For the second time in as many weeks I've seen some nice photos only to realize after the fact that they had been severely touched up. Keep in mind that these photos were meant as keepsakes, records of events from the past, so that they wouldn't be forgotten. When you touch up a photo which is supposed to be an easy way to keep an account of the past, what are you doing? Revising history? Seeing the past through rose-colored glasses? Seems innocent, but how innocent is it really?
Years later, your children may come across touched up pictures of you from your youth. Let's say they made you look a few pounds slimmer in the photos. Your children may aspire to look like you, or at least that fictitious you, and eventually may accomplish the goal. So, basically you've set in motion a chain of events where your children might work to keep a better figure than you did, in a way you've done them a favor, right? Lets say that your daughter, now twenty and looking exactly like fictitious you, happens upon that outfit you were wearing in that picture, and tries it on. Suddenly the outfit is a couple of sizes bigger than it should be and she's swimming in it, that's a weird bit of cognitive dissonance. Right there your child might lose respect for you, for deceiving them all these years. What if she tortured herself to be as slim as you were in this picture? What if she earned it through a lot of sweat and tears? Yeah, she may be healthier or better off, but she just lost faith in everything you ever taught her. Maybe all of it, all of the life lessons, the morals were just touched-up stories? Is it worth it?
What it comes down to is this: When you can remix history to conform to your ideal rather than the reality of the past, you end up with a fairytale that sounds good at first but can have both subtle and serious repercussions down the road.
Yeah, when we're talking about creating art or marketing, then photo touch-ups make sense, but the same examples still apply. Look what we're doing to ourselves by exposing ourselves to non-stop fairytale touch-ups everywhere we look.
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
15.7.10
the kids today..are all bored
Consider life in an agrarian society. The whole family needs to pitch in if you are going to have any kind of tolerable existence. The more children a family has, the more hands it has to help with all the work a farm creates.
Compare that to modern society. Most of the physical labor required for society to persist is either farmed out to technological devices or to paid workers. There isn't much we need to do in order to subsist, aside from some minor chores and a couple of 9-5 jobs to bring in the monthly paycheck. Children become, to the shortsighted, little more than a liability. They cost money but legally aren't really allowed to bring in any income for the family. (read: child labor) At best you need to basically corral your children through highschool, before they can really contribute in a more meaningful way. Which means kids for the first 18 years of their lives are mainly involved in avoiding boredom.
Of course you can get creative and give them the drive to pursue all kinds of interesting and character-building goals while they're still in the k12 academic cycle, but that takes extra time and energy on the part of the parents.
No wonder Europe all but stopped reproduction. No wonder teenagers are so often rebellious.
Society needs to find acceptable ways for children to contribute while they're still kids other than through bringing home good report cards. That's what boy/girl scouts and little league are all about, but is that enough anymore?
Compare that to modern society. Most of the physical labor required for society to persist is either farmed out to technological devices or to paid workers. There isn't much we need to do in order to subsist, aside from some minor chores and a couple of 9-5 jobs to bring in the monthly paycheck. Children become, to the shortsighted, little more than a liability. They cost money but legally aren't really allowed to bring in any income for the family. (read: child labor) At best you need to basically corral your children through highschool, before they can really contribute in a more meaningful way. Which means kids for the first 18 years of their lives are mainly involved in avoiding boredom.
Of course you can get creative and give them the drive to pursue all kinds of interesting and character-building goals while they're still in the k12 academic cycle, but that takes extra time and energy on the part of the parents.
No wonder Europe all but stopped reproduction. No wonder teenagers are so often rebellious.
Society needs to find acceptable ways for children to contribute while they're still kids other than through bringing home good report cards. That's what boy/girl scouts and little league are all about, but is that enough anymore?
We're all maturing more slowly because the real-life responsibilities are getting pushed back by technology. Not to mention the ultimate responsibility, kids, is being pushed back altogether because they've become more of a burden to their more childish parents.
Technology is truly marvelous and magical, but it puts more of a burden on us to make our lives more meaningful and rewarding with the extra leisure time it creates. If we don't step up to that challenge, we all end emotionally and developmentally obese.
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