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| Joe Bakewell. |
SOCIETY TODAY.
A number of authors have taken to writing about the ills
of modern society. I’ve written about shortened attention spans and the lack of
people skills resulting from too much screen time vs. learning to read body
language, etc. Others go further; writing about loneliness and the hollowing
out of our day-to-day social interactions.
I’m tempted to blame much of this on the corruption at
the heart of our government but I’ve come to believe these writers are on to
something. Certainly there have been advances in technology bringing economic
gains but also cutting down many of the human interactions of yesteryear. Think
of the milkman, the iceman, the breadman—a few words about the weather, a sick
child, or and aging parent. At the store, you were served at the counter including
a short personal conversation. As a boy living in a residential part of the
city, I remember some Italians who came around with a horse-drawn wagon full of
fruits and vegetables. They pulled up to the curb, and women gathered around on
the sidewalk to buy. The women got to know each other, and the Italians
practiced their act and did okay.
When we were newly weds, we lived in a garden apartment,
one of eight in a small courtyard. Visiting back and forth was a constant.
Modest little parties were frequent, starting after the kids were in bed. One
of the adults would leave every half hour to go and check on everyone’s kids.
You’re probably reading this as a bit of nostalgia on my
part, and you’re right. Today’s young people have lots of friends with whom they
interact frequently. They make use of technology to make the process more
efficient—on line dating, social media, etc.
If there’s a difference, it’s in the degree to which
people socialize with those holding views at odds with their own.
Going back to my early years, I remember listening to adult
conversations between two or more people about Roosevelt. Some thought him to
be the devil incarnate, others thought him to be a saint. Nevertheless,
conversations dealt with his policies and programs, no one made fun of him. I
was too young to think of this as unusual, and they all remained friends.
Whether you buy my nostalgia or not doesn’t matter. If
you read, you can draw you own conclusions regarding the quality of our social
lives vs. the past. There’s lots of material available.
Joe Bakewell.
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