I am not one to
bore my readers with my own opinion of whether this is good or bad (or maybe
just a little, since I rule the roost, at least in my own blog space J). But what I do feel strongly about is the impact this breakdown of
traditional social structures is bound to have on the next generation.
What we are
looking at here, is a future where my sons spend as much time, if not more,
with their virtual circle of friends, partaking of games like penguins, online
cricket, farmhouse or a host of other admittedly interesting occupations, than
with the neighbourhood kids, and giving me weird looks when I force them to
plug off and go spend an hour in a real playground. I have been pestering my
six-year-old son to reply to his grandparents’ letter that they painstakingly
wrote to their grandson and posted (yes, Indian Post still exists!). He gives
me ‘the look’ and asks me innocently to help him log on to his email account so
he can mail back to them (Indian Post, you better watch out).