I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I’m right at the heart of Generation X, having been born in 1972. I would n
ot trade it for anything. Sure, I was raised on hose water and neglect, but it gave me character.
My daughter turns 21 later this month, and I’m constantly amazed by her reality compared to mine at that age. Everything she does is on display for the world to view, and she only uses social media at a very minimum. I honestly admire her restraint. It’s much better than my own.
I shudder to think where I would be now if my teens and twenties were digitally documented. Geez. Here’s the thing: I was a pretty good kid. I didn’t get into trouble. But, even the best of us may have drunk a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill and then proceeded to streak around a baseball diamond. This is just a hypothetical, of course. I have no personal experience in this area. Ahem. Let us continue.
As I was saying, what GenXer in the history of man would want all of their shenanigans documented? It was bad enough when you had that one jack ass show up at a party with a camera. We all hated that person. Now everyone has a camera, hell, a video camera in their pocket. This is a scary proposition. We all do shit in our youth we definitely don’t want documented.
My daughter has had to navigate all of that and has managed to do it quite well. Fuck, that is a lot of pressure. I’m proud of her. Lord knows she heard enough lectures about how she doesn’t want her boobs on the internet. No good can come of that.
Now you throw in Life360 and her dad, and I have the ability to check on her and see where she is at any given time of the day. We can even see how long she has been there.
For the record, I rarely look at Life360, but my husband is another story. He’s always checking in on Josie. I have no idea why. She lives in the library and gym. Her goings on are quite dull.
If my parents could have kept tabs on me so closely, they would have had a little more action. If my husband’s parents could have kept track of him, they would have been appalled. He was a party animal and known to skip quite a bit of class in college.
I get why parents my age are obsessed with Life360. We remember all too well what we were up to and don’t want our kids doing that same shit.
Today’s world is tricky to navigate. One slip-up that ends up on the internet can ruin your whole life. Fuck, I’m glad I didn’t have that pressure. I’m so glad I got to grow and mature in relative secrecy.
I think GenX is a great and often overlooked generation, but we have it going on. We can now use technology, but we were blessed to grow up in a time when we didn’t have to. I think we are all the better for it.
I wouldn’t trade being a GenXer for anything. I hope my sweet little GenZer gets along as well as I did and can protect her kids from whatever crazy comes up next. Man, it’s a tough world out there. Put your phone down and try to enjoy a little of it if you can.
Angela Traver
What is this blog about? Well, it's a general blog, but it is also a very specific blog. If you get that reference, you get a gold star! I have been a public relations professional and writer of press releases for more than 20 years—primarily in the booze biz. I decided to do some writing for fun and embrace the humor that gets me through most days. Hopefully it will make you chuckle—or at least smile. I’m a certified crazy magnet, and more than a little nutty myself, so buckle up. Also, I have two vices—profanity and red wine/whiskey. You’ve been warned. It should also be noted, that I’m a HUGE Bob & Sheri fan. I’ve been a listener for more than 20 years. This opportunity is a dream come true and it may have made me cry. That being said, I cry at everything. If you are into booze, dogs, food and/or knitting, hit me up on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (although I’m terrible at Twitter and it scares me) @kyspiritsgal. You can also find all my previous blog posts at www.kyspiritsgal.com.
