Simple Toys, Simple Joys (and a dead Mac)...

The Hula Hoop was invented the year I was born. The fads were the Slinky, SuperBalls, Silly Putty, Frisbees and Barbie dolls. I went to school with the guy who we think invented Frisbee Golf, still played today. Play was part of the process of those toys.

By the time my children came along consumerism was huge, plastic was everywhere, Toys 'R Us opened, and things like Happy Meals created a desire for things that didn't last long and involved little creativity. Beanie Babies became something more to be collected than something to play with. 

Richard Kerr, the co-founder of Wham-o, (Hula Hoop, SuperBall and Frisbee), died last week, and he and his partner are credited with starting toy fads (in a garage in California - sound familiar?). Culturally and socially we go after The Next Big Thing.

Some things last (houses of cards, dominoes) and some things fade out (Pet Rocks).   Will blogging be a fad or will it fizzle? 

Thinking of things that don't last, my beloved Mac laptop died on me - a creative toy, for sure.  At first I clutched, because having that Apple store in NYC was so convenient.  Thank goodness a new Apple Store opened in Albuquerque in late fall.  Maybe the expensive machine-toy can be revived at the Apple Genius Bar where the gurus stand at counters to help with problems like mine. We become dependent on our toys.  Apple is the new Wham-O.

Comments

[allison]

I don't think blogging will fizzle because it connects so many of us on a level we may be hindered from reaching otherwise. It crosses geographical, income, age, and time boundaries and we can touch or be touched by another human being via this wonderful piece of metal and microchips.