Things change, or have they

I grew up in the 1950 – 1960 era, the birth of rock and roll, Elvis, The Killer - Jerry Lee and a host of other memorable singers, music and songs that have stood the test of time. Some of the greatest minds have commented that music defined that generation, those of us who grew up back then know it for a fact.

Drive in movies that we never watched, it was a place to be alone with your girl, nobody cared about the aliens attacking, we were busy with our own lines of attack and overcoming defenses. Weekends or after school would always find us sitting at the soda fountain at the neighborhood drugstore or at weekend ball games in the park.

Our entertainment consisted of baseball, boxing, a good movie, working on your car to get the most speed we could, gas was cheap and oil was cheaper.

It was a very different time back then, jobs were plentiful, the cost of living was cheap, patriotism ran deep, five dollars nearly filled my gas tank, and family's spent time together, all in all, it truly was good times.

During that time of my life our television sets picked up three channels, four if we could ever figure out those new UHF antennas. Today our televisions are digital, receiving hundreds of channels in multiple languages. No longer do we have to make the trip to the roof, turning the antenna every which was but upside down to bring in the game better. Cable television rules our lives and our wallets, giving us everything from movies to telephone and light speed internet connections and anyone who ever used a 1200 baud modem will attest to that fact.

Today, we live within the digital age of science fiction, one foot in the Twilight Zone, the other in the Outer Limits, our lives balanced on the edge of tomorrow, our mind searching for the rational thoughts of yesterday.

We are 21^st Century, carbon based, digitally addicted Joan and Johnny Mnemonic's, laptop under our arms, Wi-Fi card in our shirt pocket, Bluetooth beeping into our ear, Blackberry on the hip, Starbucks in one hand, PSP in the other. We check our digital, GPS oriented, multiple time zones, watch with a special alarm telling us when the new Windows® or Linux release is going to be and begin running as fast as we can till we reach an intersection and stop. Data bits from a USB memory stick we stuck in our ear for additional brain storage is seeping into our conscious thoughts as we stand in the middle of the street screaming at the top of our lungs, "GIVE ME MORE TECHNOLOGY!"

Patriotism has become far less important in our lives and turned into a momentary thought when we see the troops on the news. A weekend ballgame is played on the Xbox, PS3, WII or our cell phone. Doctors prescribe prosaic to make us happier people, instead of a weekend relaxing with the family, why spend time together, that is what made us upset in the first place.

You know, when I think about all the changes, advances in science and our lives, I really don't think we have accomplished much at all.