Colin McEnroe Show: Help Me ... I'm An iParent!

It seems, at times, as though there have been two distinct periods in the history of the human race. Pre-digital and post-digital. And even something as basic and human as being a mother or father has been transformed from one period to the other.

My parents could not reach me whenever they needed to. I was out of touch for hours out of every day, and, when I went to college, for days out of every week. And, when I got further into college, for weeks out of every year.

My son is 20. If I'm sitting by myself in my house and suddenly begin to worry that he's driving somewhere without his seatbelt on, I can text him right then and there. "Wear your seatbelt!" (With most of the vowels missing it.) Of course, to read it, he might be taking his eyes off the road while driving and I don't want that either. How would I feel if my parents could have bugged me like that in the 1970s?

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This episode was produced with help from Jonathan McNicol.