The colors of nature. Green. Brown. Gray. Blue. They are the fading colors. The world today is forgetting what they look like; at least in their true forms anyway. Not only do we no longer take the time to step outside and appreciate the world around us, but we have become disinterested in it. We couch potatoes can’t even be bothered to watch Planet Earth or Blue Planet on the Discovery Channel anymore. “Those are shows about the world outside my scope,” we say. “No one cares about that anymore!”
As I write this, my coworker is engaged in a project on social media. One stat in it is that people in the US alone spend 210 BILLION minutes a month on Facebook. That’s 400 MILLENNIA! Lets cut that down. The number of people that constitute that time spent, is around 150 Million people. Given that, 50% of the US spends 45 minutes a day on Facebook alone. I’m no communist but I have to think that there’s a more constructive way that society could use that much time. That amount of time, put to good use, could be world-changing.
Now, that was just an example. I’m actually very much in support of Facebook and I like how I can interact with people through it. What I don’t like is the proliferation of video games and the strong tethers to electronics that are affecting youth today. Kids are our future and I’m so glad I went through my developmental stage shortly before the boom in gaming. I feel that with the current youth less fortunate than me, our future as a people may be grim.
I grew up with sticks, rocks, and fire. I mowed lawns for money. I camped, carving things with knives and learning to make one-match fires. I grew up at the end of an era. The era of green, brown, gray, and blue. I look at my brother, not even 6 years younger than me. To the age of 14 he has never had any noteworthy hobby that took him outside or got him using his body. Only in the last year has he finally taken an interest in things like knives, but I fear it is because they are “cool,” not because they can carve a stick. I’m happy to say that my brother is finally graduating from first-person-shooters to airsoft guns. Maybe a sign that there’s hope for him, but unfortunately I think hope is all but lost for his age group and the ones that will follow.
Let’s not forget the death of good Cartoon Network programming. The Kids Next Door can kiss my ass. It belongs to Bugs Bunny.
So true. Just the other night I caught an old school cartoon marathon on HBO it was weird. They had all my favs. Pepe Le Pew, Bugs Bunny, Daffy, Elmer. I actually watched it for over an hour.