Spiked: Teens book themselves out

Yes, yes, the youth of today ... is no longer what it used to be. Thank goodness! At least the younger boys between the ages of 13 and 15 are slowly becoming sensible again - and saying goodbye to Facebook. A ray of hope at last!

Grandma-to-be

How often do I stand on our balcony with our nine-month-old boy in my arms, we watch the kids on the street and I think: "My goodness, hopefully everything will be different again when our little one is older. Hopefully the nails will be less colorful again, the skirts longer, the hairstyles horizontal again, the pants wider and higher up and the sunglasses smaller. And hopefully it will no longer be en vogue to hang out at the bus stop in the evening, scream in the street or walk around with a boombox on wheels." And at the same time I think: "Now all you have to do is buy a cushion for the banister - and you're all set to be the grandma who gossips about the youth of today and who you never wanted to be. I've gotten old!"

But I'm right. I've always tried to keep it a secret that I'm not on Facebook, that I think it's a waste of time to link to thousands of profiles where I barely know the people behind them or would rather not know them at all, to call them my "friends" and therefore have no time for the few, good, real people I really care about. I've even felt a little ashamed that I'm not willing to share my private vacation and foam-all-I've-bought photos with the world. Because that's pretty old-fashioned these days. Twitter: yes. Xing: yes. Both have a clear function and are therefore justified. But why should I have a second existence in the virtual world? The real one is already exhausting enough.

Children on the rise

Now what a liberating blow from 13 to 15-year-olds: From May to July 2012, 10,000 Swiss teenagers logged off Facebook. Because the networking and constant maintenance of their profile stresses them out, because they are annoyed by advertising (!) and spam and because they feel they are being monitored. That is sensational. So I'm not that old after all! The world isn't spinning too fast for me yet! And I can afford not to join Facebook after all. It's a good feeling that I can rely on my gut and my common sense in virtual matters too. Even if I am an old fart. Thanks kids!

Well, well, of course young people are not completely renouncing social networks. WhatsApp is in now, and other great tools will follow. But when all this is over, perhaps knitting circles and gentlemen's evenings will come back into fashion. Text messages, temporarily something for old people, are now once again the form of communication of choice. So I can skip WhatsApp and all the other newfangled stuff with good hope and look forward to the return of the Middle Ages. Only one fear remains: That our little son, when he has finally outgrown his mother's womb, will at some point have the idea of "frying" me - or whatever that will be called in 2024 and beyond. Then, of course, I'll have to respond with a delighted "yes, of course" and quickly find out what he's talking about. Because I really couldn't live with our "little one" finding me uncool and old-fashioned one day.