facebook is ruining our brains.

Back in the really olden days when I was growing up, so like 1974, I used to always hear how TV was rotting my brains.  We watched too much TV and we weren't learning how to think.  Plus it was wrecking my eye site because I was always "way too close to the TV screen!"  I, personally, always seem to be running the risk of turning into a potato.  And somehow, prolly due to TV and its influence, we grew up to be slackers.

My brother and I had the routine dialed in.  We took turns, prolly around 1979, twisting the antenna to get better reception on the 4 or 5 channels we got.  It was a feat of team work and communication.  We pulled the signal down outta the airwaves in order to watch shows.  I think the signals came from other huge antenna, I don't think there were any satellites yet.  At least none for getting TV signals.  My brother and I dreamed of a day when we could have watch sized TVs.  Especially my brother, he had a thing for  wrist wear as a kid.  I mainly wanted something I could watch in bed while I was supposed to be going to sleep because I have never been one to fall asleep like normal people, even as a kid.  TV was kinda magic back then.  Crappy reception, no such thing as a VCR, or DVR.  You watched something when it was on, or you heard about it from people that saw it and wished you had remembered.

Things have changed.  Most HOAs don't allow tall antenna, and I am pretty sure signal is broadcast all digital now anyways.  So twisting the antenna is a thing of the past.  The very distant past.  I notice we still yell at kids to move back from the TV, and then we scoot back in to our desks to press our faces against computer screens,  If I would have known back then that I would spend my days and nights sitting in a desk chair sitting arms length from a computer monitor, which is hardly different from a tv screen, I would have laughed when my parents yelled at me to move.  But they were spankers, so I would have got spanked way more too.

It is odd, having watched the internet progress.  In the early 90s I was reading that one day we would watch TV over the web.  I scoffed.  WAY too much bandwidth, never happen I would think and prolly say to those around me.  Never happen, that is dumb.  Well today I am back to not having an antenna, my computer is hooked to my TV and I watch things from Hulu and Netflix.  George Jetson stuff.  Same with watching Netflix on my iphone under the covers at night.  I could watch it on the laptop, but that doesn't feel so futuristic as the iphone does.  Both about a foot from my eyeballs I should add.  Both still trying to rot my brain I am sure.

I realize that facebook is not TV.  But, it is todays brain rotting culprit.  These days everything is boiled down to the smallest amount it can be.  Dialogue isn't between TV characters, it is between us, but boiled down to tiny exchanges.  I used to get an idea, and build it up and write it in my blog.  I would try and turn one stupid idea into an entire blog entry to entertain whoever happened to be stopping by.  Anymore, I get a dumb idea, and I try to boil it down to a facebook status update.  I generally hope my status is somehow entertaining to those who read it.

Blah blah blah, I should say some stuff about not fully developing ideas anymore, and tie that all into some crap about status updates and twitter only allowing so few words and how they are not really status updates like "damn I broke my foot" but more just stupid shit we all think of, and say something witty about how kids are growing up today being taught to truncate their conversations with each other instead of giving them thought and making them all complete or whatever, but I wanna go check my facebook feed and see if anyone has posted anything awesome.