s'mores

A relaxed day with the girlfriends.   We suggested a few adventures but they really just want to hang out -so no problem, H and I did a few errands and the girls did finally (almost 4PM) get their swim suits on and spent time in the water on the nice beach at the end of the bay.  2 hours without any phones along. (see extra)  I thought that would be a good thing to blip until they made ‘smores with the beautiful sunset….

The blip about the phones did stir the pot yesterday. :-)  fascinating!  The Online generation.  (helped by the Dad who just got a wifi booster to work here) ..The best I can also (like Paula, yesterday) say is “it is what it is” and my old generation just needs to understand what’s going on a bit more.  It reminded me of a conversation I had with my other daughter-in-law more than a year ago who works at microsoft and had just heard danah boyd, a microsoft researcher of social media, give a talk about her new book “it’s complicated”  where she explains the dynamics of the lure of technology with kids —it’s all about the same old thing - hanging out with their friends, and life is so dramatically different from when we were kids that one doesn’t just hop on your bike down to the corner to see your friends anymore… they are spread all over and now there are all sorts of different ways to communicate.   It’s not all bad, it’s sometimes much safer, and more creative and it’s getting even more visual.  snapchat... (Well .. there’s blip)   Kids do still need exercise but there’s all that organized sports now instead of hanging out on your bike.   I do find it interesting that they need to communicate so constantly...and talk to parents so much....at this age anyway, they're not teens yet....  these 3 just sent their parents about 20 sunset pictures each!   We got a few letters at camp over 2 weeks, and maybe a visit on sunday.   I’m learning that I get an answer with texting much sooner than face to face where often we are met with a blank.    and it makes communicating with the Tall house a lot easier! :-)   
They even used the old fashioned walkie talkie to communicate from the beach without their phone.  gotta be flexible, young and old!


Way too many words for me….if you are interested, here’s a longish youtube of danah talking about her book ‘It’s complicated”   Or a NY times review...