A Great Memory Generator: More Touchstones for Baby Boomers
Today on Facebook, my friend Linda posted this video of games and activities recollected from growing up in the 1950’s and ’60’s. I recommend you take a trip down memory lane, and you will almost certainly come back with some interesting memories. Or, if you are a young person, you might want to watch just out of historical curiosity.
https://www.youtube.com/v/Zj7bPEKIsvA?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0
Did this set of prompts bring any stories, scenes, images to your mind? Please share!
Posted in Personal Reflections
Shirley, do you have a link to the video?
Well, this is strange! It was embedded in the draft just fine. Let me get the link and then try to re-embed. Thanks for letting me know about the problem.
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj7bPEKIsvA
Now let me see if I can put the video itself in the post.
Shirley, I thought for sure I was not going to be able to relate, because of cultural influences, but lo and behold, I could relate to almost all of the things mentioned. It really did take me down memory lane and evoke nostalgia.
I believe there is something to the fact that children are too bombarded with the latest technologies to properly enjoy nature and interact in a healthy way. On the other hand, I remember that the older generation of my childhood was doing the same thing we’re doing… remembering their “good old days.” Perhaps it is a way of taking stock of our lives and bemoan the changes that have snatched away the good times. But there is a quote that comes to mind, written by columnist Doug Larson — “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” Even though life seemed simpler when we were young, children were still being abused and neglected, people could be really nasty to one another, and murders were still committed.
That being said, I wholeheartedly agree that our lives are way too complicated by too much technology that we were promised would simplify our lives, when it manages to do exactly its opposite. I think people are fed up with their lives being too full and spending their time looking at various electronic screens — an activity that is the antithesis of human interaction. I cannot imagine that there won’t be some kind of turning away from all this in the future. (I say as I sit in front of my computer screen, typing these thoughts.) For that matter, the person who made the you-tube video would not have been able to do that in the era that is being depicted.
My feeling is that when we are fed up with it all, we’ll find ways of cutting back, or else not buying what we don’t need in the first place. If enough people do that, perhaps the next time someone behind you says, “Hello,” he or she will be talking to you, not someone unaware that you even turned around and who’s talking to someone neither of you can see. Just maybe we’ll think about the unintended consequences of buying an e-reader or any other gadgets we really can do (and are better off) without.
Saloma, you offer us so much wisdom in such a small space! Yes, nostalgia makes memory more ring-around-the-rosey than it really was. Yes, we can use the very technology we hold suspect as we extol the virtues of the pre-digital past. Yes, we may have the wisdom to cut back or cut out the extreme versions of technology that threaten our humanity.
The Amish are right about some things. Ya??
Ahh I love the part about parents standing on the porch yelling or whistling for you to come home. I miss the days when kids knocked on the door to see if their friend could come out and play! Oh how things have changed! Actually speaking of babies and memory generators, my sister emailed me another funny like yesterday that also made me smile. Check out this fun site called Baby Generator at http://www.babygenerator.org and you’ll enjoy a good laugh