The Evolution of Evolution

Sitting at Starbucks the other day, I had the most random, yet interesting, conversation regarding technology.  How it is infiltrating our world at break-neck speeds, and, ultimately changing the landscape of our brains: redefining how we process information, re-formatting what no longer fits our existing mode of thinking & how this, to the next extent, will shift our physical appearance in the generations to come.

See, it's not just about what information is available to us in terms of technology, but the ways to find said information. As my friend pointed out, we no longer need to go to the library and pour through book after book; it's all available right in front of us, on our laptops or smartphones.  The simple process of getting up and moving is now a thing of the past.  No longer do we need to use certain muscles (ie. legs to walk to library, arms to hold books, eyes that read literature on paper).  One has to wonder if the next generation to evolve will look just like the aliens in the movies: skinnier, longer digits, lanky arms & legs, and a giant head with bigger eye(s)--all to accommodate this new wave of technology. 

When I was a child, the idea of having cars that fly like the Jetsons was nowhere near reality.  It was futuristic, but surely not a destiny to be reached in our day & age.  Now, we have electric cars, pocket-size encyclopedic phones, and potential private missions to Mars.  How far off are the days of the Jetsons now?

The other morning I was home with my sick daughter, playing video games on my laptop.  (How I miss Atari...)  My daughter is 5, and she simply amazes me.  Playing "Fire Girl & Water Boy," that girl kicked my a**!!!  Not just in her ability to traverse the playing field, but how.  Her tiny fingers manipulating the keyboard easier than having her fold her clothes neatly in her drawer.  Rare are the days of going outside to play hide-and-seek and riding bikes.  Don't get me wrong, she and her 8 year-old brother still do that but with the technology accessible and willing to them makes this form of play more special-occassion. 

Talk about a world of growing up to soon and how we, as responsible parents, can try to impede this process as long as possible.  But, reality check, it's not up to us anymore.  Technology is everywhere.  It's booming and growing like fungus.  It is inevitable that the next set born will surely come out from the womb with a smartphone in hand, attached to the umbilical cord, ready to take on the world in ways one can only fathom.

This is when I raise my hand and scream at the top of my lungs to STOP!!!  Sometimes too much is, well, just too much.  Reality: no kid needs a phone.  It is acceptable to only have a laptop and one TV at home.  (No, daughter, I do not need to get an ipad simply because your brother is occupying the MacAir at this moment.)  I long for the days where life was simpler.  Where children--and adults--can walk head up, rather than glued to their phones because dare they miss a facebook/twitter/instagram moment.  How I miss eye contact.  Sigh.

When I think of evolution, I think back to the way we were...but now we're forced to think forward.  Truth is, things will never be the same. And not that I think it was better way back then, but it was certainly simpler, more pure.  Our society just complicates things by never being satisfied in the present.  And it's one thing to "screw" ourselves with this way of thinking but, for the love of the Lord, leave the next generation alone.  Forget just the social impact, but what about the health?  It hasn't been nearly enough time to study the long term impact of all this radiation/radio-active waves more potent that a microwave, just laying next to our heads for hours on end watching Hulu and choosing pins for our "boards."

I am not a Puritan...that is a laugh.  But I am for preserving the dignity and well-being of our children.  I am all for improving the way things are done, as long as it it a thoughtful process, and not just a race amongst ourselves to be bigger and badder.  If we could instill the values of stopping to smell the roses, to appreciate what we have, and just let our mentality evolve as it should...  Wow I sound like my mom!