Snow Day

I used to live for snow days when I was a kid. I would do all the superstitious things, like wearing your pajamas inside out, in order to make that blessed event come true. Sadly it didn’t happen very often, but when it did, it was glorious. A snow day was like a sick day, but instead of being cooped up by the house you had the freedom to go outside.

Logically, if it’s a snow day there must be copious amounts of snow on the ground. This makes for fantastic childhood fun. I would go out with my friends and build snow forts, have snowball fights, go sledding, or just act like a general goof. After we’d finished doing that we’d go inside, enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate, and then sit down to play some video games. 

With today’s youth though, it seems they skip right to that last part. After sleeping in they sit down in front of their large screen TV and just play video games all day. They don’t have their friends over to play, they just are there by themselves in front of the screen. Sure they have the in game audio chatting, but that doesn’t have the same effect as actually having your friend right next to you, looking at your screen to figure out where you are (GoldenEye was one of the best games ever).

Even during the summer it seems like kids don’t want to go outside and play like they used to. I remember going swimming almost every day during the summer at one of the community pools in my town. If I wasn’t doing that I was outside playing with my best friend until well after dark, just running around and exploring the world. Sure I’d stay in and watch TV sometimes, but more often then not we were just out playing. 

I don’t see that as much anymore. Maybe it’s now where I live (going from the suburban to more urban setting), maybe I just don’t notice those things anymore, or maybe it really is that change from the outdoor explorers to that of XBOX Live talkers. 

That’s not to say that I haven’t changed as well. I find myself on my computer a lot more and enjoying the things outside a lot less. I play video games more often then I go for a walk in the park, I sit listening to music more often then I go for a bike ride, and I haven’t been swimming on a regular basis in a few years. 

Technology is an amazing thing. It’s provided people with an amazing resource in terms of being able to keep in touch with people across the world (hello readers in Brazil, England, Bulgaria, Canada). It’s provided amazing medical innovations. It’s made the world better in many many different ways. 

Let’s just make sure that we still take the time to take our eyes off the computer screen or TV and go outside. Let’s show the kids of the next generation how it’s done.