I'm Too Old For This Sh*t

If you're super hip, you probably know that Instagram launched their "Stories" feature last night, or whenever. I don't fall into the super hip category, so I honestly can't tell you when it was really launched, but one of my girlfriends told me and my other friends about it today. Supposedly, it's their version of Snapchat, which I also don't understand. To be honest, I don't really care about either, but the hilariousness of me and my friends trying to understand it and learn how it works made us realize that we have turned into our parents and grandparents. I remember the day I taught my grandpa how to get on the internet and check his AOL mail with his dial-up modem...or when I still teach my grandma how to use her TV remote and she has to leave herself post-it notes taped to the back. And now here I am asking the same questions, "What does it do?" "What's the point?" "What button do I push?" If I ever delve into Snapchat or Instagram Stories, don't be surprised if you find post-it's taped to the back of my phone. But I probably will never be able to cave, because I just feel super awkward taking a video of myself and talking into my phone.

However, maybe I should never say never. When Facebook first launched, I thought it was the weirdest thing. Like, why would anyone want to know what I was eating for lunch? And why would I want to tell them?! That's just so...weird. But here I am, thoroughly intrigued by most people's posts and shares, posting my own pictures and thoughts, reading comments, the whole bit. Seriously, what happened.

I think my generation is caught in the middle a bit. We chastise millenials for being so self-absorbed, with their faces glued to their phones, over-sharing about nothing, but here we are trying to learn how to snap, tweet and post while telling them about the good 'ol days when we played outside with actual toys or made-up games. And this is what I struggle with as a Generation X'er parent - wanting my kids to play like we did as kids, and letting them play like the rest of their generation on electronics. My husband and I do draw the line and try to minimize their electronic play time...and use that shit like valid currency and bargaining tools...but I think it will be an eternal struggle of understanding the generational divide. In the meantime, I will wait for my friends (or kids) to figure out these new advances in technology, because I'm too old to learn new tricks.

#old #instagram #snapchat #stories