Baby's New Normal

It occurred to me recently that my child will grow up with video chatting as the new normal. Facetime with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins will be more common than regular talking on the phone.

Laptops will be a joke. Smartphones and tablets will be the mobile device of choice. Amid the mix of rattles, stuffed toys, and pacifiers, there will be iPhones and iPads to keep baby entertained.

I wonder how many actual books he'll hold in his hands, or will all his reading be over the Kindle? By the time he gets to high school, will the school district still supply textbooks? Will he know what it's like to tote a huge backpack, gym clothes, and lunch to school everyday and somehow cramming it all into a locker that's 6 inches wide?

Will DVDs even matter anymore?

He'll grow up in a world where his every milestone will be captured on camera or video and shared for all friends and family to see. I don't think I could help myself; Facebook was created for mothers to brag about their children. It'll seem normal to him though, like everyone grew up this way.

He'll never spend time in a mall. But he will know the first name of the UPS man (Danny) and the post man (Alan).

I wonder if he'll even handle cash that often.

Will he look a photo album and wonder what the F this is? Why can't he click dammit?

Will he still have to pump gas? Or will that be a thing he had to do for his crappy first car?

He'll never hear what a dial-up modem sounds like. Or have to blow on something to get it to work.

Even right now before he's born, he has a video monitor that detects motion and has night vision. He has a stroller with shock absorbers and unfolds like a pop-up tent. He has a swing that goes both side-to-side and forward-to-back with different speeds and music. Nearly all his toys and equipment require batteries of some kind.

I really think the next technological age will begin with the invention of a longer, lighter battery. It'll be as revolutionary as the semiconductor.

And who knows? Maybe he'll live to be 120. Or maybe he won't die, but will have his consciousness uploaded to a storage device and live in a cyber world. Or transferred to a clone. The brain-computer interface is a real thing already being worked.