Young Alum Feels Old-Fashioned

2001 alumnus Fred Minnick recently noticed some amusing differences between himself and current college students. Minnick will be featured in the December STATE magazine.

By Fred Minnick

At 31, I don’t feel physically old. But when I returned to Oklahoma State University Oct.7 to sign copies of my new book, Camera Boy: An Army Journalist’s War in Iraq (Hellgate Press), those young whippersnappers trotting around made me realize how behind the times I am.

While they’re using iPhone No. 4 or whatever the latest one is called, I am flipping a 1999 worn piece of metal and plastic. They walk and text. Old-fashioned: I walk and talk.

I suppose society’s been moving forward with personal gadgets while I’ve had a book in my hand or been trying to figure out how to make a good chicken stock, but I’ve not noticed the depth and reach of headphones and miniature flat screen TVs until I sat at a table of the ancient media—printed books.

Books were once the promise of tomorrow. They contained useful information, were the entryway to other ideas. They entertained us, taught us, made us laugh, made us cry, made us angry, gave us hope and in some cases, took down corruption. The literal book creation was an amazingly technical process. Today, the method and product are next to the paperclip in innovation. And instead of flipping pages, readers are moving toward toggling an iPod-looking device.

So, there I was, my books and I, in the middle of the Student Union and I could not help but observe and make a hypothesis about this transient “wired” society.  In my three hours of sitting and signing, I estimate 80 percent were engaged in talking, texting, watching or listening to some gadget. Fifteen had giant headphones and about 40 could not hear me say “hello.” Three texting students rammed into each other. Four dropped and perhaps broke their devices. And one girl banged her phone-talking arm’s elbow into the wall while walking with and talking to her in-person friend, who was also on the phone.  Oh, and there was the guy I thought was talking to me, but wore a small ear device.

These observations are certainly not unique, especially to frequent travelers stuck in airports a lot. But I realized that we are way too distracted with these darn devices. How often do we actually have meals with four people without one person checking their phones? Do we really need to text or Tweet in the middle of conversations with friends?

I wonder if, in 30 years, carpal tunnel becomes more common than the flu or if as MAD TV spoofed, “LOL” actually gets added to the dictionary. Could our language be reduced to OMG (oh, my God), YGG (you go girl) and “afaict” (as far as I can tell)?

All this technology is wonderful, but I miss talking to people for five straight minutes and actually enjoying dinner. Maybe, it’s me. Maybe, I am just getting old.

You can read more from this aging 31-year-old writer in the next issue of STATE, where he writes about his Iraq war experience and his struggles with PTSD.

Visit Fred Minnick at http://fredwrite.com