Everybody has heard the crazy stories about kids' tantrums when you take their stuff away, right? Well, here are a few stories I've heard quite a few times of kids who seem to get more and more drastic in their reactions as the list goes on.
This first one comes from the Chicago Tribune. A short article, but the amazing thing is this boy called 911 because he had his Xbox taken away!
Buffalo Grove boy dials 911 after parents take away his Xbox video game
At least that kid didn't get violent. This guy, an 18-year-old, attacked his family after they took his cell phone away from him because he punched his brother. (He obviously had problems already.)
Kid kicks mom in throat, head-butts brother
I think one of my personal favorites is a video of this teenager, who's probably between 16 and 18, that gets his World of Warcraft account taken away, and freaks out like a 4-year-old having a tantrum.
Crazy WoW Kid Video
Hopefully if/when technology goes away, the majority of humanity can act better than these kids. Do you have any crazy stories like these?
Remember: the last day I'll accept surveys to be included in the experiment is Saturday, specifically Saturday night! Scroll down and take the survey!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A Bit of Related Humor
I got an e-mail this morning, and I thought, "this would go great with T.O.E."
This gives an example of the idea that older generations would do better than younger ones with the removal of technologies in a really fun way.
"Growing up without a cell phone"
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung
on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the
last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the
dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first
place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes
back in 1970 or any time before!
Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd
This gives an example of the idea that older generations would do better than younger ones with the removal of technologies in a really fun way.
"Growing up without a cell phone"
If you are 40, or older, you might think this is hilarious!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with
walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill...
Barefoot...BOTH ways. yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in
hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard
I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look
around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean,
compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've
got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in
the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a
pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the
mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter
of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass!
Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music,
you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the D J
would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no C
D players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and
"eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it
useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and
somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you
just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of
touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being
in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right.
Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.
And we didn't have fancy Caller I D either! When the phone rang, you had no
idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your
bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!!
You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with
high-resolution 3- D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like
'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square!
You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple
levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never
win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster
until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You
were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass
and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no,
what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK
for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had
to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no,
no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you
were doing chores!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with
walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill...
Barefoot...BOTH ways. yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in
hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard
I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of forty, I can't help but look
around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean,
compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've
got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in
the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a
pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the
mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter
of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass!
Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music,
you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the D J
would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no C
D players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and
"eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it
useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and
somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you
just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of
touch with your "friends". OH MY GOSH !!! Think of the horror... not being
in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right.
Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.
And we didn't have fancy Caller I D either! When the phone rang, you had no
idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your
bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!!
You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with
high-resolution 3- D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like
'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square!
You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple
levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never
win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster
until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You
were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass
and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no,
what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK
for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had
to use the stove! Imagine that!
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no,
no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you
were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung
on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the
last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the
dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first
place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes
back in 1970 or any time before!
Regards,
The Over 40 Crowd
Monday, February 7, 2011
First, a Survey
The first thing I’d like to do is give you a survey. It won’t take too long, just honestly fill out the answers. In one week, I’ll reveal the entirely anonymous results of the survey in a short report explaining its significance to the Omega Effect. And again, please please please fill out the survey honestly, even if you think it’ll make you look bad; I promise, no one will know it’s you.
I want everyone to try to do this during the same time of day, but not necessarily on the same day. Try your best to do this as close to the recommended time (8:00am – 8:00pm) as you can. This survey will display results from a 12 hour period of time.
Your best plan may be to print out a copy of the survey, and follow it throughout the day.
E-mail your results to the.omega.effect@gmail.com, and I will let you know some possibly surprising results based on the survey. And really, I will honestly be the only one who knows who you are.
The last surveys to be accepted will be those sent to me this upcoming Saturday evening (I'm EST). Any others after that won't count in the result, but I'll still e-mail you your compared results.
The last surveys to be accepted will be those sent to me this upcoming Saturday evening (I'm EST). Any others after that won't count in the result, but I'll still e-mail you your compared results.
I will include my own answers on the day the joined survey results are released.
1: Cell Phone Usage
§ How many times did you send text messages during the time period?
§ How many times did you receive text messages (only if you read them)?
§ How many phone calls did you make on your cell phone during the time period?
§ How many of these phone calls were “vital” (explain your definition of vital)
§ How many lasted less than five minutes?
§ How many lasted more than 20 minutes?
2: Computer/Laptop Usage
§ How many times did you use your desktop or laptop during the time period?
§ How many times was it for work or school?
§ How many times was it for “social networking” or games?
§ How many times was it for a music or media site like last.fm or YouTube?
§ How many of these sessions lasted 10 minutes or less?
§ How many lasted more than 10 minutes?
3: Television Usage
§ Do you have a television schedule?
§ How many hours per day do you watch television?
§ How many of these shows are news based?
§ How many of the things you watch are educational?
§ How many of the things you watch are considered “reality television”?
§ How many of the things you watch are just “plain old fiction”?
4: Other Electronic Usage
§ Do you own an mp3 player?
§ How many minutes or hours did you spend updating your mp3 player?
§ How many minutes or hours did you spend listening to it?
§ If there are any games or apps on it, how many minutes or hours did you spend using them?
§ Do you own any type of videogame system, either console or handheld?
§ How many minutes or hours did you spend playing games today?
§ If there is an internet ability, or any other non-game ability (not movies) how many minutes or hours did you spend using them?
§ How many movies did you watch today, and how long were they all together?
5: If you used any other non-essential electronics today, for what length of time, all together, did you use them?
6: Do you think you used modern technology too much today?
The Omega Effect
So, the Omega Effect is sort of my pet project. I've always wondered what would happen if there were a sudden end to modern technology. Now, not necessarily all of the technology we know today, at least not yet, but things we, or most of us, would consider simple things: cell phones, computers, television, things like that.
Every day, for the next however many days, starting tonight, I'm going to propose a situation, and either a challenge or just a few comments, so we can all see how dramatically life may actually change.
This isn't just a project for me, it's sort of a social experiment. And maybe even a little bit of a survival challenge. I mean, would mankind really make it without their tweets and reality TV?
Every day, for the next however many days, starting tonight, I'm going to propose a situation, and either a challenge or just a few comments, so we can all see how dramatically life may actually change.
This isn't just a project for me, it's sort of a social experiment. And maybe even a little bit of a survival challenge. I mean, would mankind really make it without their tweets and reality TV?
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