Stolen Vehicles on the rise, though the bus in this photo wasn’t’ stolen.
I. had a customer enlighten me to something I never thought about, he said “kids these days aren’t watching television, they’re playing games on their computers and phones”.
Virtual Reality has been here for a number of years now but though the market for goggles seems to be falling, and AI is now all the rave, what are online games doing? They’re virtually taking kids off the couch and making them participants on the screen. They create their own fantasy selves with Avatars and compete with their online peers. Many of these games cost money and more and more people are either unable to afford to pay for those games, or kids are just taking their virtual selves off the screen and into real life. Stolen vehicles have been reportedly on the rise since the pandemic and the blame is going on the pandemic as these kids were taken out of school and allowed to run wild in the streets. I have to wonder about that, like many Americans these days, there are many doubts to think about when we hear something on the news. We can blame irresponsible parents for allowing their children to run wild in the streets, or the lack of learning aids to poorer families who relied on public computers. However, many people also stepped up to donate tablets and laptops and refurbished used gear to these under privileged kids, there was still something lacking. Kids these days have more tools and resources than I could ever have even imagined when I was a kid myself. We had nothing but each other to rely on. We had bikes to ride but we never got new, always used and we learned how to fix them and take care of them. Our parents had the time to teach us crafts, like sewing or woodworking, things that encouraged our creativity. There was participation in Scouts, something that is still around today. Our games were with other kids in the neighborhood, like “kick the can” etc. Or explored our environments. Learning to fix things was also a skill we learned from a parent or someone else in the neighborhood. Hobbies, most of us had hobbies, and kits also aided in kids learning to build things, like models, etc. My brothers went from learning to fix bikes to fixing cars and are now all successful mechanics with good jobs and self-employment. Not all these juvenile games and activities outdated today, but we don’t hear much about them anymore and parents either lack skills themselves or just don’t have time because they’re working all hours to pay for the new, throw away society we’ve become. As juveniles, we were outdoors and running wild in the streets ourselves, except if we, say broke someones window whether deliberately or accidentally, our parents were often held responsible to replace it and in turn we would have to earn the money somehow to pay them back. We learned how to get and do jobs. We knocked on doors and offered to shovel sidewalks, pull weeds, mow lawns, run errands like go to the store. It didn’t take long before our parents were satisfied with what we made the effort to go out and do to take responsibility for our own actions. Not only did we have to pay for our damages at the time, we also got our butts whooped and grounded for a period of time while doing chores around the house. These days all that stuff is being called “child abuse”. That would’ve been laughed at back in my juvenile days, but today children can actually sue their parents. After driving a school bus for awhile I had also learned that when a bus driver is accused of something done to a child, the district is open to a lawsuit by the parents. Fair enough if something heinous really did occur, but instead of the district fighting the lawsuit it’s just cheaper to pay off the family. So where does this lead to? What’s sad about this is it nearly encourages false accusations for personal gain at the expense of everyone else while real abuse does go on somewhere else. If there is a way to abuse a system, you can bet there are people out there to find it and do it. Now kids shooting up a school is becoming a norm.
So, finding a virtual way to participate maybe an influencer to find a real way to participate, or like AI, aid in generating ideas. An age old Celtic method of dealing with restless youth was for the older members of the group to take them out into nature and rough it. Kids learned skills while burning off that energy. They learned to be self sufficient, cooperate with each other, and mindful of others. They also learned to know more about themselves. A friend of mine used to work at a youth camp that did just that. It was designed for troublesome kids and has probably saved many of these same youths from a lifetime of criminality. However, these programs were cut from the government budget. A sad case of where are we going today toward a better future?
Road Trip Minnesota 