A rant from an old man
I boarded an AeroMexico flight in Mexico City after completing a flight from the lower mountainous regions in Mexico. I had spent several days with the people in that region, enjoying their hospitality and, hopefully, contributing to their general welfare. Still very much in a Spanish speaking environment, I took my assigned aisle seat as other passengers were boarding.
A few minutes later, a lady from Mexico walked toward the seats. She was laden with cases of video games, DVD player, a laptop computer, and other electronic devices all carefully cased and hung from both her shoulders and her back. She was followed by a young boy, about 10 years old, who had obviously seen little physical activity in his short lifetime. I rose from my seat to allow them to pass to the two seats beside me. She wrestled to store all the equipment in the above compartment, under the seat, and in any unoccupied area she could find. I then realized she had carried all this equipment to entertain the young boy on the short trip to Cancun (about 2 hours). I also realized that this young (by my standards, anyway) mother had become a pack horse for this young boy.
Throughout the flight, the young boy could never be satisfied. His mother would consistently reach up, down, and everywhere to find a new device to keep the boy entertained. First, he wanted a video game. Then he wanted a DVD. Then the computer. Finally, he started into a long tirade describing the actions of his favorite superhero.
I suppose the lady had no idea an old, white haired American man would have any ability to speak or understand Spanish. In fact, she did her best to ask me in English if I could move so she could go to the bathroom. I replied in Spanish, and she smiled.
I left that flight at the Cancun airport and boarded the next flight to Atlanta. This, an over-booked AirTran flight, brought similar experiences. People donned headphones and reclined their seats without any concern for the people behind them. It was as if everyone lived in their own respective worlds and wanted no interaction with others.
When I left the plane in Atlanta, it occurred to me that people had become progressively more “Americanized”. I had left a region that morning where hospitality and the respect of others was a desirable attribute, only to arrive in an area where most people’s limited social interaction occurs with constant texting and endless cell phone calls. It seemed that no one was making any attempt to cultivate real social interaction. Furthermore, this behavior contained no specific notice of immediate surroundings or common courtesy. Everyone seemed to live in their own world, communicating with a device that connects them with someone somewhere else. I had come from an area where food was a blessing and courtesy was necessary to survive and arrived in an area of make-believe social interaction. I believe this life style has resulted in the social inability of people to speak and conduct themselves well socially. As I mentioned yesterday, people in the chat area have no problem using language that is socially unacceptable in person. When texting is used for a primary communication skill, people have no idea how messages are received and how abusive and offensive they can become because they can not see the reaction of the person receiving the text.
This is the rant of an old man, but courtesy costs nothing. I believe personal interaction is key to living a full life. I also believe I'll stick with the old-fashioned handshake. It works better for me.
11 Answers
I had came from an area where food was a blessing and courtesy was necessary to survive and arrived in an area of make-believe social interaction.
I guess this, in a nutshell, is why I love Guatemala so much.
Family is key, courtesy is taught at a young age, and nobody feels entitled to anything.
In my U.S. city of Massachusetts people are so rushed, very self-absorbed, and some are downright rude. I say "some people" because I have found that many people, like me, that dream of a day where courtesy is not just something we practice at Christmas time, but a way of life.
I truly do treat people the way that I would like to be treated, and here in Guatemala this is something that is rewarded with reciprocal treatment.
I also believe I'll stick with the old-fashioned handshake.
I commissioned some lounge chairs to be build by a very well-known carpenter and asked him to sign an agreement on the price (I am a lawyer, after all, and it's habit). He smiled as he signed and then put down the pen. He said, "That, my dear, is worth nothing in this world, but this" as he held out his hand to shake mine, "means that I agree and base my entire reputation on that agreement." What a refreshing way to do business.
LOL how ironic you posted this to millions of anonymous people across the world wide web!
Only joking mate, I understand and agree with you. I've written on here a few times before about my social values, guidance and aspirations for my children. Phones, i-players, computers etc are all excellent and have a value in society. Without the internet for example, my Spanish would still be limited to "dos cervezas por favor"!
I want my kids to lead a full social life, gain life skills and use electronic devices as a means of helping them to do that. Both my daughters are actively involved in martial arts - with my eldest being a 3rd dan kick boxing instructor. I am extremely happy to say they both spend, probably a maximum of 1 to 2 hours each day on the web - Facebook, MSN etc. It is something (I'd like to think lol) they can live without!
Now dad, though, thats another story. I've done my years socialising, I'm sticking with Spanishdict now 
an area of make-believe social interaction
Rant away brother. Rant away.
I could write pages and pages about how disconnected our society—and not just the younger generation—has become. When a groups of people start sitting in the same room, texting one another, rather than bothering to make any real attempt at interpersonal communication, it begins to get a bit ridiculous. It's far past time to put away the electronic devices and recognize the living, breathing human beings around us.
By the way, did I mention that this was a great rant 
I can certainly relate Dogwood. But looking at my own experience with my own kids I must lay blame where it belongs which is with myself. Like this lady on the flight I am guilty of providing my kids with all of the latest electronic gadgetry within my means, only to chide them for being unresponsive, unaware and caught up in their own cyber and electronic worlds. The good news is that I have come to the realization that I'm my own kids worst enemy in that regard and I have made a concerted effort in recent times to cultivate better habits of courtesy, awareness, respect and empathy for others. I can only hope that I am not too late in doing my small part in saving this new generation.
What a story, Bruce!
I could write books about children not talking to each other any more, they only text nowadays, sign in on "tuenti", play computer games, playstation, those who don't have playstation three are out...maybe it is even four now, jeje.
where hospitality and the respect of others was a desirable attribute, only to arrive in an area where most people’s limited social interaction occurs with constant texting and endless cell phone calls.
How often have I had to open threads about people not showing the minimum of common courtesy to others? Even on a small forum like this one, we notice how selfish some people have become.
It seemed that no one was making any attempt to cultivate real social interaction
Fortunately this is still not lost on this site, even though other sites do not support this at all, but for me in particular and for the site as a whole, this kind of interaction is still alive, this thread proves it, amigo
After reading your 'rant', I remembered this magazine article which I enjoyed so much. So many of the childhood memories are similar to mine, just a different set of toys. Maybe you'd like to read it too.
Prefiero la perinola
Por: Alex Vizquel (Venezuela)
En estos tiempos donde el internet y la comunicación forman parte del joven común, hemos dejado atrás todas las actividades que generalmente desarrollábamos con juguetes que hoy en día parecen anticuados, aburridos, obsoletos y podemos decir que son casi inexistentes. La tecnología prácticamente acabo con la tradición de nuestros hijos y los juegos de video sustituyen a los que nosotros y más aun nuestros abuelos practicábamos o solíamos jugar en nuestras infancias.Y muchas veces no es así.
En Venezuela, la perinola, el trompo, las metras o canicas y el yo-yo eran los más comunes entre los niños tradicionales. Cada tarde mis amigos y yo nos juntábamos en las escaleras de la puerta de mi edificio, en mi barrio, específicamente en Santa Eduvigis, para divertirnos sanamente haciendo competencias que solían terminar con la huida del exhausto y orgulloso ganador. Día tras día las prácticas de perinola se hacían más constantes en la soledad para luego demostrar la próxima tarde la habilidad obtenida fruto de la constancia y de las ganas de ser el primero.
No puedo criticar mi infancia porque viendo la de los niños de ahora me parece que fue mucho más divertida en mi época. Pareciera que hubiese sido hace cien años pero tan solo fue hace menos de treinta.
Hoy en día vemos como los niños no se despegan de un aparato electrónico y que prácticamente son esclavos del juego virtual dejando a un lado la convivencia con el medio ambiente y convirtiéndolos en zombies inmunes a lo natural, me parece imposible e increíble cómo se pueden juntar dos ambientes totalmente diferentes. Por ejemplo, es muy común ver a un niño en la playa sentado jugando con su juego de video móvil, mientras el paisaje pasa desapercibido ante su mirada concentrada en el artefacto eléctrico.
Cómo dejar pasar el momento sublime de entrar en contacto visual con una ola que explota en una roca a cien metros de ti o de mirar una gaviota que vuela a través del cielo azul intenso entre nubes blancas que forman corazones pintados en tu imaginación. Cómo no sentir la caricia del viento que atraviesa tu cuerpo refrescando el calor de los rayos del sol. Cómo no sentir el sabor del agua salada en tus labios y dejar de sumergirte en el océano sintiéndote libre de la congestión civil que nos atormenta día a día. Cómo dejar de escuchar el ruido del mar que nos calma nuestro espíritu y preferir el ruido de un aparato que se repite hasta el cansancio.
Me parece cruel asesinar el tiempo de esta forma, pero no podemos culpar a la víctima sino a su expositor, aquel que les dio el revolver para que se pegaran un tiro, es decir, los padres que por comodidad y por falta de tiempo no le abrieron las puertas a sus hijos para presentarles el mundo verdadero que se vive afuera y no adentro, que se vive en una montaña y no en un juego, que se vive en la playa y no en el televisor, que se vive en el río y no en la computadora. Yo estoy completamente de acuerdo con la globalización pero no con la inutilidad de la mecanización de los sentidos humanos por medio de la tecnología que nos empuja a estar sentados en frente de un aparato que nos controla la vida y que para dejarlo de ver hay que estar muerto. Todo tiene un equilibrio y tenemos que encontrarlo, porque si no en treinta años más el mundo exterior va existir solo para su destrucción y no para su admiración.
My kids take a DS and a book, you remember those paper things with pages? If they behaved like that they would get short shrift from me, or their Dad.
I had no idea video games and technology were American, it seemed to me that America was Japoninized.
The term "Americanized"...wow. Never gave it much thought. The more I think about it, the scarier it gets.
I've seen kids here texting each other while all of them are in the same internet cafe.
Not a rant. Just the new reality.
I went into a Sears auto service department yesterday to buy a replacement headlight bulb. They were on the racks, but the list of which bulb would fit which car was not available to me without help from an attendant.
I was the only customer in the store. There were three attendants behind the counter. Each one was on a phone with a customer. As each call was finishing up, a new call came in right away. Who do you think got priority service, since there was no official queue?
You guessed it. While they addressed me politely at all times, every Tom, Dick and Harry who phoned got instant service, while I stood and waited in no queue for 15 minutes to get about 10 seconds' worth of help.
I should have bought the bulb online, paid the extra handling costs, and avoided all human contact. The system is giving us fewer choices every day.
