One of my biggest concerns of college was the sheer fact that I would no longer be spending every waking moment of my life doing idiotic things with my friends, and the worry that as a result, we would drift apart. College in general had been given a certain stereotype as we grew up, always hearing that college is where you make your life time friends, or its the best years of your life. However I realized that notion relates more to the college of a different generation. In our generation we have this little known entity that is the internet. With Skype, texting, vid-chatting and of course Facebook, keeping in touch with friends has become a non issue. In the end though we still weren't quite together, spread out all over the place, until Thanksgiving rolled around. With everyone back I thought at least something would have had to of changed. But then once again all my worries were relieved, and it felt as if it was just yesterday I was cruising around North Shore with the gang and playing Nintendo into ungodly hours of the night. Everything had been eerily similar to how it had once been, something still that I'm surprised about.
Our generation is one that developed during an odd time. Where most of the youth today are all on computers and have cell phones, many of us did not. Gone our the days where kids went door to door to ask their friends to come out to play soccer or go skateboarding, most kids just spend their time on Xbox live or on their computers. Even when they want to be social they just use whatever chatting device they have without actually leaving their homes. We are part of a transition generation, one that allows to keep our contact with technology but we also don't rely on that technology to grow our friendships. We know that developing social bonds involves actually being with people, not just digitally talking to them. Chances are once the youth of the early 90's is gone, so will be any normal social construct and sense of real childhood.
In my opinion this means that the strong social lives and skills of my generation, which allow for more long lasting relationships, will not be duplicated as long as technology remains relied upon to be social. Its time for kids to get back outside, to put down the controller, tune off of the t.v and tune into the real world.
Granted nothing will ever be as good as it was in the 90's.....
