An Old Man Talks with His Teenage Grandson

He speaks in the vocabulary of his teenage youth: a typical phone conversation entails “Yeah? OK. Bye.”

Whereas I squeeze conversations for what I can, given I am old and have a finite number.

An old man enjoining his sixteen-year-old grandson. It’s frustrating except for those rare moments that cross the great divide, touching the warmth and satisfaction of oneness. A connection that murmurs, “Yah, it’s gonna be alright.”

The Australian government recently banned access to social media for those below 16 years old. Aside from the issue of how in the hell they would enforce such a ban, I wrestled with whether the ban was good or bad. There’s a lot of shit on social media, some of it dangerous for adults let alone kids, but it also offers much educational content and informed opinion.

Some argue social media is addictive and isolates kids while others contend a ban will only further isolate kids already living in atomized societies.

I decided to ask my computer social media savvy grandson, Andrew, his opinion about the ban.

I am old and one of my concerns is losing touch. Touch: that antidote to the anger of friends’ death, and the weakening of your body and faculties, and the growing voices that plague you.

“What do you think about the Australian government banning access to social media for those below 16?”

He took a minute then said, “How will they enforce it?”