social ills & lethal pills

It used to be difficult to describe to parents why watching mtv is cool and why we chat online when we could make upfront and sincere exchanges with friends on the phone or over coffee. At times, it seem almost ridiculous to explain to them why we do it this way and that when we could be doing it in a much more conventional and in some sense traditional method. It wasnt a question of intelligence but a serious case of generation gap. A jarring gap wedged by techno-savy cultures and a whole new breed of thoughts and ideas. Parents just couldnt understand the seeds of thoughts that the ever-changing environment has implanted in us.

And as i counted the years that passed by, i slowly begin to understand the difficulty in understanding the younger generation. And hence, it dawned on me that it wasnt cause i was rusting up in the head (i could've conveniently blamed it on the 2 1/2 yrs in twilight zone) but i just couldnt keep up with the seasons of changes.

Imagine, not long ago, i was keying alpha-numeric messages on public phones to reach my friends on pagers. Ahem...pagers! yes if u still recall it actually existed. If i can remember, the very 1st geneneration of pagers had the orange singapore telcom logo on them. Then it morphed into cute translucent little devices with trendy colours and thats when Singtel and the various local telcom companies sprout out.

Came the season of change and viola, gone were the pagers and bonjour water bottle mobile phones. And the evolution of mobile phone began. From basic calling to sms to mms to GPS to GPRS to tri-band to 3G to video! LOL what the hell. Seriously its incredible. And now you could even log on to the internet on your laptop through your mobile phone! ARghzzz... Too fast...maybe im too slow. The treadmill just keep running faster n faster while im panting like a dog, trying hard not to fall off.

Haha and these arent the only miracles, there are more to the list of evolution breeds. Dont forget how our poor walkman got phased out by the micro-sized mp3 players. The tragic end of analogue spells the beginning of digital terror.

And terror yes...how many spy cams are there out there? In public toilets, in shopping malls...as small as the size of a safety-pin pin head. Just imagine how safe we felt while taking a leak when we were still using pagers. And now....we just downsize our fears thinking that those sick lechers out there will be too bored staring at the same thing thru that tiny pin size camera.

And now....even mobile phones are equipped with video recording and im staying away from the big hoo-ha in home news. I pity the victim though it was sort of a self-induced vulnerability.

Thinking about it, if technology is advancing so fast and the changes are so rapid wouldnt that mean our envirnonment is changing at a faster rate? And wouldnt that mean we are all in a whirlpool of changes. While those who cant keep up just get swallowed in the spinning tyrant. And for those who survive, for those who can keep up are constantly changing their mindsets, opening new frontiers and setting their perspective right to fit new dimensions.

I guess its because of this that we are slowly losing touch with the younger ones. Why is it that it seem so hard to understand how bloggers actually pose nude and what do they benefit from it? Why is it that kids in UK bash up strangers while video-recording the "prank" on their mobiles? Why is it that celebrities flaunt their love-making clips on the web and subtly denying being involved? Perhaps internet culture gave us all a space of freedom that extends far beyond our imagination so much so that we are beginning to abuse them. Then we start questioning "freedom of speech" and the "right to express" and we become puzzled as to why writing books about the holocaust can actually land a person in jail for a 2 yrs sentence (ignoring the ridiculous fact that denying the holocaust is "neo-nazi").

Too much freedom wreaks havoc. Too much of anything is just TOO MUCH. Too much school work is just 2 MUCH. 2 much to munch; 2 much to crunch. 2 little time.