This commercial urks me!

[palitoy]

My comment was a generalization of the current generation of kids ranging from 7 to 16 and even a few from 16 to 21. Are ALL children the way the children are depicted in this ad? Of course not, but there is a large number of them who ARE like that and the fact that they may likely be one day deciding the fates of older generations scares the bejeezus out of me.

Well, you directly referenced the commercial as proving your point which I don't think is fair and my response disagrees with that bleak view of the youth of today.

30 years ago someone said the very same things about you and me. how we had no respect, played too many video games and how we weren't going to take care of the future. We were even called "Slackers" by the media for crapsake.

We've always had stupid, inconsiderate people but they're not the norm then and they're not the majority now either, they're just more noticeable in this instant world of ours.

The youth of today have something we never had, instant, constant record of their lives and a society just itching to jump on their stupid moves and judge them. I don't envy them because if we had the internet when I was a teen, I couldn't have handled it.

I'd also like to point out that if kids of today suck, it means WE didn't do our job, not them.

[Iron Mego]

I'm not bothered by this ad in the least. I can totally relate. I can imagine having written this in my diary (if I'd kept one) as a kid. We would go to my paternal grandmother's house for the holidays when I was really young and it was AN UNMITIGATED DRAG! And by "house" I mean mobile home, and by mobile home I mean a mobile home inside a senior citizen's park no less. There was literally nothing for my sister and me to do. Actually, we weren't ALLOWED to do anything. We couldn't use the pool, hot tub, or anything else in the park because we were too young. And a week in a mobile home playing card games with your sister will get old very quickly. We weren't spoiled brats, but we sure didn't like going to grandmas. Luckily my parents finally tuned into this, and the GPs came and visited us until they finally moved to where we live.

And Brian's correct, every generation is denigrated by the previous one as being spoiled and lazy. No matter how awesome they are!

[enyawd72]

I'm afraid my reaction would have been to take this spoiled brat child, plunk her arse in a chair and hand her a good, old-fashioned book and say "Here, you want to be entertained and spend no time communicating with the people around you? Read this book and stfu."

EXACTLY.

It's like all the cars today have to have little entertainment centers and DVD players for the kiddies. Here's an idea...try looking out the damn window! You might actually see something interesting.

[megomania]

Cmon. We're in the 21st Century....this is no longer the 70s or 80s when we went to G'ma and G'pas for the holidays and sat around playing board games. Which my family did....and it was fun....really fun actually. And we watched a little TV or threw on a VHS movie. But that's all we had so that's what we did.

But if they had video games, or a PC/laptop/device, or any technology in the house and it was the norm, you can bet all of us kids would have been plugged in.

Doesn't mean we wouldn't have enjoyed being with family or everyone would be on their phones during dinner but seriously, this is the world we live in.

-Chris

[palitoy]

Cmon. We're in the 21st Century....this is no longer the 70s or 80s when we went to G'ma and G'pas for the holidays and sat around playing board games. Which my family did....and it was fun....really fun actually. And we watched a little TV or threw on a VHS movie. But that's all we had so that's what we did.

But if they had video games, or a PC/laptop/device, or any technology in the house and it was the norm, you can bet all of us kids would have been plugged in.

Doesn't mean we wouldn't have enjoyed being with family or everyone would be on their phones during dinner but seriously, this is the world we live in.

Oh exactly, I loved my grandparents dearly but they had six channels, no vcr or other kids on the block and the only bike was a girl's bike!

I dragged my Atari to their house often, we were all happier that way. We had good times.

[TrekStar]

It's just a dumb commercial trying to sell there product at Christmas , I don't take it to seriously but....
it doesn't send a positive message about young teens respecting there Grandparents and that's the issue
in today's world, seriously the Grandparents feel they have to earn the respect from there grandchildren
instead of the other way around, according to this commercial it does.

Grandpa yelling out "Merry Christmas you filthy animal" is beyond stupid and disrespectful to those who
cherish the holidays, the world is changing and nothing's sacred anymore.

[Sideshow Spock]

Grandpa yelling out "Merry Christmas you filthy animal" is beyond stupid and disrespectful to those who
cherish the holidays, the world is changing and nothing's sacred anymore.

Grandpa yells that to trigger the playing of Home Alone.. the "filthy animal" part being one of the movie's most popular scenes..

[Iron Mego]

You know what, I didn't have nice grandparents. Not to say I didn't respect them, but not everyone grows up with loving, caring Meemaws and Peepaws. I had three sets, and they were mostly cranky, bigoted and stand-offish. This was still when kids were meant to be seen and not heard, so they were never very warm with us. My daughter and her cousins are super lucky that they have pretty awesome grandparents who actually like them and spend time with them. We didn't have that growing up. Maybe you all did. But I have very different memories of visiting with grandparents, and the only thing that made those times bearable was seeing my cousins. I would have LOVED to have had cable or Netflix available back then, believe me.

[Hector]

Wished I had grandparents like that when I was a kid...

[SKotK]

The problem here is a society that tells its youth that the answers can be found in the MTV video games!

I was annoyed by this commercial as well. What a load of product-pushing crap.

That said, when I was a teenager I used to go to my grandparents' house on holidays and make a beeline for my uncle's Commodore 64 to play games and copy files. Before that, in junior high, it was all about the Atari 2600. And in grade school before that it was Merlin and Mattel Electronic Soccer or Basketball. And before that, when there were no electronic toys...I would bury myself in a book. Sure, I always came up when it was time for dinner or gift exchange or whatever, but I liked to go do my own thing. Sometimes my parents would gripe about it. But I loved my family, and still do. Nowadays I spend quite a bit more time conversing with them on holidays, because I know they won't always be around - especially grandpa and grandma, who never seem to age much and who I want to believe will live forever...but I know that they don't have many years left. I don't want to think about what happens when they pass away and that central place for all of us to go to is gone, that place I've been going to all my life.

We may not fully appreciate as kids how special these family gatherings are. But as an adult, they mean a lot more to us the more we get on in life.

--SKot

[Brazoo]

"Why can't they be lie we were, perfect in every waaaay?..."

[Mr.Marion]

The commercial is just pointing out the generational gap. You may not have had instant internet, cable, gaming,etc
But I'm sure they left aside comics, toys, coloring books to keep you entertained.

[ddgaff1132]

I think it would have been better played if it was the family who gifted Gram and Grampa with the updated cable and WiFi. That "talk to remote" feature seems perfect for the older crowd who have trouble remembering where their favorite shows are on the dial.
On a humorous note. The best tech blunder was made by my Aunt when the family went for a visit. She's in her 80's BTW. So it was Sunday (Football Day) to all us NFL freaks (she included) and we asked her to switch channels to see how the other games were getting on. Now it was her set up and Aunty was quite adept with her Dish TV but for some reason she hit the wrong buttons and up popped a Pay per view screen asking if we wanted to purchase Lacy Lesbians part 3. Now that was hilarious.