Will Our Kids Care About Our Stories? The Digital Generation's Legacy

It’s the third day of Christmas and I just came back from the countryside. I go there every Christmas and have a lot of fun. I have a pretty large family, especially from my dad’s side, and it’s great when part of it comes together for a few drinks (don’t tell me you never drank wine or anything traditional!). They start remembering all kinds of super funny moments from their past. I’ve heard some of them over and over… at least 10 times… but every year they come up with at least 5 new ones.

Yesterday, when I was coming home, I started thinking: what am I going to tell my kids? I don’t have at least 10 stories as fun as theirs. Well, the world has changed. They didn’t have computers or much TV; they lived under the communists… but they had a lot of fun when they were my age. My best friend is my computer. What should I tell my kids? That I had some memorable moments using DOS? Should this be the sacrifice of progress?

What do you think? Will our digital lives rob us of the kind of stories that get passed down through generations? Or do we just need to reframe what counts as a good story?

Topic Summary: Enjoying family stories at Christmas, but worried my digital life (DOS memories) won’t make fun tales for my kids. Will progress sacrifice our generational storytelling?

Heh… yeah, when I think of it, I don’t have many stories to tell that don’t involve my computer or something geeky like that. I don’t worry about what I’m going to tell my kids, though… maybe by the time I’m old enough to have kids, I’ll have more life experience. Right now, I worry about what I’m going to tell the girls at work.

They asked me what I do for fun the other day, and I was thinking, “How do I explain a LAN party to a girl who hardly even checks her email?” Takes all kinds, I guess… :sweat_smile: