dad's weekend

This weekend was parents weekend for my sorority. My dad came in along with all of my friends dads. My dad mentioned to me that he thought it was really interesting the way relationships with parents and children have changed. This is a good thing though. Now we are much more open with our parents about what we do in college and we want to share that part of our lives with them. I know lately we have been reading about how our parents are so involved in our lives and constantly want to control and help us as we grow up, so this goes hand in hand with what I realized this weekend.
My dad told me that if there was a parents weekend when he was in college, he defiantly never would take his parents out to a party with him, or talk about his social lives with such openness. I feel like today parents and their kids sometimes even feel like more friends than anything. I can see a definite difference in the relationship I have with my parents and the relationship between my parents and my grandparents. My parents are very careful of what they around my grandparents. Their purpose is to please them. But I am not afraid to confront my parents on any issue.
I can see why some people would criticize these relationships because this way of relating to your parents can cause their presence in our lives to become overbearing and for them to be too involved. But personally I think that my closeness with my parents has allowed me to learn a lot from them and I am not afraid to talk to them about things that some kids would hide. I think as time goes on this new family structure will continue.

dangerous texting

Texting and driving is a topic that has been in the limelight recently. I always get really nervous when I’m in a car with my friends and they try to multitask by driving and texting at the same time. It only takes one second for your eyes to be away from the road for you to get in a terrible wreck. There are so many forms of distractions when we drive. Some women apply makeup while driving, change CDs, or get something out the backseat. It seems that all of us have a serious problem focusing on one thing. It is nothing new that multitasking comes with our generation. But texting has taken it to a new level.

I think the reason texting has is making such a fuss is because it is really hard for our generation to see that we have a text and wait to respond. We are so used to constant responses that we get antsy at the thought of waiting to answer. But because of this we are seeing a rise in the number of wrecks caused by our texting. The government is even making an effort to change this.

Obama has recently made a law that no federal workers can text while driving. It also has become illegal in several states altogether. I think that is a really good idea but I feel like this is not something easy for the police to enforce. There is no radar gun to detect cell phone use. Eventually there will be a new device that’s going to distract us; cell phones are just the most recent. I totally agree that texting needs to be managed for our safety but we are going to continue to get distracted no matter what.

Bad Employees?

Don Tapscott’s book Grown Up Digital tackles the subject of how the internet has enhanced the lives of the youngest generation. In the introduction the negative views of how the internet has changed us is addressed. Critics say that because of the internet my generation has become lazy and wont suceed when they get to the outside world. William Damon writes in The Path to Purpose that we do not have motivation and are not ready to face the outside world. He feels that we will waste our time because of what we focus on , such as myspace or facebook, and not be good employees.

I have to admit there are parts of this agree with. I am guilty of procrastinating on facebook instead of starting my homework, and it is hard for me to do anything without my cell phone with me. This can make it hard for me to focus on the things I should be focusing on. We all constantly have a outlet for entertainment wherever we go. Because of this we don't listen or do things that we don't want to.

But, all of this that I agree with is because I am in college still. Even though I focus on trivial things in my use of internet I also am so much more knowledgeable in technology than the generations of employees above us. This is necessary because our world is constantly progressing in its use of technology. From what I’ve seen while in college everyone seems really sure of what they want to do when they get out of here. This is a really competitive generation and we are motivated. I am sure that when the older generations looked to our parents generations they accused them being as lazy when they were growing up as well. We will be prepared when it's time for us to leave our mark on society.

Technology and our relationships

The ways that we communicate now that we have such easy access to technology has changed. I am not trying to say technology is a bad thing , I just think that certain things have been lost in terms of our personal relationships. We used to wait for ways such as letters for us to talk to each other when we are away. I think this has taken away from the specialness of us trying to communicate. Writing a letter is much more personal than a text message or a e-mail. You had to take your time to write a letter and mail it.

Now that we can write e-mail or send a text while we are multitasking we don’t take time to think about the personal aspect that were missing. Its hard to understand the inflection that someone has when they’re typing an e-mail, or how they’re feeling. With letters or phone calls its much more personal. Now with the Internet we are used to having communication at all times. We never really are alone. All you have to do is send out a mass e-mail or text and we are immediately connected to whomever we want.

Also, the fact that we have this technology makes it easy for us to avoid communication when it is hard. Instead of talking in person or over the phone about something uncomfortable or important we send a text or e-mail. We can hide behind our screens. I think that because of this when we do actually have to face something without technology we are more awkward about it. It will be interesting to see if this trend progresses as technology does.