We all have had an experience at one time or another of feeling slightly out of touch. Maybe it was a breaking news item, or a friend discussing the latest book or movie you have not been exposed to. I find this happening more often as we get exposed to increasingly new information, entertainment, politics, etc. When the out of touch moments happen, these incidents are what make you…you!
More and more, the “out of touch” syndrome is happening between grandkids and grandparents. While we realize that kids are learning as they grow, we as adults need to keep up with new technology to keep the communication open to
our younger family members.
My co-worker was shopping for a gift for her grandson recently. She called her daughter to get an idea of what to get as a gift? “Oh, he loves his Gameboy, just get him a new game cartridge,” she instructed. Well, that seems simple enough thought the grandmother. So off to the toy store to find a cartridge for the grandson. No problem she thought. As she arrived at the store to shop for the birthday gift, she was amazed at the hundreds of video game products, and quickly realized she needed help. Spotting a salesperson, she flagged them
down and asked, “I’m looking for a cartridge for my grandson’s Playboy”. The clerk had a puzzled look and asked, “How old is your grandson?” She replied that he was seven. “Hmmm…I think you mean Gameboy?” After realizing what she had originally asked and the mistake, they both had a good laugh! But it was an out of touch moment! My personal experience with out of touch happened while I was growing up and visited our grandparents, who never owned a TV. There was always the radio in the kitchen tuned to the local gospel music station, but no TV. Now, a positive side effect to no TV was that we always had several books to read or board games to play, and it forced us to go outside and play in the fresh air!
On the other side of the coin, I often have a reverse out of touch moment with a young person who does not know something that I would consider common knowledge.
So, what was your out of touch moment or incident? Who were you with? What was it about? Did you cringe, or get a good laugh
at what you didn’t know?
Whatever it was, it made you….you!