Where are the flying cars . . . I was promised flying cars

Where are the flying cars . . . I was promised flying cars

I've heard that line somewhere where someone is saying the technological advances we have in life here in 2008 are far different from what we thought they might be back in 1988.

I just saw an IBM commercial with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates that touches on the future that continues this same imaginative look at the future. It's pretty funny.

Anyway, my point to day ist this: Back in 1988, if we could have looked at ourselves here at 2008, what would our response be? Sure, it's mindboggling all the technological advances we have made. But would we also laugh or cry at some of the side effects?

I'm 37 - not too old and not too young. But I feel like an old-timer when I think about some of the little day-t0-day things I see as a result of our technology. Oma used to say "The world's a different place." How true.

I remember when cell phones started to become prominent. I was always somewhat offended when guests would come to visit - for dinner, perhaps. Their cell phone would ring, and they would carry on a 10-minute conversation with this person that had called. If it were an emergency, that's fine. But I always thought (and still think) -- Wait, you are here to visit me for the evening. How rude to ignore the people who have invited you and to carry on this conversation with this other person in this guest's home.

Of course, cell phones have taken over. Do you remember this scenario happening 15 years ago. You see some down the hall or down the street waving at you. A bit surprised, you wave back only to realize that person was actually waving at someone 50 feet behind you. Today's scenario: someone strikes up some sort of conversation with you. Perhaps it's a stranger. This happened to me on a shuttle going from the parking lot to the airport. I respond back, only to realize this person is talking on a hands-free phone.

Digital cameras. Sure, they are great. But I was just watching a Cubs game on TV. They showed some fans doing this: They take a picture of someone next to them and then immediately show them the picture. "Look - this is what you looked like 5 seconds ago when I took this picture - isn't that hilarious?"

What have we turned in to?

While we are connecting with people around the globe (I was so excited when I read my first comment on this blog from some stranger who acknowledged that he too played a card game called nerts. I thought it was cool that someone other than a friend or relative of mine stumbled across my blog). But while we are connecting with people around the globe, we are not connecting with people in our towns, streets, and neighborhoods.

There is a great book called Bowling Alone, which I read a couple years ago. It's an impressive piece of non-fiction that shows how people are less connected than they were years ago. One early cause is the introduction of the television, but it has just spiraled from there. People are on the cell phone while they check out at the grocery store. I was at Subway ordering for my kids. I had to discuss various menu options with them. As I did that (it only took 1 minute - tops) the kid behind the register was texting on his cell. School administrators are so busy on their blackberries they don't interact with students and staff as much as they should. Teachers in graduate classes are on their laptops while the instructor is teaching. Multitasking or just not showing common courtesies to others? But it's more than just common courtesies. We are just not engaged with others as much as we should be.

Of course, I'm as guilty as anybody. I have the TV on too much. I am blogging when I could be talking to my wife more about her day. (I do like this blogging thing. I"ve kept a journal for 15 years -- off and on - sometimes only 4-5 entries per year.) I don't hide my journal. It's on my bookshelf, but this blogging is faster - I type faster than I write, and I can share it with others. I love reading my brother Joel's blog.

But again, think back to 1988. Pretend we live in 1988 and we are glimpsing at life in 2008. We see kids walking home from school sharing headphones (IPOD) - each with one part of the headpiece in his or her ear. Teachers have these fancy Jeopardy games on their laptop and Epson projectors, but the clues are not very creative at all. I've heard the clues they give as I walk past their rooms in the hall, and it they are not nearly as cool as the 150 different categories my dad collected for his German classes for his German class Jeopardy. He wrote many, and students wrote many of the clues, and he passed them on to me when he retired. Thanks, Papa.

My point - put that blackberry, cell phone, text messaging, laptop down. Engage in life. Talk to your neighbor. Join a group. I need to keep reminding myself of some of those same things. Of course, I've never downloaded a song or received or sent a text message. But even in my 1988 world, I need to shut off the TV, turn off the car radio. Silence is a good thing.

And please, parents at the park with your kids. Shut the cell phone off. You are at the park. Either play with your kids, or enjoy watching them. They'll be grown up way too soon.