Up until the later part of high school the only exception to use a calculator in my household was to check my trigonometry homework. Writing an essay was done initially via script, then typed out on the word processor. Restrictions or what seemed like tedious tasks that made my “life” difficult would have me wishing upon the nearest star to zap me into adulthood to do what I wanted the quickest way possible, or so I thought.
Laptops, iPads, Kindle’s, iPhones, Android, Blackberry’s, etc.…technology at its finest. We spend our hard-earned money to have the latest “it” gadgets. Some of us even camp out overnight in hopes of being one of the first to own the newest upgrade of what we may already have. Can you believe that relationships between men and women are often severed through a text message…because of a text message? Can you believe a child as young as 8 years old is likely to have a Blackberry…and is probably more knowledgeable of its functionalities than the parent’s name that’s on the bill? The evolution of time and resources has allowed us to afford the convenience of being able to connect with the world in ways previously unimaginable. Somehow the art of communication has been lost in the translation. We substitute words for “lol, smh, brb, rofl, lmao”. Christmas is probably the only time of the year we physically mail the generic Christmas card to our families. Family and friends are more likely to read our statuses via Facebook or Twitter rather than hearing about what we’re doing via a phone call. A landline rarely exists for parents to be able to grant permission to the young man or young lady who requests to speak to their teenager. Sadly enough, a cashier goes into panic mode if the cash drawer opens without calculating how much you are owed out of $5…your total is $3.37. The price we pay to afford these luxuries will be worth less than a .5 cent Tootsie Roll if we do not know how to get down to the basics.
In my opinion, progression is always positive. However, we must be careful to not mistake change to mean progression. To change something is to make it different, while progression is a continuous process. It is progression that allows change to be possible and NOT vice versa. Regression is a gradual loss, and it is evident our younger generation is gradually missing out on the fundamentals that people of the 21st century used to see as a major inconvenience. I would have never imagined that my mom challenging me not to rely on a calculator would aide me tremendously in my 13 yr. banking career as well as previously serving as Treasurer for the Charlotte Branch of the National Association of University women (www.nauw1910.com), and writing my thoughts on paper before typing them allows me to effectively convey a point…granted, it is not always my preferred practice, but I know how 😉
