Isn't it funny how much time has changed what the youthful generation considers to be in style? At risk of sounding geriatric, I remember in my high school days all we needed to be happy was a swatch watch, a radio and some Ray-Ban sunglasses. The rest was unimportant. Of course, more would have been nice, but as long as you looked the part, you were part of the "in crowd." We played sports in school and hung out at each others' house on weekends. If you had a phone in your bedroom you were big time. Most of us had the long curly cord stretching 20 feet into our room and hoped our parents didn't pick up another extension and listen in. Most houses had a TV in the living room, you were rich if your parents had cable OR a remote control, otherwise it was rabbit ears. We played arcade games and made our own cassette tapes recorded off the radio. We roller skated, had after school jobs, and had a family dinner every night. We respected our folks and had to use the good ol' Encyclopedia Britannica for research papers. College was optional.
These days all the clothes in the world don't matter if you aren't equipped with the latest and greatest technical gadget or know what happened on the most recent episode of "Reality TV" (Because Snookie and Housewives of Orange County are SUCH good role models). If you can't do the latest dance step (teach ME how to Dougie, please) or have the coolest video game system (which consists of killing insurgents or stealing cars).... Kids are not satisfied unless they have a huge flat screen TV, Blu-ray, full cable, cell phone, I-pad or E-Reader and money in their pocket for Starbucks, Jamba Juice, or McDonald's when they troll the mall on the weekend. I-pods are full of gender-bashing songs, texting is the preferred method of communication, after-school jobs are "too stressful". Although college is no longer an option, but required for any decent standard of living, with the use of the 'net, the workload is cut in half. Any information you need is at your fingertips, a few keystrokes away.
Somehow along the way young parents have raised material monsters, myself included. Growing up in my era was much simpler and focused on positive things. With our children's generation, things have changed greatly. Some for the better, more for the worse. It frightens me how spoiled and lacking of morals teens and 20 somethings are. Can you imagine the NEXT round??? More importantly, what are we going to do about it?
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