Future Generations

This is just a ramble post. I was surfing the internet and came across some articles and it made me think about how future generations will be different from us.

One of the articles said that Generation Y (which I still haven't figured out what age that actually spans but whatever) does not see driving as a rite of passage into adulthood anymore. I know that I personally don't like driving, and wouldn't mind hiring a chauffeur to drive me around, especially back and forth to work. But it sounds like they aren't even getting their license as soon as they can. (The article said getting your first cell phone seems to be a new sign that you are an adult. Wow, adult is VERY young now if that's true, in some cases!)

It made me think, though, that if this is really true, I bet a lot of thought will be invested into cars that drive themselves. There are already cars that can parallel park themselves... (Yes! Where can I get one of those?!) I wonder how long it will be before we don't have to drive anymore. I would just love that.

I also remember growing up with my parents at home. I was in a unique situation because both parents were home; their work for the most part was home. They owned (and still own) a small motel so someone was always there. My dad did teach music/orchestra at various schools for a few years here and there but the motel was the main business. So I actually got my summers off to laze around. I shouldn't say laze around because we helped out at the motel and were kept pretty busy from as young as I can really remember. But still, we had the concepts of summers being a major change.

But kids now, most of them have both parents working and they go to daycare. So they're used to getting packed up Monday through Friday, year round, to completely change the routine. Even when they're school aged, during the summers they go back to the daycare since, unless they're a school teacher or something like that, the parents are working most of the summer.

Does this mean that kids will be used to that kind of routine and it will be a little easier to adjust to not having summers off? Not that it really matters. I was just pondering that a little bit.

I didn't walk uphill in the snow to school both ways, haha, but I'm sure I'll be saying similar things when I'm older about how much harder I had it. "When I was your age, I had to sit behind that steering wheel, pay attention, and drive!" It will be really interesting to see how everything shapes off and the stuff we can't even imagine that will change. And please start working on this no driving thing. The sooner, the better! ;)