[speaker002:] so what do you think
[speaker001:] I figured you were going to ask me first here I was going to ask you first this is a difficult one I mean unfortunately the first thoughts are sort of negative
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but then when I give myself a chance to think about it a little bit more I recognize the positives as well uh
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] positives for sure are technology and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um some of the changes that the computer age has brought I think that kids growing up today are just uh very much more facile than I was as a kid in terms of the use of computer technology and you know
[speaker002:] yeah right that's true I mean I'm twenty six now and I came through high school with about the first generation that had computers in the classroom
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and all that and it certainly has been good for me
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] so I see myself you know when I learn a new system a new program or a new computer language that it's much easier for me than for let's say my colleagues who are a lot older but just as intelligent and whatever
[speaker001:] um-hum and the earlier you learn yes the younger you are probably the easier it is
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um some of that I think probably we take for granted you know the changes have happened so rapidly that it's it's easy for us to forget how quickly it has changed
[speaker002:] that's true
[speaker001:] I think probably the other thing I that came to mind is is the increased awareness on our part of the the criminal element if I can put it that way you know you don't you don't uh casually let kids play in the street or you know ride their bike to friends if you're in an area where you're at all concerned about
[speaker002:] uh-huh and what do you think that's just a question of becoming more aware or has it become less safe over the years
[speaker001:] abduction I think it's changed I think that in the last twenty or thirty years there's definitely been an increase in that type of crime
[speaker002:] yeah I would agree with you
[speaker001:] and I'm not sure why you know uh certainly a question that we could spend hours on you know whether whether there is a change in
[speaker002:] um that's right
[speaker001:] in the way a lot of individuals grow up whether or not there is you know more mental illness or something that causes that sort of thing to go on uh I don't know
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah I don't know I think a lot of what causes it is just economics naturally
[speaker001:] but you know kidnapping is a strange thing you know what kids today are not nearly as free as I was when I was a kid in terms of just being able to go to the store by myself or riding my bike around the neighborhood or
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] being being informed at a very young age about uh going to a shopping center and what to do if a stranger approaches you I mean I never had a concept of that as a kid so that's certainly changed a lot in the last ten or twenty years
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah I suppose it has uh
[speaker001:] anyway what are some positives that you could you've thought about besides spending too much time on the criminal element
[speaker002:] that's right uh it's
[speaker001:] huh
[speaker002:] well let's see I think that the mass communication that we have in the world now is in general a good thing and I think it has its good points and bad points but in general it's pretty positive
[speaker001:] uh-huh it really does bring us together as a global community doesn't it
[speaker002:] uh more or less yes I mean it is we have the
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] global village you know like Maclean was saying but it doesn't
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I don't think that it really means that we have a sense of community yet as a world
[speaker001:] uh that's a good point
[speaker002:] which which hopefully maybe coming we'll have to see
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh I think that's something that uh is a political influence as well you know probably people feel it on a personal level more than they might um on a on a global level you know just being informed about what other countries and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] other cultures are doing
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] in a way that we might not have been informed before but yet politically uh their activities aren't aren't influencing how our leaders direct legislation as as much as they could it's still really focused on our interests you know what I mean
[speaker002:] well yeah that's definitely right I mean and when we're right well with things like the war in Iraq we were
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] dealing with other people's affairs for our own interests certainly is what I believe
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] McDonald's uh burning up the uh the rain forests in order to have more cattle grazing so that somehow that's something that's not going to work out in the long term in that kind of a cycle it's going to catch up to us at some point
[speaker002:] uh-huh um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] what else has changed social changes uh I think that there's probably a greater awareness sensitivity on the part of men and women to to what the other
[speaker002:] um
[speaker001:] um is adjusting to in life