Updated Article

“I will never say that when I grow up.” How many times have you said this to yourself? Do you roll your eyes? Do you give a sigh of resignation? Or do you simply plaster a smile on your face in a wait of what you are sure you have already heard a million and one times? When your parents sit you down, and start the sentence with, “You don’t know how easy you have it, when I was a kid…”, take a minute to listen. Because they aren’t wrong. Let’s face it. Have you ever turned on the TV manually? I mean, when the remote wasn’t lost underneath the couch cushion. And even then you run around the entire house searching for it, instead of crossing the room and changing the channel. I know what you’re thinking: If I don’t find it now, I’ll be without a remote forever! So I’ll admit it: Yes, having a remote control is much easier than getting up at every commercial.

Google; a multi-million dollar search engine otherwise known as: The Info God. It has every answer to any question, ranging from services, to history, to games, to your science report. So who wants to hop in the car, go to the library, look up whatever subject through the Dewey Decimal System and search through hundreds of pages of hundreds of books. Why, when you have The Info God in your living room? Not me. I don’t even know what the Dewey Decimal System is let alone how to use/see/get it. Thank God for Google.

I think the biggest thing I take for granted, and am just now realizing, is… microwavable popcorn. We stick a package in the microwave, press the popcorn button, and watch as it pops. It’s pre-salted, pre-buttered and effortless. Yeah. No such luck 20 years ago. “When I was a kid… it was different.” start my parents. It wasn’t just about not having a popcorn button on their microwaves. They didn’t have microwaves period. Our parents had to take out a frying pan, put oil in the bottom, and heat it up. Then, they put in Orville Redenbacher’s kernals, put the lid on, and shook the pan. A lot. Plus, there was no such thing as pre-salted and pre-buttered. It was all manual. We have life easier in many ways, especially in the microwavable popcorn area.

We live in a class of people that have never been without a remote control, never lacking a cellular phone. Our generation has never been without a Seinfeld reference. Schools have always been concerned with multiculturalism and Pepsi and Coke have always used recyclable bottles. There is no attendant asking you “Want me to check under the hood?” Times have changed since your parents were little and they will keep changing. From technology, to clothes, to limits, change will happen. Good, bad, or indifferent.

So do all these changes make our lives easier? What about when your parents say, “When I was a kid, my parents never had to worry about me riding my bike along to the ice cream shop.” In a different respect, life was easier back then. They walked to school, rode their bikes whenever and wherever and, if they stayed out after dark, parents wouldn’t worry. They could be free and have fun without worrying about being kidnapped or hurt. I’m not saying that danger was any less then, but it was definitely underestimated. People say childhood is carefree, but now… it has limits.

Ever heard the saying, “Find a penny, pick it up…”? If older generations saw a penny, you’d bet your allowance they’d pick it up. With a penny, they could buy a piece of candy, and if they saved… they could buy quite a lot more than we could with that amount of money. Now, if we see a penny, great. Save a hundred and you can buy one cheesy plastic ring. The cost of living is just so different; a middle class person today could be a high class person a generation ago. It was definitely easier, in this sense, back then.

This is a time of change, the whole kit and caboodle. Yes, technology, along with other things, is more advanced. Yes, life can be much easier nowadays. But, in other ways, such as the cost of living, or the amount of freedom and worry, life was easier back then. So I say again: Change is happening, and it will keep happening. Our class has CD’s, what will our children have? Microchips? We have cars, they may travel in bubbles. When our parents say “When I was a kid…” I don’t believe they ever thought they would be saying it either. They never thought they’d have remote controls and Google, so they weren’t going to be caught dead saying “When I was a kid…” when they grew up. But they are, and, believe me, we will too.