I Was Thinking... How Lazy?
Most youth have probably heard from older generations how tough it used to be. “When I was a kid” usually is followed by a description of how difficult life was for them as compared to what life is like now. Grandpa walked two miles to school in the snow and it was uphill all the way.
No matter when you were born, you can point to new developments that weren’t available when you were growing up. “We never had central air conditioning, calculators, and had to change the TV channel by walking up to the set and turning the knob.”
My grandfather grew up without running water, electric lights, or air conditioning of any kind. Compared to him, I did have it really easy. But as much as the older generation complains about the “easy” life of today’s youth, most of those conveniences were provided by that same generation.
But recently I saw an ad for what the ultimate example of modern laziness could be.
Middle age spread is a common malady for many people. Some is due to our lack of exercise, our choice of foods, or what we like to call heredity, but whatever the cause, our middles expand. It now becomes harder to bend down and touch our toes or maybe even see them.
To relieve this very pressing problem, Skechers, the foot ware company, has created a shoe you don’t even have to bend down to put on. They are promoting the “hands free slip-in shoe” as a solution for people on the go. Are we really so busy, that taking a couple seconds to bend over to put on our shoes is going to put us behind schedule?
They further stress what an upgrade this will be for people going through airport security. While I admire the engineering genius that found a way to incorporate a shoehorn right inside the shoe, but as a people, have we really gotten that lazy that this is a pressing need.
Those developing the themes for the advertisements also extol the virtue of the new product for the parents of young children. These young parents no longer struggle with the arduous task of trying to put shoes on a squirming child. Now if someone would only come up with a solution for getting the children dressed as well.
Can’t you just see some future generation of kids being told, “when I was your age, we had to actually bend over, put on our shoes, and then tie them.” At one time, learning to tie your own shoes was considered a milestone skill. Now we are taking that away from kids as well. Maybe somebody can come up with a “self-balancing” bicycle too.
Each year the number of health and exercise clubs increase around the nation. The number of weight loss programs also expand at a dramatic rate. This must say something about our general population.
Our modern technology has allowed us to do less and less physical labor every year. Most of us are happy we can press a button and see the garage door open and can scan hundreds of TV channels without getting out of our lounge chair. Today our children would have no idea what to do if we asked them to “roll down the window” in a car.
Golf was once promoted as a way to get some exercise, however today most players use a cart. While walking or biking has been encouraged as a great form of low impact exercise, the number of golf carts and e-bikes on our streets are increasing. Kids definitely need to burn off some energy and get outside and be active. So why are one of the hottest selling items for kids the electric toy cars they can drive?
Do we really need robots to vacuum our rugs and mow our lawn? It makes you wonder, are we helping or hurting ourselves as we adapt to more and more conveniences?
Did You Ever Wonder? — Why is the objective of golf, to play the least amount of golf as possible?