Thursday, March 18, 2010

No More Family Dinner

Today in our class discussion of deictic discourse, we discussed things in our lives that have been altered by technology. One thing that has been affected by technology is the importance of family dinner. When I was younger, my whole family had a set time to eat dinner, normally around 5 o'clock. This time was a valuable time during my day, a time when all of my family gathered together to spend time with eachother and shed insight as to the things that had occured during the day. Many good memories have occured at the dinner table when my family was together, from funny stories to embarrassing moments that will never be forgotten. As my brothers and I got older, the daily family dinners began to diminish. The advancement in technology, with so many fast food restaraunts around, has contributed to the decline in family dinners. It soon became common practice to snag a burger at Wendy's on the way home from practice, and family dinner became a part of history. The time of day when the whole family was able to gather together no longer existed and the traditional family practice of cooking dinner and sharing it together was replaced with the fast food burger and fries.

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

I would agree that family dinners are becoming more and more rare as technology advances. We always had to eat together when I was younger, even though all of us kids played sports. Sometimes it was at 5 and other closer to 7. I think the loss family dinners started with the "TV Dinner". The type of meals that just need to be popped into the microwave for a few minutes before it's ready. This provided convienence and ease for families and they were also able to enjoy these meals in front of the television. In my house, we never had these dinners and we were never allowed to eat in front of the television. Occasionally we would watch the news, but only when there was something big happening. These dinenrs helped to keep us grounded and also connected as a family. Now, people are busy updating Twitter and Facebook so much, that that is the sole way of knowing what a family member is up to.