I'm Hip, I'm Hip
I have friends who are stuck in an era. You know, that girl at the office who still uses a can of hairspray every morning to puff up her 80s Debbie Gibson look, the guy who wears nothing but Def Leopard black t-shirts and listens to nothing but the 70s rock station in his car, people like that. Luckily for me, I'm not like that.
I consider myself a pretty "hip" guy. That right there should tell you I'm not, but I like to fancy myself a man of the times. I have a social media presence, I watch Youtube videos, I know the latest music in the top 40, I have an idea of the latest fashions (not that I wear any of them), the latest tastes in cuisine, the cool tv shows, the new trends. I am pretty damn hip. That is, until I speak to my 14 year old.
There are thousands, no millions of videos on Youtube, so when I want to impress my 14 year old, I talk to him about the lastest "viral" video spreading across the net. He normally gives me the "ohmygodthatvideocameoutliketwoyearsago" look and proceeds to tell me he's seen it and then goes on to show me the 200 follow up videos I have yet to find dealing with the first one.
The same can be said about music. I remember as a teen you wouldn't catch me dead listening to the hum drum top-40 station. That was for the old 20-somethings. I listened to the up-and-coming stuff, the "underground" as they called it back then. Sadly, as much as I can spurt off a who's-who of the top artists on the charts I have no idea where kids even find the underground stuff these days. I know they listen to it though because by the time I hear it, yet again my son heard it six months ago.
Even with the latest internet thingy, staying up on the latest fad is next to impossible. I thought having a Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Twitter and this blog were enough to keep me in the "cool guy" category. Except kids use a far-wider range of platforms like Formspring, Foursquare, Omegle, Chatroulette, TinyChat, Dailybooth, Tumblr etc, etc. Did you know blogs like this are considered "old"? These days kids don't blog words necessarily; they blog ideas through pictures, videos, graphics, music and more.
I guess it hits us all at one point or another that no matter how hard we try, we cannot hold onto the cool status for long. Maybe the reason we are uncomfortable with certain "new" things is because our memories are of another era when we were the trend-setters. I just don't feel comfortable going online and "chatting" via webcam with random strangers. I just don't feel like I should tell everyone where I am all day by spouting out my exact location as I move from building to building. It sorta freaks me out a little. If you ask my son though, he cannot comprehend how that is a bad thing. He comes from a different era as do I.
I think it is a natural process to find yourself falling further and further behind with the latest "whatever" until you're that one little old lady putting the microphone up to your ear at a wedding while you're videotaped for America's Funniest Home Videos. Luckily by then you probably don't care anyway.
Thus I may find myself reversing my opinion on my "backwards" buds who live in the past and join them. Some of them have been wearing the same shirts and listening to the same music since 1988. I guess it is me who is WAY behind. I'll catch up though, cause I'm hip, I'm fresh, I'm illin'. I think I'll sign off with a big thumbs-up and a cool "Ayyyyy" :).
I consider myself a pretty "hip" guy. That right there should tell you I'm not, but I like to fancy myself a man of the times. I have a social media presence, I watch Youtube videos, I know the latest music in the top 40, I have an idea of the latest fashions (not that I wear any of them), the latest tastes in cuisine, the cool tv shows, the new trends. I am pretty damn hip. That is, until I speak to my 14 year old.
There are thousands, no millions of videos on Youtube, so when I want to impress my 14 year old, I talk to him about the lastest "viral" video spreading across the net. He normally gives me the "ohmygodthatvideocameoutliketwoyearsago" look and proceeds to tell me he's seen it and then goes on to show me the 200 follow up videos I have yet to find dealing with the first one.
The same can be said about music. I remember as a teen you wouldn't catch me dead listening to the hum drum top-40 station. That was for the old 20-somethings. I listened to the up-and-coming stuff, the "underground" as they called it back then. Sadly, as much as I can spurt off a who's-who of the top artists on the charts I have no idea where kids even find the underground stuff these days. I know they listen to it though because by the time I hear it, yet again my son heard it six months ago.
Even with the latest internet thingy, staying up on the latest fad is next to impossible. I thought having a Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, Twitter and this blog were enough to keep me in the "cool guy" category. Except kids use a far-wider range of platforms like Formspring, Foursquare, Omegle, Chatroulette, TinyChat, Dailybooth, Tumblr etc, etc. Did you know blogs like this are considered "old"? These days kids don't blog words necessarily; they blog ideas through pictures, videos, graphics, music and more.
I guess it hits us all at one point or another that no matter how hard we try, we cannot hold onto the cool status for long. Maybe the reason we are uncomfortable with certain "new" things is because our memories are of another era when we were the trend-setters. I just don't feel comfortable going online and "chatting" via webcam with random strangers. I just don't feel like I should tell everyone where I am all day by spouting out my exact location as I move from building to building. It sorta freaks me out a little. If you ask my son though, he cannot comprehend how that is a bad thing. He comes from a different era as do I.
I think it is a natural process to find yourself falling further and further behind with the latest "whatever" until you're that one little old lady putting the microphone up to your ear at a wedding while you're videotaped for America's Funniest Home Videos. Luckily by then you probably don't care anyway.
Thus I may find myself reversing my opinion on my "backwards" buds who live in the past and join them. Some of them have been wearing the same shirts and listening to the same music since 1988. I guess it is me who is WAY behind. I'll catch up though, cause I'm hip, I'm fresh, I'm illin'. I think I'll sign off with a big thumbs-up and a cool "Ayyyyy" :).
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