A college intern who sits near my desk was musing about technology this week. “When was the last time I used a stamp?” she said, mumbling to herself as she read an article on a 2-cent increase in postal rates.
“What’s with faxes?” she said later that day. “You put a piece of paper in a machine? Why? Must be a generational thing.” (I’m paraphrasing.)
As a baby boomer with two sons born in the 21st century, I am constantly reminded at home of the technology gap. Now, it’s happening at work, too.
At home, the gap shows up in recreational activities. My two little boys have toys that I could have never dreamed of growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.
My 7-year-old son plays Madden football on a laptop computer. Sometimes I sit next to him and watch, full of wonder as his fingers fly across the keyboard, causing players to juke and dive. His computer-generated football games look more realistic than anything I watched on my parents’ Magnavox television in the 1970s.
My son uses me merely for historical NFL references.
“Daddy, would the Steelers allstars probably beat the 2006 Cleveland Browns?” he asked me one day as he was picking his computer matchup.
I hesitated and rubbed my chin, pretending to be perplexed by this question.
“Let me see. I’m going to say the Steelers hall of famers might have a chance to beat the 2006 Brownies,” I said finally. “Why don’t you try it?”
Ten straight wins later, he came and hugged my neck.
I try to steer him back to 1970s-era games. One game has successfully bridged our generation gap: Battling Tops.
Battling Tops is an action game invented in the 1960s. Up to four players wind strings around little plastic tops. Each top has a name, like Tricky Nicky or Hurricane Hank.
The “battle” ring is a plastic, concave arena where the spinning tops spin, circle and spar. On the count of three, up to four players pull the strings on their tops. Melee ensues.
The little tops sometimes just kiss and spin until they expire. The last top moving wins. Other times, though, the physics work just right and one of the tops will get knocked completely out of the ring. This sends my two boys, ages 7 and 2, into complete pandemonium as they roll in the floor laughing.
Even my younger son’s toys are wired. He has electronic educational toys called LeapPads that teach numbers and alphabet skills. Still, his favorite two toys are mechanical: An umbrella and a pair of scissors, which he uses to cut lawn mowers out of newspaper inserts.
For the first time, last week, he took an interest in backyard baseball, to the delight of his older brother and dad.
Our older son stood behind our toddler and helped him hit a tennis ball with a big padded bat. When they made contact, the little guy would run randomly around the backyard squealing.
Technology has improved our lives in a million ways, but fun still abounds for kids and parents willing to unplug and unwind.
E-mail Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfree press.com
Kennedy is the content editor of the Times Free Press Life sections and writes the “Life Stories” column. Previously, he was the first Sunday editor of the Times Free Press. Before Chattanooga’s newspapers were merged in 1999, Kennedy was the coordinating editor of the Chattanooga Times, where he had previously been an education reporter, feature writer and team leader. His first newspaper job was as sports editor of the Cleveland (Tenn.) Daily Banner. Kennedy’s human ...
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