DeLap: The new normal after COVID didn’t change addictions

Family movie night in the average home before the new millennium or the internet had a much different face. Since the coronavirus that face has been altered somewhat, but from the rumors circling, “THE GRID” was just as addicting in a pandemic, and in some cases, more so.

Many things have changed since the last decade of the 20 ^th century. Things like the dinner table, the classroom and the social patterns of the age.

Kids don’t watch movies anymore; they simply listen to them as they multitask on social media because they are scared to death to miss a tweet or a chirp or a message that may or may not be life altering. Afraid to tell their friends that they “didn’t see it” or “didn’t hear it” or worse… were the last to know about something.

And have you observed families at a sporting event? Mom is in her cyber world, dad is reading the cyber sports pages, the kids are snapchatting, twittering, tweeting and browsing. Couples on a date, each one on their own phone – but seemingly happy together. Kudos for becoming a people who can be so focused on multitasking. But wait… at what cost?

Part of the romance of the classic movies was to see the expressions on the actor’s faces. One grandmother was overheard telling her grandchildren how wonderful television was because of the ability to see the emotion instead of just hearing it on radio. Some may be reverting back to the days of the old-time Philco. The only video required is on the I-phones, the Androids and the tablets.

Will the next great thing be movies shown on a big screen with no picture? Only a soundtrack and flashing ads. There used to be a day with moving pictures but no sound. They were called “Silent films” for those too young to remember hearing that from grandparents. Is society and social media heading toward “Sightless films?”

Favorite memories for many baby boomers are of being together raising children, sharing times at the dinner table and the movie nights where there would be no need to forbid any handheld electronic devices into the room.

When going to a sporting event to cheer on one of the kids, time was given to the one on the court and not to the electronic world. It was nice to say after a game, “That shot you hit in the third quarter was the turning point.” There was no sharing the stock market or breaking emails or the latest Hollywood blast.

A popular quote spoken by the advocates of coming off the grid momentarily says that you can sit in a room and strengthen friendships a thousand miles away while losing the one sitting right next to you.

Family time was not only getting everyone in the same room, but was getting everyone on the same page. The attention was not diverted to the individual worlds but to what the family recorded together. Today it is so true and too easy to be in the same room with someone, but at the same time, to be half a world away. And that’s called the wonder of technology. And yes, it’s got many wondering.

They say it takes a community to raise a child, but really, people are training their children to include their communities in everything they do and with everyone they are with. Time is no longer exclusive, but it’s shared. The great need is to make room in the schedule for the droid.

Silence is no longer tolerated or appreciated. It is awkward to be one-on-one with someone without a phone in your hand, a video on the screen and a tweet in your heart. There is plenty of social media that has robbed society of learning how to be social.

In the awkward, we have learned to reach out to the other hundreds of people in the room that you can’t see. And it’s awkward because we are training up a generation to reach for a phone instead of reaching deep down inside to share the precious quality of who they are… face to face.

We need to vote for an “off the grid” night. It’s not that we don’t like or don’t appreciate the friends my family has, it’s just that… sometimes it gets a little crowded in the family room and although it’s a full venue, it can be so lonely.

Take your wife for a car ride in the country and leave the cell phones at home. Go for a walk and leave the I-Pods. Eat a meal in a nice restaurant in a “no TV” zone. Reconnect with those you love and sometimes… care enough not share them with the millions on the web.