As a member of the Woodstock Generation I understand that I am super cool, very smart, and wise in the ways the world; we all are. But lately I have been noticing that I am totally out of touch with the current zeitgeist. Like many things, this is both good and bad. 

It's good because until now I have been blissfully ignorant of the waste of time and talent rampant among the younger generations. I spend very little time online, visit almost no websites and thus have no idea what they are doing all day besides listening to music and playing video games. I write my blog, check my email and see what my son has posted, then I'm outta there. Playing Words With Friends, which I truly consider to be good for my brain and a way to stave off Alzheimer's, is an exception.

But there's another one. I post beautiful pictures on my Instagram page, which usually garner one or two or maybe three or for likes. Lately my Instagram account has been flooded with videos, called "Reels," which I look at with mouth agape: Who are these idiots and why do they think we want to see them do anything? It's scary and often quite embarrassing, especially the fat ones dancing and the ladies putting on face make-up, like we don't know how to do it.

As will happen if you go down a bad road once too often, I got stuck in a rut and started watching one particular guy on Instagram who cracked me up. He makes videos of himself talking to his French bulldog, and I'm a sucker for that breed. Anyway, I started following his account just to see him and his dog argue; they are so funny! And the guy is so talented and witty, I could hardly believe he isn't a famous comic. So I Googled his name and found out that it's different from the name shown on his account. Turns out he isn't the funny one at all -- he is simply using the comedy routines of a true stand-up comic and lip-synching that guy's material.

With a little research I saw that many, many, many people are using the very same vocal material and doing the same thing, only with different faces and situations. WTF?So today I googled "lip-synch for Reels" and found dozens of tutorials on how to do it! And dozens more on how to make a great Reel or TikTok video. This is how our young people are spending time now. 

As for why it's bad: This might be why so many disturbed young people are arming up and shooting at random groups of people. Life has become an empty, fake, photoshopped joke where dinosaurs are still running things because they are the last of our species still in possession of functioning brains, even when they don't function that well. (Joe Biden, Maxine Waters)