In high school I only had one suit. It was pretty standard
issue as far as suits go and it served its purpose for a few high school
dances, a wedding, and a graduation. After college things changed and now I
have a whole arsenal of ties and bad addiction to collecting cuff links. But back
then that one suit was all I needed, because at sixteen clothes were the last
thing I was concerned with. I was more focused on cars, girls, and
independence. My passion for driving has been with me since I was kid. At age
nine I sat on my dad’s lap and drove our truck down an old dusty rural road. At
fifteen I immediately enrolled in the school’s driving course and spent hours
driving around New Orleans while the instructor, our head football coach, dozed
off in the passenger seat. At sixteen, I stood at the doors of the DMV at six
in the morning just so I could get my license on the day of my birthday. After
that came a car and working endless hours washing dishes at a local restaurant
to pay for fuel, tires, and parts. I tell you this because I read something
very interesting last week in the news. Apparently today’s sixteen year olds
are becoming less interested in driving and owning cars and more interested in
social networking and owning new iPhones.
When I was sixteen I too had a cell phone, and believe it or not
texting was around back then. But a cell phone was for roadside emergencies and
it sat turned off, in the trunk, in a bag with the tools needed to change a
flat tire. Also back then texting was dumb. It took longer than just calling
someone and pressing the number seven over and over again to get to the letter
R was such a waste of time, instead we just got in the car and drove over to
see our friends. But things have changed and apparently now kids would rather
spend money on a phone than a car. They can talk, see each other, and hang-out
without ever leaving the house. Not to mention they never have to deal with the
rising costs of fuel and insurance. But I think they could be missing out on
the very fun and social world of driving. These days, you could just text the
prettiest girl in school to chat over Facebook but with the incompetence of
the auto-correct feature it probably would go like this, “Whats up grill? I like
yellow a lot.” Thankfully I grew up before smart phones so I just drove over to
her house in my shined-up 1966 Mustang, and took her out for ice cream. And it
must have worked too because we’re still together almost ten years a later. These
are the kind of things that I’m afraid the youth will be missing out on. I was
in car clubs, entered car shows, raced, worked at a hot rod shop, and rebuilt
cars all before I graduated high school. Instead of being logged into a
computer on Saturday night, I was at the Burger King parking lot having a
chocolate shake with some old folks and their Bel-Airs, ‘32 Fords, and chopped
lead-sleds. Now I’ll admit even for back then it wasn't the average teenager’s
lifestyle, but everyone I knew did have their own mode of transportation or were at least struggling to get one. They also had jobs to pay for their cars and I
think it forced us to be a bit more responsible had we not had the desire to
drive. It also taught us the importance of maintaining something, how to fix
things for ourselves, think on our feet while driving in rough weather, and
even how to deal with the occasionally police officer.
I don’t know if I’m concerned over this news, however, because
I would much rather the kids more interested in their phone not drive than text
and drive. On the flip side what happens after college and they find they do
need a car? Will missing out on six years of experience not make that big of a
difference? Another concern, albeit small, is how this will affect new car
models. Car companies usually offer a cheap, safe, and practically car for
parents to help buy their kids, but what happens if the bottom falls out of that
market? Maybe I’m still in shock that some kids would rather a phone than a car
but I just can’t figure out if this is bad news or good. I do know one thing,
it makes me feel old. What do yellow think?
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