THE MADERN GENERATION!!! BY LOIS GRANT

Lois Grant

I had the strangest experience driving in last nite from Ocho Rios with a carload of millennials. I know that I will never understand the way they think and what kind of future lies ahead for them. On entering the station waggon I said goodnight to all..they were coming from a party, dressed in their beachwear. All answered in unison... no one took their eyes off their phones or even looked up to see who they were talking to. I took my space in the vehicle and we headed off to Kingston using Edward Seaga's highway.

Would you believe, that with the exception of the driver, they stayed on those phones, never exchanged a word with each other, never saw the broken down bus load of people on the highway, some lying on the road side, never saw the crazy driving and overtaking on the highway, never knew when we reached the toll gate to pay; never exchanged one single word in English?.

The only time I heard one of them grumble.. because that was mere grumbling..was to tell someone on their phone to open the electronic gate. And then when they left, they grumbled a few words to the driver and his companion whose birthday they were celebrating.

Throughout the journey. the radio blasted some nonsencical hip hop to which the other sole male person sang every word of the nonsense being talked. At one stage I knew I heard the F... word and the P... word and asked the driver to adjust his dial. He wasn't even aware of what was being sung, so accustomed they all are of hearing who P is tighter than whose..

OMG what will become of them when Articifiacil intelligence hits the world..? What purpose will they serve? What kind of world are we heading into? Well, not me because most of my life is behind me? It's them and their children I worry about. No interaction. No observation of the things taking place under their eyes. If any of those girls saw me today, they would have no idea that I was sitting in the vehicle with them all the way from Ocho Rios to Kingston. And they wouldn't give a damn either. SMH and feeling very sad for them.