I can't take credit for today's subject. It evolved from a conversation evoked by an observation by my brother. I dont remember exactly what we were talking about...oh wait....i remember now.
we were talking about "back-in-the-day" songs and how if you wanted to buy your favorite song, you'd hope and pray that they (record labels) released the single cassette recording otherwise you'd have to buy the whole album.
remember those? cassette singles.
they were like $1.99 and instead of having to buy the whole album or recording your jam off the radio while hopin the DJ didn't interrupt (the TRUE mix-tape), you could buy your single on cassette....downloading it or buying it off of itunes or zoomin' through your playlist via a wheel didnt exist....no, this was true old school technology at its best.
it was the days of the walkman, where to save your batteries, if you needed to rewind you'd take your tape and use a pencil to rewind it. The pencil would catch the wheel groves in the tape and you'd swirl it around until it was at the beginning cause if not...you'd run out of batteries. I don't know about your mom and dad buy mine only bought so many batteries during a single time frame.
those were the glory days of pre-technology....
in fact, I remember buying my first vinyl record. It was my fifth birthday present from my mom. she took me down to the music store in the mall and I picked it out. I was super excited to go home and play it on my strawberry shortcake record player. my brother would later acquire a Michael Jackson record player. and if your needle broke - you were outta luck!
i remember for my 6th birthday, my mom took me down to Woolworths to buy my first "radio walkman." It didnt come with a cassette player cause those wouldn't be invented for a few years yet. I went home and was riding my bike in the backyard listening to Tina Turner's "what's love got to do with it?" I was only six and I too was wondering what does love got to do with it? I mean I was only six...
but I kept riding my bike until the battteries ran out, it got dark, or my mom called me in to eat dinner...
those were "simpler times" as G-Lo would say.
So my brother poignantly reminded me that the mall was where it was at. he said, "you had to buy your cassettes at the mall, the movie theater was at the mall, and if you wanted to play cool video games, you had to do it at the arcade" then he said (this one cracked me up)..."and the girls were at the mall...the mall is where it went down."
yes, my bff and I spent many a hours roaming the mall - she was scoping out the boys - i have no clue what i was doing - tagging along probably...or buying earrings at Claires. lol
But my brother brought up something so true....the mall is where social interactivity occurred. its where we'd meet up with our friends and have dessert at el chico's or eat at pizza hut...or get a corn dog from corn dog 7..or buy Hello Kitty paraphernalia at Small Worlds...cookies at coastal cookies (which still exists) or different flavored popcorn at the popcorn store (I think it was popcorn paradise)...or chocolate dipped ice cream bars dipped in sprinkles or peanuts at old time lemonade or catch a movie at the movie theater.
those were the days....
now-a-days...kids game online...buy their music online...they tweet or facebook, "Facebook me." and the last time i saw a movie at a mall was at Northpark in Dallas. Most movie theaters are standalone.
don't get me wrong i'm not anti-social mediums or anything...I have a twitter account and facebook account and have managed to stay connected to many friends i'd lost contact with over the years thanks to facebook. in fact, that's how Ricardo came back into my life.
but i notice there's a certain social dysfunction in society that did not exist 10 years ago..like having a conversation with someone without them picking up their phone to check their facebook, or answer a text, or read an email....
i find myself doing the same and have to remind myself to put my phone away...to give the person i'm with my complete attention. I thought the invention of Cd's was the coolest thing ever cause I could fast forward without a pencil!
I also have to remind myself that just because someone posts something on their facebook doesn't mean I really know that person or know what they mean. for some reason, we think that because we read what a person posts that we really know them. there's an element of in person connectivity that we seem to miss and so we aren't quite as adept at reading people in person as I think we should be. like reading body language or facial expressions.
maybe skype and video chat/ichat will change all of that but....hiding behind a medium seems safer to some. you can present your best side forward so to speak without fear that someone will see beneath. and in a sense it allows us to have control over what people perceive and see/read.
is that where we are headed? who knows....
all i know is that there's nothing like sitting and having a face to face with the people you care about sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant. watching their expressions and being in that person's midst, you catch their vibe in a way you can't with online mediums.
personally, i prefer the face to face and the next time my phone rings or txt message chirps, i'll remember there was a time when communicating so quickly wasn't possible...and the next time i travel with my ipod, i'll remember there was also a time when i'd have to carry a huge case with all my cd's/cassettes in it...and now...a little box with a wheel is all i need to enjoy my music!
my, my, my how time flies....
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