Monday, 7th February - 02:00 pm
But what was interesting about the "Advantages of drinking" course (see blog below) was, when he talked of parents then and now, my uncle brought about an interesting perspective. The advent of technologies have made our parents really paranoid. Initially, if a kid A is late, his parents can't do much about it - they can't call him on his mobile, the guy himself can't reach them on their landline (they were good old days of no phone!), the horror stories of what happens to kids worldwide was not fed to them by TV, they were less scared, less equipped and hence less paranoid. Of course, it has its own disadvantages but life then sounds much similar - reminds me of something that Chaith once sent me in INSEAD. Quote-Unquote.

Looking back, it's hard to believe we have lived as long as we have ... As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags. When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot about our brakes. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us. No mobile phones. Unthinkable. We got cut and broke bones, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank fizzy drinks, but we were never overweight ... we were always outside playing. Not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment ... some people weren't as smart as others so they failed an exam. Horrors. The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! We did not have PlayStations, video games, cable, DVD's, mobile phones, PC's, internet chatrooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes and knocked on the door, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! Out there in the cold, cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we survive?
- posted by Super Ted @ 9:24 AM