June 15, 2016 Article

The Old Coot is hip! (Sort of)

By Merlin Lessler

I’m hip! I have a smart phone. Know how to use it. Can cast movies from the Internet to my TV. Have a Facebook page. OK, so that’s not the definition of Hip. I overstated, yet again. Any 6 year-old can do those things. I don’t use Twitter or Snapchat, so I’m not that with it, but at least I’m not avoiding the technology that has rocketed through modern society  – altering social behavior and relationships. Most of it is good, like text messaging. Many of us old coots have adopted it and now use it instead of phone calls. Of course I scoffed at it at first, like most of my crowd.  We’re not exactly early adopters. But, I got there, and it made me realize just how intrusive a regular phone call is. Only the caller wants to converse at the moment the call is made. The receiver is interrupted in whatever he or she is doing.

Some people have cleverly adapted, by merging text messaging and direct, one-on-one, phone conversations. They do it with a simple text message, “Hey Bill, let’s talk; let me know a good time to give you a ring.” A great blend of two communication vehicles. Even better than the answering machine, that convenient device that went viral over thirty years ago and put an end to those terrible phone conversation intros: Are you busy? – Did I catch you at a bad time? And, the lies that were used in response: No, never too busy for you.- Yes I am; let me call you back. (And never do)

OK, OK, I’ll get to the point. I was just trying to prove I’m not a total skeptic of all things modern. But, (here it comes, the old grouch’s complaint) I do have a problem with some social media. Twitter in particular, but Facebook and You Tube as well. They start stampedes. Often with faulty facts. Next thing you know, a lynch mob is energized and then the “I can fix everything with a new law or regulation” politicians grab it and “fix” it. And, we lose a little more freedom.

Look how well they’ve done. They outlawed marijuana half a century or more ago. Now, nobody smokes that stuff? They outlawed a lot of controlled substances. Now, no one is hooked on drugs? They increased the drinking age. They are trying to raise the tobacco purchasing age. They’ve attacked obesity with a vengeance, mandating labeling on food products, vilifying MacDonald’s and other enemies of the state. They even regulated the size of a soda you could buy in New York City, until the law was overturned in court. Success, with any of these regulations? Of course not. You can’t regulate human nature? I just don’t know how many more “fixes” we can stand. It’s making me sound like an anarchist. I’m not, but I seem to be drifting in that direction. And the social media is driving the un-freedom train even faster. Be careful where you step; it may run you over.  

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