Sometimes, I wish that life could go back to the way it used to be in the early 2000s. Sure there were some major issues present that weren’t… great to have around. But despite all of those issues, the early 2000s would be a great time period that I wish I could have experienced as a teen. 

I mean, think about it. The only phones you had were flip phones, landlines or no phones at all. I wish I could have gotten a flip phone over my phone now, because unfortunately like the majority of the world, we are all attached to our phones. It is so bad for people, but if you have access to these resources you might as well use them. I try to limit myself because some people spend too much time on their phones, and to be quite honest, it’s really sad. Yeah sure they’re great for long distance communication, or having access to the entire internet to find any piece of information you need. But sometimes it’s good to unplug from your phone and do something else. I also just like the thought of everyone using their massive iPhone 13XPlus and then in the middle of that, I pull out a flip phone. Sure people will say things or judge, but whatever at least I try not to be addicted to a stupid phone, try to spend my time wisely and not waste away my teen years talking to people on the phone instead of going out to see them in real life. 

That’s another thing, seeing people in person, actually, scratch that. GOING OUTSIDE! No one even goes outside anymore. It is crazy ridiculous that barely any teens go outside or hangout with friends any more, it’s all online. Weather that be calling, texting, facetiming. Whatever, I just hate it, and a lot of people I know would rather talk on the phone instead of seeing that person face to face. It makes me so sad. I really try to invite people over or try to convince others to possibly have me over (not forcing them to let me come over). I just want to be like a traditional teen that most of the other students’ parents experienced and be able to go outside and hangout with friends. Not being like modern day teens who seem to now be born with a new body part attached to them. A PHONE! Like are you kidding, some parents just give their kids iPads or tablets and say go nuts. Letting a stupid tablet raise their kid, not doing it themselves. Or they just give it to them to shut them up when they cry. That’s not being a smart parent, that’s horrible. These parents are practically setting these kids up to be addicted to technology. That is so sad. When I become an adult, who knows if I will ever have kids, but I know one thing for sure, even if I have to stay up until 3 a.m. until my kid shuts up to go to bed, or cries about having to eat their vegetables, I will never let an Ipad be a babysitter and leave them with that. I’ll do it the old fashioned way (I hate that I have to refer to it as the old fashioned way) and entertain them myself. Be their best friend, not some dumb electronic device. 

Also call me old fashioned, but I really don’t like how electronic the school system has become. I would honestly prefer to have binders, notebooks, paper handouts and have to bring pencils to all of my classes every day. I just like to handwrite, because to me, handwriting is more you, than typing or anything on the computer/phone. I don’t really know if that makes sense but I don’t really know how else to explain. I understand that without them, things would be a lot more difficult with spelling, finding information. Doing things online also helps with organization. But I feel more accomplished writing down things on paper or whatnot instead of typing. Getting a paper handed to me, I would also doodle on them, make little pictures, I love doing that. But now I barely do that because I don’t really get many handouts anymore, and the handouts we get now are always only important papers, not any that can be drawn on. However, I really appreciate it when teachers give an option to either use a computer or hand write because some days, I just prefer handwriting assignments, and truly make something my own, not having it look like every other writing piece or assignment in the world that has the answers typed out in “Arial” font. Handwriting is special and unique to each individual person. For me, I always tend to add a fancy little swoop to the end of my Y’s or G’s when I hand write them, but you could never tell because I’m typing this out. I just prefer to see someone’s raw handwriting to show more of them personally instead of digital. You can actually see a lot about a person through handwriting, it’s like someone’s fingerprint, it’s their print, but handwriting can change over time, which is why I love it, it’s so different all the time. 

These are only a few reasons why I really love the idea of the 2000s and stuff like that, I mean it’s not strictly 2000s but I was alive during them, I was just a baby so I didn’t really experience them as a teen, and I made great memories. So I’m just going to leave that here for now, my rant about phones, seeing people in person, and handwriting. It sounds like a strange topic to write a whole piece about, but I feel quite strongly about it.