This past weekend I went in the park with my 2 year old to play. The park is situated right across one of the buildings specially made for elderly people. Sitting on one of the benches in the park was an older man, reading a newspaper. I sat near him as my young one was running around the bench. He initiated a conversation, asking me about my kid. Every parent loves to talk about their children, I am no exception. We started a conversation and he gave me a piece of advice "to enjoy this age of two that my boy has right now, as this is a precious one. Later on, when they discover technology, nothing can break them up from their tablets, their computers, their phones and their games", he said.
He told me he has 2 grandchildren, age 7 and 9. His family makes an effort to come visit him every 2-3 months. Ever since they grew up, they do not talk to him or play with him nearly as much as they used to when they were younger. Now they just stay and stare at the screens of their ipads and iphones and God forbid they are not allowed with the gadgets while visiting. They start crying and yelling and making huge tantrums. I was a bit surprised and touched by his storytelling as tears would start forming in his eyes while he was telling me all this. He felt bad as he did not have any idea when death would come for him and he did not want to be remembered by his grandchildren as the person who would not allow them to play their games and have a good time while visiting.
My boy is very sociable, he smiles, he high-fives and he babbles to adults. It is very cute and the old man loved that. He was a WWII veteran, started telling me some amazing events he lived through. He genuinely sparked my interest. Even though he was clearly in his 80s, the had a strong passion in trying to portray as best as he could his amazing life. I listened with great interest. Being a married man, I have developed my listening skills pretty well along the years. Not long after that, an older lady joined us on the bench. She politely said hi and she introduced herself to me. She clearly knew the older man I was talking to for close to an hour. My son went to her and started his babbling speech and smiles to her. She was delighted.
As she joined the conversation, she said she was really worried of what the future of the young generation will be. I asked her to elaborate. She made a point of even though technology nowadays helps us communicate faster and farther than ever before, the paradox was we are more and more disconnected as individuals. I was surprised by her composure and the clarity of her language and vocabulary. She was an retired university sociology teacher. Even though she was in mid 70s, her speech was not impaired at all, she spoke as fast and as clear as a TV telemarketer, even better than me. She told us she usually goes on bus rides around town to kill boredom and every now and then she manages to kick in some bus conversation, but never with young people.
For her, the youngsters are like alien beings, they are all connected to their devices, all listen to headsets of many kind. None of them even respond to any attempts of communication, let alone for them to initiate one. She did not know if this is a new ages society trend or it’s just a byproduct of their education. I agreed that the times were changing and the new generation is very connected to their devices. She looked at my phone and said: “this is now man’s best friend, not the dog anymore”. I realized one thing. I am not part of the solution here, I am part of the problem. I am one of those cold, machine-like humans connected to my devices while commuting. I am not paying much attention to people around me who maybe want to spark a conversation. How did I not realize this, as I consider myself rather intelligent?
We ended up spending more than 2 hours in the park, sharing stories of past events, getting entertained by my little one and actually having a good time with two strangers I had just met.
On my way home I promised myself I will change my habits. I will try to be a better human being. Society in general does not have to change to worse, it can change towards better, and change starts with you.(well, with me in this case).
About the author:
Ioan Hipp is not a mathematical genius, he is not a world renowned expert or a prominent figure in the cybersecurity industry. He is just a passionate person on the new cyber world that our IoT is developing into, a storyteller and a contributor to a better society.