Monday Listicle: 10 clues you are living in 2012

This week's Monday Listicle is "10 clues you are living in 2012."

1. Children are less easily entertained and more easily bored than when I was a youngster. We didn't have videos or DVDs, much less car entertainment systems. The great classic films ("Sound of Music", "The Wizard of Oz") were played annually on television. If you missed them, you were out of luck. Now most children have libraries of DVDs in addition to movies at their fingertips, which they can watch any time of the night or day.

2. Nouns are rapidly becoming verbs, and verbs are becoming nouns:
"Did you friend him?"
"I wrote a tweet about it."
"Just Google it."
"I sent you a text."
"plating the food"
"trending upward" ("trend" is a noun; at least, it used to be just a noun...)

And of course there's "impact," which is a NOUN, people, not a verb! ("Impacted" means "packed in, as in "impacted wisdom teeth.") "Impact" as a verb is prolific in my workplace, and I just quietly change it when I can. Another one, which I've gradually accepted, is "copy" as a verb, such as "I copied you."

3. The war on women rages on. It seems like every time we turn around, another politician, pundit, or talk show host is saying something insulting or downgrading about women. This year has been particularly horrendous. Arizona now has a law that proclaims that women are legally pregnant 2 weeks BEFORE conception. What the hell?

4. The only prominent women actually interested in being president are idiots. You know who I'm talking about.

5. Reality shows get stupider and stupider, just to attract attention. Why would anyone want to watch a show about extreme couponers or toddler beauty pageants, not to mention spend time with Bristol Palin or the Kardashians? Why do people care about the Duggars, or before them, Jon and Kate Gosselin? I can't believe people waste their time on this crap. It makes me very sad about the future of our civilization! Check out this list and see if you can identify which shows are real and which ones are made up.

6. Box wine actually tastes decent nowadays! I remember about 8 years ago when we went camping and I purchased a box of wine, thinking it would be so much more convenient than bottles. Mike gave me hell about it! Now he's come around (as the wine quality has improved tremendously, and you can't beat convenience for travel).

7. Even kindergarteners have cell phones. (Not mine, though--we don't allow our kids to have cell phones until they are in middle school. We are so mean.)

8. Music, PE, and the arts are luxuries in public schools. So sad!!! We were thrilled to learn that our elementary school will once again have a part-time music teacher this school year, after two years without one. Every year it's a battle.

9. Most people know more about the activities of Snooki, Lindsay Lohan, or Prince Harry than what Paul Ryan's proposed budget looks like. People are more likely to get their information about the state of this country from their friends or neighbors (or the likes of Glenn Beck) than from rational, unbiased sources. The arctic sea ice is melting, and some believe climage change deniers that it's all an illusion. Uninformed voters are truly scary.

10. We are only three years away from 2015, the year in Back to the Future depicted with flying cars and dehydrated pizzas cooked to perfection in a few seconds.

I actually found making this list to be a little bit depressing. Sometimes it feels like we have actually gone backward. That's why I'm proud to consider myself a progressive. I much prefer the moving FORWARD!

Thanks to Monday Listicles (organized by Stasha at http://www.northwestmommy.com/) for the inspiration. Check out some more!