Out of the mouths of babes!
There is a young man around, just out of high school. He’s headed to college to become an engineer. His scholarship requires him to work on-the-job with someone licensed in his field. My husband was chosen to be his mentor.
My husband really likes this boy. He’s smart and industrious. He’s got a girlfriend, he intends to marry when he graduates college. He works hard and he saved his money so he could take her on a big date to the local drive-in burger joint. It’s sweet, isn’t it?
Well, he told my husband he hates social media. He says his girlfriend gets on there and sees something romantic; asks him, “Why aren’t you like that?”
It’s eye-opening, isn’t it? We used to be restricted to our local communities. But now a woman (or a man) can search the world for someone doing something her boyfriend or husband is not. It’s like women competing with the endless porn bodies.
In regards to this kid and his problem, my husband told the boy, “Get used to it. Women do that when they’re fifty!”
What do you make of this? What’s the astrology?
Another boy told my husband all about oculus.
“You realize you’re screwin’ a bunch of X’s and o’s, right?” He said.
One boy said he’d rather look at the real thing, over a picture. Wonder which boy will make a better husband. 🙂
He’s a very smart young man!!
The Internet and especially social media, has brought people together but it has also increased oneupmanship and neighborly envy by a thousand-fold. Instagram, in particular, is bad for this. A lot of people stage these photos for covert payment by advertisers. It’s already been proven that people have depression from Facebook! ?
I miss the days when social media was just about sharing music, sharing causes you care about, and reconnecting with old friends. But I especially miss the days before technology got involved in friendships at all. Simpler times… ?
Personally I don’t like posting my relationship status on Facebook, and I think the lack of public acknowledgment made my last boyfriend very insecure. :-/
The kid is right, Facebook is the ultimate opened digital can of interpersonal worms.
I don’t know why that smart boy stays with the girlfriend who asks him why he doesn’t do the romantic things she sees on facebook. He sounds like a good guy and she seems very shallow and unappreciative of that…
I love the Internet but I loathe most social media. I am not on anything but LinkedIn and I’m only on that for work contacts. I figure if you’re actually friends with someone you know where they went on vacation or what their kids look like. I understand it’s a way of say, sharing photos with people who live far away, say. But basically, when I look at it, the whole shebang, is just a big ‘ol case of one-upmanship as Primrose said. A worldwide online keeping up with the Joneses. I’m not surprised people are depressed! The infrequent times I’m forced to look at someone’s facebook I come away from it thinking “wow, am I having as much fun as they are? Are my vacations good enough?” etc etc. Screw that.
I keep hoping there will be some mass reversal/rejection of all this but now that we are even wearing our phones/computers in a watch on our wrists, it appears not. I am so happy I grew up before facebook. I can’t imagine going through high school and undergrad with that added pressure. All we had then was passing notes and talking on the home land line phone. But yes, simpler times, not likely to return.
He stays with her because he loves her. She’s 16. And driving the boy crazy, as girls do at that age.
She actually doesn’t have a cell phone. If he wants to see her, he has to go over to her house and go through her dad, which he does. 🙂
And she herself, is not allowed to have a facebook account. He’s just wanting to make her happy. They are two kids, finding their way. It really is sweet. 🙂
I think your husband is funny. So point blank.
I loved your husbands response, not totally because it’s true, I DO NOT do that to my husband and never have but I realize a lot of women do. What I like about his response is that he let the kid know without a lot of explanation that the girls behavior was the issue not the means she used to express said behavior and that since the behavior was silly to ignore it which really is the best advice.