The infamous “they” say we live in the age of information. I?find that to be unfortunately true.

Over the past weeks in our county, there has been so much “news” and then stemming from that, so much gossip and speculation. And every bit of that is at the fingertips of each and everyone of us. We don’t need to have that type of instant gratification.

I?am not saying that the news is not necessary…in fact, as you know, that’s how I make my living. But the ability to see and hear everything in the matter of an instant is something we could be so much better served to live without.

I remember listening to my parents talk about their youth and say how much better it was than the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. I?laughed and thought, “I’ll never say that.”

Well, folks, I?hear my mother in my mind everyday! And I say to my kids (all teens and older now) that it was so much better when I was younger.

We didn’t have cell phones–heck, for most of my growing up years, we didn’t have a phone at all.

We read the newspaper and we watched the 6 o’clock news. We didn’t have news around the clock and we didn’t have up to the minute updates via things like Facebook and Twitter.

As kids, we played outside from morning to evening and never worried about being “kidnapped” or hurting ourselves. We got hurt, but we got up, dusted off and kept going. We definitely did not sit in front of the TV screen or a computer screen (didn’t have ’em) and video games were something you played at a once in great while visit to an arcade.

When we did watch TV, it was family-oriented shows where if someone said “damn,” it was a shock. Nothing like today’s world of anything goes and whatever you “feel” is the right thing.

Our parents talked to us (or at us, oftentimes) and our neighbors all knew our names. We sat down to meals together in a family atmosphere, prayed before dinner and before bed.

Never would we have considered our parents, our teachers or most other adults as our “friends.” They were authority figures who demanded respect and we learned to give that.

Today we leave our children to fend for themselves and have created a “me” attitude, indulging, or worse, being oblivious to what our children are doing.

“They” also say ‘Ignorance is Bliss.’ Wouldn’t it be nice to be just a little more blissful these days?

While modern times move us forward, we need to take with us what was good of the past–especially the responsibility to teach our young people. We need to restore respect, separation of children and adults and to be aware of all that our kids are seeing and doing.

I hate to imagine with the way things are progessing today, what my kids will be saying to their teens in 20 years. I?hate to think that they will see their youth as a ‘good thing’–because that means their childrens’ will be even worse.