Can You Remember ?.

Can you remember years ago when your mum and dad and the family would all sit in the living room in front of the fire and talk together?.

I have noticed the changes since I was a child,in my family and grandchildren, nobody hardly talks..
my daughters are not too bad, but even they sit on twitter,texting, or whatever they do, when I am trying to have a discussion with them.

Three of my granddaughters visited us last week,they sat texting/twitting/computers.
I tried umpteen times to get a light conversation going with them,it was like battering my head of a brick wall.

Examples: "Well Nancy,how are you getting on at School?", Nancy was away on another planet, No answer..Nancy's light was on but nobody was at home.
"Celia, how are you getting on with your Dancing?"
Celia gave me a quick glance from her computer and her reply was,
"Oh Really". Another light was on but nobody was at home. I gave up went to my hut for a Brandy and a Beer and had a conversation with the Dog.

What has happened to families sitting down and having conversations,things that have happened in the family/country,or the rest of the world.
I remember my mum and dad passing on stories,things that happened years ago,it was interesting and memories of those stories are still in my brain,information about Aunts, Uncles, cousins,Grandparents,things that happened in their lifetimes, it was an education about the good and also the bad things that happened in the past,Celia would say"Oh Really".

Could It be me ! Have I become A Boring Old Wind Break ?.

 

I grew up, in the 60s, listening to stories about WW2, still remember most of them as they got repeated over and over through the years.
It was just how things were in those days.

We all used to sit and watch the telly together as well, had to, we only had the one set, not one in every room like now.

 

Sad I know, but I am just pleased I don't have children, consequently no grandchildren, so don't have to cope with these issues. I abhor these 'gadgets' in the hands and stuck to the ears all the time ... completely unnecessary in my opinion ... but what do I know .... ?

Good post music and I look forward to responses.

 

Great post, Music. I'm sure we've all been there, nothing more boring than the company of teenagers who are only interested in their phone. But what can you do? Would it have been unreasonable to expect a ban on phones when visiting?

 

I can't say I've experienced the problem much myself. Sure, all families have their little foibles, and mine is no different, but we do talk.

Not just talk, we lark on together, plan stuff together, everything together. I make a point of that because I think its important. Of course all that might change for a while when my kids go through their teenage years, but that's not a certainty. My dad and I have always been best mates too, and that didn't change when I was a moody teenager, largely because (in hindsight I realise this) my dad was astute enough to always be one step ahead of me, and know what I was thinking even when I didn't know myself. I hope I have the same talent when its my turn to be a teenager's dad.

 

Not in the living room Music but at the dinner table. There were six of us at home and it was always a good discussion time. My dad used to come home from work and tell us hilarious things that had gone on (he worked at an oil refinery) and he would be in tears of laughter himself before he had finished a story. We had a formica (remember that?) table top and my dad used to sit and draw mechanical or technical diagrams on it with a pencil after we'd finished eating, usually to explain something to one of my brothers. My mum hated it as she was always left to clean it off.

My children were restricted with their gadgets and television, we still held to having family time at certain times of day and the same goes when they visit now. It's down to politeness and respect I think but you don't see much of that now.

 

Edit, I'm going to put the boot on the other foot

Were the Grandparents thinking the same when we were teenagers

 

Quite possibly! You know you're getting on a bit when you start moaning about the "youth of today" and "in my young day"!

I like hearing about your family discussions. We had a fold down pink and red formica table top, @Sheal, very 60s! Our family was not known for extensive communication for various reasons, which I think was a loss to us all. However, my dad, a quiet, but clever and thoughtful man, would always answer my questions about the world as I grew up, explaining world affairs and political matters to me in a fair and balanced manner, which has had a strong influence on me to this day.

 

We don't answer a telephone when we have visitors and if t'other half gets a call when we are out, he looks and rarely excuses himself to take it if he is waiting for something to come in.

It is awful when you are in a restaurant and mobiles are going off here, there and everywhere and sometimes people shouting over each other to take their calls. What DID they do before they had a mobile, one asks? We find it quite comical here with old ladies wearing all black hobbling on canes with a mobile stuck to their ear ...

 

When our four children were growing up in the 70's and 80's my OH and I always insisted that the evening meal was eaten at the dining table and the tv was turned off. It was during this meal that questions were asked and answered and the problems of the world were solved.
All four children are now grown and have families of their own, they all have two children each and they all try to keep to the ritual of eating together as a family, at the table, as often as possible, not always easy in these days of irregular shift patterns etc.
My eldest daughter and her husband have gone as far as having a "technology free weekend" once a month and their two boys love it.
I don't think that my kid's missed out, in fact I think that they and their children gained a lot from being able to hold a conversation.

 

Agree with all of this, but I'm only 27?! Ha, I think I might've been in the last generation that wasn't obsessed with mobiles.

I hear stories of three year olds stuck to iPhones and iPads which scares me a bit with Edward being 15 months old. I want him to be outside when he's a proper lad climbing trees and getting into mischeif, I guess that's maybe up to me and Christina to guide him down certain paths.

But having said that I used to sit playing with my older brother on my Dad's Atari 1040 ST at 6 years old, I turned out alright though!

It's a constant nagging though in the back of my head when I look at these 'younguns'...