One of the little surprises that I've picked up this furlough is how widely accepted certain things are that only used to be popular amongst the more geeky of people. For example, the Amazon Wish List. I remember years ago wishing everyone kept one so I'd know the right gift to get whenever I felt like giving a gift. Only years ago, no one had even heard of it.
Now it seems like everyone has one.
And with next day delivery, and traffic and crowds being what they are, ordering online seems to be the standard way to purchase things.
Our family Christmas this year could have been subtitled 'Christmas 2014, brought to you by Amazon'.
There were Amazon boxes everywhere. No longer do you need to find that perfect box for your gift! No more saving up boxes before Christmas. Just click, click click and you have the PERFECT gift, and if you're in a rush, they'll wrap it for you.
I know this because I've done it.
Why have I done it? Well because I was told that my 'original gifts' weren't always as appreciated as I thought they were. I gave all my nephews Pig's Teeth necklaces one year and made some of them cry in fear. Woops. So now I stick to wish lists and try to avoid my more 'creative' urges to get thoughtful gifts.
With the wish list though, the person can click to see if their gift has been purchased yet. Much like a Bridal registry.
All this really means is that the labor behind gift giving is all but gone, unless, you put actual labor into it, at which point, people notice. Unwrapping presents becomes less a time of discovery (ooh what did I get?) and more a time of linking the gifts you know are coming with who got them for you.
"Oh thank you Grandpa! I was hoping someone would pick this off my list. I'm glad it was you! Thank you."
I think that the wonder is gone, it's really become much more like a business transaction than anything. How far removed are we really from the movie idea of a boss having his secretary buy his brother a VCR or a Towel for Christmas?(yes that was a Bill Murray reference).
To me this has been one of those ponderances I've noticed being back in the U.S. for the last 10 months.
It is not a judgement, how could it be? I participate in it, and was even hopeful that one day this would happen. It is just an interesting thing to me to see things that were once in the realm of 'geek' become common in a lot of households.
Part of me feels old because you see the future coming, and then it comes, and is here and you're living in it, and because we were gone for 4 years, it sort of just, happened… without my noticing.
An interesting side-effect also is that a lot of people are getting 'stuffed' out. They've had it with all the things, and are now spending their money on experiences and memories. Giving the gift of time. I find that awesome.
Okay so here's my prediction, for the year 2050. I predict that my children's children will grow up with parents who are always keeping their nose in a screen or some facsimile. I think they will rebel against not getting the attention they want from their parents, and the next skip generation will actually not want screens in their lives. TV screens, computer screens, screens of whatever technology are going to be so pervasive, that in 2 generations (my kids, kids), people will start to reject screens as much as they possibly can.
That the new 'naturalist' movement, won't be dietary and exercise so much as turning off screens, and looking people in the eye when they speak to them. Face to face time will become very important because people will have grown up more isolated than previous generations.
That is my prediction…. we'll see if it comes true.
