My retired neighbor Bob pointed out my own yard camera was aimed at the wrong tree for 2 years

Bob is 78 and has a flip phone, but last Tuesday he came over while I was fixing a loose shingle and said hey you know that camera is pointed at a branch that never moves, right? He then told me he noticed the neighborhood raccoon pattern by just sitting on his porch with coffee and a notebook for 3 mornings. It made me wonder how much tech we pile on to avoid just watching the world like a normal person. Has anyone else had an old timer school them on basic observation skills?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_sanchez22d ago

I actually just read an article about how older generations have way better situational awareness because they grew up without screens constantly in their faces. It said something about how watching patterns in nature was basically the original entertainment and security system rolled into one. Bob probably knows more about what goes on in your neighborhood in a week than your camera caught in two years kind of puts things in perspective.

wyatt13521d ago

Man that hits different. Makes me feel like I probably miss a ton of stuff just because I'm always looking at my phone instead of paying attention to what's actually going on around me.

keith_bennett21d ago

Hit me right in the gut too, man. I catch myself doing the same thing - scrolling through nonsense while the kids are doing something funny right in front of me. Makes you wonder how many little moments just slip by because our faces are buried in a screen. You start noticing stuff more when you force yourself to look up, even just for a few minutes at a time.