As an adult, I don’t watch many cartoons anymore. I might stream an anime once in a while, but generally, my cartoon-watching days are behind me. However, if you asked me to look back at the “Golden Era” of my childhood, specifically from the early 90s, one show stands above the rest.
Sure, the 90s were famous for cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series or Ren & Stimpy. For me, my favorite watch was Scooby-Doo.
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If you had asked me this question twenty years ago, my answer would have been immediate, and, looking back, a little superficial.
When I was young and perhaps a bit naive, I admired performers. I looked up to the people who could stand in front of a crowded room and command attention. I admired the speakers who could think on their feet, the debaters who could win any argument, and the “strong” personalities who never seemed to back down.
To my younger self, that was leadership. It was about the spotlight. It was about volume. It was about winning.
But as I’ve gotten older, my definition of “admirable” has shifted entirely. I’ve realized that what I was admiring wasn’t leadership; it was just charisma.
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What technology would you be better off without, why?
If you asked me to list the technology that drains my happiness the most, my mind jumps to the usual suspects.
I could blame social media and the infinite scroll that destroys my ability to focus. I could blame the loss of privacy from smart home devices listening in on my living room conversations. I could even blame workplace chat apps like Slack that keep me on high-alert.
But those are just symptoms. If we really want to cure the digital fatigue we are all feeling, we have to look at the root cause. We have to look at the delivery mechanism.
If I could un-invent one piece of technology, it would be the Smartphone.
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johnro 