back when they were kids had the early computers and video games.  The didn't have cellphones but they spent hours on the phone talking to their friends to the annoyance of their parents.  They listened to music on boom boxes instead of IPods but playing them so loud that they couldn't hear their parents anymore than the kids do now.

Yes people don't talk to the strangers next to them on the bus or subway but they are still connected and talking.  With texting and twitter they are talking to people from all over the world.  And yes they need to learn filtering because now when you say or do something pretty stupid the whole world can know about it unlike the old days when you made pretty much the same mistakes but only your town knew about it. 

Yes we have kids sexting and doing selfies that show way too much of themselves but guess what?  We had plenty of naked pictures and phone sex in our day.  Instead of complaining about our kids, why not go spend time with them, talk to them, teach them and not expect them to know everything at such young ages.  And talk to them not at them.  Really if you can find something in common with the kids you will both grow.