I’m an ’80s baby and I’ll be the first to say I miss the simpler days. I miss the ’80s. I miss the ’90s. I miss pre-internet times. There is something beautiful about simplicity and I fear those days are gone forever.
Yes, I like modern medicine, GPS, Amazon delivery and streaming services, all of which wouldn’t exist without advances in technology. But when I compare my kids’ childhood of endless show choices, video games, electronic devices, and being tracked wherever they go to my childhood of five channels, video stores, extensive outdoor play and independence, it honestly makes me a bit sad. I have tried my hardest to force my kids to live like it’s still the ’80s, but the modern influences are stronger than my influences. My daughter can’t fold her clean clothes without FaceTiming her friend who is also folding her clothes. My son thinks it’s necessary to use three different screens each day (TV, iPhone, Nintendo Switch) no matter how much I tell him it’s not. When we try to introduce an old classic on family movie night (you know, like Ace Ventura), my daughter responds with, “Ughhh I hate movies from the 1900s.” So, I digress. I get it. My daughter hearing Whitney Houston is probably like me hearing Barry Manilow. Not interested.
Younger ages may argue that these times are simpler because the answer to every question is at the tip of our fingers: recipes, phone numbers, business locations, friend updates, shopping, customer service, doctor appointments, the list goes on and on. I disagree as each one of those screen taps tends to lead us down rabbit holes of unimportant information, additional recipes that I’ll never make, easy spending, political views trying to change my mind, emails that add 10 things to my to-do list, and on and on.
The technology side of life brings more frustration than good to me.
I recently uploaded a sweet family video to my YouTube page. YouTube instantly terminated my entire YouTube channel because I apparently violated their spam and scams guidelines even though I’m not spamming or scamming anyone. So now I get to deal with that. An account I have that requires a monthly auto-payment keeps addressing my emails to me as Richard Smith. My name is nowhere close to Richard Smith nor do I know a Richard Smith, so I’m also dealing with that. My dad’s Facebook got hacked and I spent upwards of 10 total hours trying to figure that one out. Never did. I’m done dealing with that. Googling anything going on with my body equals I’m dying of cancer. Once, during my lunch break at work, I wanted to look up some flip-flops I heard about at Dick’s Sporting Goods, but without thinking I just typed in Dicks into the search bar. You can easily guess how that transpired. I’ve never pushed the X so fast in my life. And the passwords! Oh my Lord, don’t even get me started on the amount of passwords that fill pages of an Excel spreadsheet in an inconspicuous spot of my home. I don’t save them “in the cloud” because of hackers, so if we ever have a house fire, I am screwed getting into ANY accounts.
You know my favorite technological inconvenience? (Note sarcasm!) Getting on my phone or computer to look up a website to click on their Contact page to find a phone number, calling that number, dealing with an automated voice message system that gives you a single option of starting a text chat, and then having a conversation with customer service via text. I’d honestly prefer the super thick yellow pages, a corded phone and someone on the other line. 
I know I sound 80, but I’m only 42 y’all and I already can’t handle all this! To keep myself from going completely over the edge, I have to allow myself some outdated pleasures.
Here are some ways I try to keep myself old-fashioned:
1. I like good ole thank you notes. And much to my children’s annoyance, I still make them write them to their grandparents. I realize most people have switched to thank you texts and thank you emails (if they even do that), but I try to instill this considerate habit in my kids for the older generations who grew up with handwritten notes.
2. I have a hard time finding time to read. But when I can find the time, I like holding an actual book in my hands. After spending all day looking at a phone and computer, the last thing I want to do to relax is hold a Kindle and stare into another screen. There is something special about books that transports the reader and I don’t feel as though I’d be as transported reading a story via blue light. Audio books are also an option, but I just can’t bring myself aboard that bandwagon yet either.
3. I’m a writer and a list-maker. I like putting pen to paper. And even though most of what I write ends up on a computer, I usually start with a notebook and a favorite pen. I’ll have a paper full of scribbles and strike-throughs, but I like it that way. Once I have a rough draft, I’ll transfer it to my device.
4. Obviously everyone has different Sunday rituals. Some go to church, some find fellowship in other ways, some take a walk and connect with nature, some sleep in. Weekends are for freedom and doing whatever pleases us. I try to make it to church, but what I can’t do is watch it online. I’ve tried. It’s just not the same. I appreciate that my church gives that option, but if I miss it in person, then I just miss it.
5. Most of our meals are home-cooked. We don’t use meal delivery and we rarely eat out. This mostly comes down to saving money (even though rising grocery costs are making this hard as well). My husband and I both work from home, so that definitely makes a difference, but I like the idea of sitting down as a family every night for dinner. I realize future years of older kids in differing evening activities may change this, so I’ll take the family dinners when I can get them. And no phones are invited.
I know there are others out there like me. What sorts of traditional habits do you continue doing that keep you grounded in today’s technological world?
