Friday Fictioneers – Gizmo

~ neilmacdon
pastedgraphic-9
PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Oh, you may say it’ll never catch on. But I fear its terrible appeal. The young folk like it. They spend hours sending messages back and forth to each other.

In my day, we spoke to each other, danced, played. If there were stories to be told, we recited them. Now we are become shallow, relying on this infernal invention while our memory withers.

No, I say writing will corrupt us all. Nothing will be the same again

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

79 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Gizmo”

  13. It’s interesting how kids aren’t learning cursive writing anymore. “They” predict that soon few will be able to decipher things written in the “old days” because it isn’t printed. And whoa be those who can’t figure out emojis!

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  15. Nicely done, Neil! Indeed, I think every generation saw the progress of the new generation as something unnecessary at best and detrimental at worst. I remember the stories I’d heard of people saying that the “phone will never catch on” and that if two people needed to speak to each other, they ought to be in the same space, not towns apart …
    Technology and progress are neutral to me. What we DO with them, is what makes them good or ill-used.
    As for reciting stories. I still like that.
    🙂
    Na’ama

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      1. And some people might’ve been right, as far as what was ‘natural’ to them … 😉
        Now, what is natural to us (and what feels natural to children growing up in this speedy-Gonzalez tech-changes world) may be a whole lot of different views on ‘natural’ … 😉

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  19. Yes instant messaging has become addictive. Unlike earlier days, these days people have become more impatient and attention span has reduced. Is it essentially bad? I think it is a mixed bag.

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  20. Every generation has stories to tell, it’s the method that changes. Storytelling is good, as long as we live our story and not just spend time telling it. (If that makes sense).

    Well-done and thought-provoking as always, Neil!

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  22. Something is lost and something gained every time our mode of communication shifts. I always think of the one room schoolhouses on the prairies, and the lost art of recitation. Half of the fun of good writing is hearing it aloud. And the tricks they once had to jog the memory of minstrels must’ve been quite impressive. Whole areas of the brain they used probably now lay fallow.

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  24. A great take on the prompt. The past and presenteth all leadeth to the same way. Even in our times academics claim that texting is nothing but language in evolution.

    2b or not 2b, tht is the qschn. Cud u srsly h8 it?

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  26. Indeed, this last week without being able to write has been a very trying time on my nerves. Glad to be back, and I have so enjoyed this little story. BTW… I hear that TV’s are just a fad… heheh!

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  27. Hi Neil,
    I smiled when I read this: “In my day”. I had a quick flashback to my grandmother. ~~~ : – )
    Yes … times they are a changin’ and will never go back to what was. ~~~ : – (
    I must agree, that’s sad.
    Have a super weekend …
    Isadora 😎

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