Disney takes ESPN off the air

[DSouthr]

I have just gotten a ROKU device and hooked it up. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Looking around, I find a Disney bundle with HULU for like 7.99/mo. Seems to good to be true, pricewise. But my first thought is, why the hell was Spectrum quibbling with Disney?

Because Spectrum is in a real bind, all cable companies are actually because the cord cutters are growing and the future for cable is not good. Spectrum and the like are holding on as best they can but every time they have to increase their rates it simply pumps up the number of cord cutters but those same cable companies have become so bloated they now struggle to stay in the black. Disney on the other hand is fine now matter if it is a cable world or a streaming world, in fact may be better off eliminating the cable companies and setting their own price point to increase their margins. The only concern they have is they do not know how many current cable watchers are paying for channels like ESPN now but never watch it because they would not take a bundle for ESPN if they didn't watch it. Right now cable has granny paying for ESPN when all granny watches is Life Time and if given the option granny would not pay for ESPN and her monthly bill would drop hard. But cable does not itemize your bill to show you what you are paying for channels that you never watch, they don't want you to know that because you to would cut the cord in a second if you knew how much you were paying for things you do not want.

And it is getting worse, a year or so ago if you wanted to cut the cord from cable you still needed some way to get your internet connection, to allow your ROKU or stick to give you access to the programming you wanted. So maybe you did cut the cord but you had no choice but to keep your cable modem connection. But over the last year that has changed, I Now get my internet thru T-Mobile, Verison has a home internet access as well and neither have cords and charge $50 a month. Star link is just around the corner and looks like that will be yet another interesting option. The Sat dish deals are fine for TV but for internet they absolutely SUCK today, they are no way worth the investment, they still cap you and hit you hard when you exceed the cap and if you use it for basically any streaming their will be a lot more days in the month that you exceed their caps. I worked for Dish for a few years, we installed HugesNet, we all laughed when folks wanted that junk equipment that gave us several times the trouble calls the standard Dish stuff did.

The Disney bundle, have not checked it lately, still have Disney/ESPN/History, had heard that History channel may be dropping out. I don't have Hulu, I have Amazon so I have no need for Hulu, now if Amazon had that same deal I would have to jump on that for $7.99 a month. My understanding is that ESPN is about 1/4th of your basic tier cable bill cost. FYI, I strongly suspect Disney may break away from ABC and likely be able to take the struggling ESPN along with it so the future on this stuff may get real interesting! Dish formed an association with T-Mobile a while back, they could be a player for Disney and ESPN but so could Verison and Direct TV.

 

[tarheel0910]

I have the Disney+ bundle that includes Hulu and ESPN+. I tried out Hulu live, but thought it sucked. YouTube TV has been great for me. Supposedly ESPN is working on their own streaming service. Not sure if it would be an expansion of ESPN+ or a completely different thing.

 

[alabamaheel]

I have the Disney+ bundle that includes Hulu and ESPN+. I tried out Hulu live, but thought it sucked. YouTube TV has been great for me. Supposedly ESPN is working on their own streaming service. Not sure if it would be an expansion of ESPN+ or a completely different thing.

Hulu doesn’t just have live sports.

 

[bluetoe]

Because Spectrum is in a real bind, all cable companies are actually because the cord cutters are growing and the future for cable is not good. Spectrum and the like are holding on as best they can but every time they have to increase their rates it simply pumps up the number of cord cutters but those same cable companies have become so bloated they now struggle to stay in the black. Disney on the other hand is fine now matter if it is a cable world or a streaming world, in fact may be better off eliminating the cable companies and setting their own price point to increase their margins. The only concern they have is they do not know how many current cable watchers are paying for channels like ESPN now but never watch it because they would not take a bundle for ESPN if they didn't watch it. Right now cable has granny paying for ESPN when all granny watches is Life Time and if given the option granny would not pay for ESPN and her monthly bill would drop hard. But cable does not itemize your bill to show you what you are paying for channels that you never watch, they don't want you to know that because you to would cut the cord in a second if you knew how much you were paying for things you do not want.

And it is getting worse, a year or so ago if you wanted to cut the cord from cable you still needed some way to get your internet connection, to allow your ROKU or stick to give you access to the programming you wanted. So maybe you did cut the cord but you had no choice but to keep your cable modem connection. But over the last year that has changed, I Now get my internet thru T-Mobile, Verison has a home internet access as well and neither have cords and charge $50 a month. Star link is just around the corner and looks like that will be yet another interesting option. The Sat dish deals are fine for TV but for internet they absolutely SUCK today, they are no way worth the investment, they still cap you and hit you hard when you exceed the cap and if you use it for basically any streaming their will be a lot more days in the month that you exceed their caps. I worked for Dish for a few years, we installed HugesNet, we all laughed when folks wanted that junk equipment that gave us several times the trouble calls the standard Dish stuff did.

The Disney bundle, have not checked it lately, still have Disney/ESPN/History, had heard that History channel may be dropping out. I don't have Hulu, I have Amazon so I have no need for Hulu, now if Amazon had that same deal I would have to jump on that for $7.99 a month. My understanding is that ESPN is about 1/4th of your basic tier cable bill cost. FYI, I strongly suspect Disney may break away from ABC and likely be able to take the struggling ESPN along with it so the future on this stuff may get real interesting! Dish formed an association with T-Mobile a while back, they could be a player for Disney and ESPN but so could Verison and Direct TV.

good stuff, thank you very much.

 

[tarheel0910]

Hulu doesn’t just have live sports.

I never said that's all they had.

 

[bluetoe]

I'm so ignorant when it comes to streaming things. My brain legitimately just doesn't get it. Because I come from a time when you don't want to watch something; you want to watch something else.

I don’t watch much TV these days. Usually just have it on in the background when I’m laying in bed and looking at my phone. But when I do watch, I’ll watch 10 minutes of this, 5 minutes of that, etc. Like last night, I was flipping back and forth between the Monday night game, an episode of Seinfeld I’ve seen a couple dozen times and House Hunters.

you just described my television usage and viewing habits. As a matter of fact, I need a new smart TV, but I can't decide between an OLED or a QLED, just because I tend to leave my TV on all the time in the background, and there are potential burn-in issues with the OLED if left on a lot. But the OLED is such an outstanding picture compared to the QLED that I keep going back and forth. Also, the QLED supposedly handles glare better, and at some times of the day that could be an issue. Decisions, decisions.

I don't plan for watching much of anything other than a Carolina football or basketball game, and I DVR some sciency stuff. . But I channel-surf like Johnny-Be-Good. I anticipate going into the channel-surfing hall of fame some day.

 

[bluetoe]

Hulu doesn’t just have live sports.

I never said that's all they had.

hey, HEY. Let's try to keep it civil, guys.

 

[DSouthr]

you just described my television usage and viewing habits. As a matter of fact, I need a new smart TV, but I can't decide between an OLED or a QLED, just because I tend to leave my TV on all the time in the background, and there are potential burn-in issues with the OLED if left on a lot. But the OLED is such an outstanding picture compared to the QLED that I keep going back and forth. Also, the QLED supposedly handles glare better, and at some times of the day that could be an issue. Decisions, decisions.

I don't plan for watching much of anything other than a Carolina football or basketball game, and I DVR some sciency stuff. . But I channel-surf like Johnny-Be-Good. I anticipate going into the channel-surfing hall of fame some day.

LOL, if you are a Johnny-Be-Good channel surfer with Cable, you are in the minor leagues when it comes to, in my case Amazon. When you get in to that mode of just wanting to watch a good movie, with Amazon, same with other like deals, you can spend hours figuring out which of a ton of movies you want to watch that is above the rest. Funny thing is I rarely watch Amazon, I love Tubi for good movies or documentaries. LOL

 

[alabamaheel]

I never said that's all they had.

Lol. Sorry man. My attempt at humor was not seen. Dame Lillard commercials.

 

[alabamaheel]

Should have put it in quotes and y’all could sing it too. Lol
“Hulu doesn’t just have live sports” stuck in my head.

 

[tarheel0910]

Lol. Sorry man. My attempt at humor was not seen. Dame Lillard commercials.

No problem. I took no offense.

 

[alabamaheel]

No problem. I took no offense.

Do you remember that commercial?

 

[bluetoe]

LOL, if you are a Johnny-Be-Good channel surfer with Cable, you are in the minor leagues when it comes to, in my case Amazon. When you get in to that mode of just wanting to watch a good movie, with Amazon, same with other like deals, you can spend hours figuring out which of a ton of movies you want to watch that is above the rest. Funny thing is I rarely watch Amazon, I love Tubi for good movies or documentaries. LOL

lol, while I can see that as a problem, trying to decide on a good movie isn't the problem I have. My problem is watching two channels at the same time while I'm running through the rest of them to see what else is on. Having a DVR helps. I'm hoping some of these apps have a similar capability but I don't see how.. My habits might have to change.

 

[DSouthr]

lol, while I can see that as a problem, trying to decide on a good movie isn't the problem I have. My problem is watching two channels at the same time while I'm running through the rest of them to see what else is on. Having a DVR helps. I'm hoping some of these apps have a similar capability but I don't see how.. My habits might have to change.

When you cut the cord there is a good bit of give and take involved. If for example you are talking watching a live game on Fox and another on ESPN and then flipping thru the channels for other games on, that is going to be more cumbersome than it is with cable. DVR of a live broadcast is as well a problem unless you use YouTube TV, maybe Fubo has one as well, I am not sure on that. It is really about your habits and what you enjoy, I have shared that I hate that I do miss ESPN or History channel. I do have options to solve that but those options run me in to a very severe political difference I have the solutions that others may find easy. Dish and Direct are reasonable options and have DRV if you are OK with signing contracts, YouTube TV gives you that as well with no contract.

I will as well share this, I watched all of our basketball and football games last season on regular YouTube, watched the game vs App on regular YouTube LIVE, as the game was played. Granted, it was at times like watching TV broadcasts back in the day before Cable when the picture was not always crystal clear but I was able to see the game live without having to buy anything else. And most of the time I was able to find a full rebroadcast of the game directly after the game was played live so I would not have to DVR it, I can just go to a full game replay or just watch a highlites if I want to skim thru and save time. Not as solid as DVR a game with cable or a dish and there are some games that I could not find to use this option, so it is not al roses, there is give and take. I do think ACC games to be carried by CW as well will help, CW is a over the air digital channel and I pick that up with my digital antenna.

I have found one bug in my set up that I do not like, I want to give you the good as well as the bad so you can make your own decision. As I have shared, I love the History channel, I am really hoping they find something on Oak Island, I want to know what is going on at Skin Walker ranch as just 2 example of what I love on that channel. I tried to go thru Amazon and get that channel stand alone but in the sign up process made me select my content provider and T-Mobile was not an option so I could not get it done. I also had an issue with YouTube TV that is a bit funky, when they gave me my internet box at T-Mobile, they could not use my address to assign and turn the box on because my zip code was not yet on their map of coverage areas so they gave me a Charlotte zip code. Well at some point I was asked thru my TV to verify my Charlotte zip and frankly, did not know what it was, think I may have been able to just pick any Charlotte area zip and been fine but I didn't. That was actually the main reason I elected to just drop the YouTube TV at the time, that may be cleared up now but my internet still thinks i have a Charlotte zip. That is a special situation that few would have to be concerned about that due to where I live, limits my choices more than most.

 

[UNC-75]

Life was so simple in the old days. Just turn the tv on and adjust the rabbit ears. These days I spend more time resetting and troubleshooting various connections and devices. I think life was better without all the choices and constant changes in how we choose content. Maybe I’m just too old!

 

[ChiShankCity]

Life was so simple in the old days. Just turn the tv on and adjust the rabbit ears. These days I spend more time resetting and troubleshooting various connections and devices. I think life was better without all the choices and constant changes in how we choose content. Maybe I’m just too old!

I'm in my mid-30's and I much preferred the days when I had to open my flip phone, and then press 999337777 to send "yes" as a text message. Because I would quickly become way too lazy to do that and stop texting altogether.

 

[bluetoe]

Life was so simple in the old days. Just turn the tv on and adjust the rabbit ears. These days I spend more time resetting and troubleshooting various connections and devices. I think life was better without all the choices and constant changes in how we choose content. Maybe I’m just too old!

LOL, I know you can believe how many times I have expressed those same sentiments. Good for you. I guess younger people don't understand that our frustration stems largely from it all having been so much simpler, and not because the technology is beyond our comprehension (which it is).

When I have to deal with anything anymore, I go into it already defeated. That's because I absolutely KNOW up front that even if I push all the buttons I'm told to push, it still ain't gonna work; and even if it does, THEN it asks for a password that I don't even remember creating. People brought up digitally know intuitively what to do next. I just want to find who is responsible (not me) for my current misery and punch him in the face endlessly.

 

[bluetoe]

When you cut the cord there is a good bit of give and take involved. If for example you are talking watching a live game on Fox and another on ESPN and then flipping thru the channels for other games on, that is going to be more cumbersome than it is with cable. DVR of a live broadcast is as well a problem unless you use YouTube TV, maybe Fubo has one as well, I am not sure on that. It is really about your habits and what you enjoy, I have shared that I hate that I do miss ESPN or History channel. I do have options to solve that but those options run me in to a very severe political difference I have the solutions that others may find easy. Dish and Direct are reasonable options and have DRV if you are OK with signing contracts, YouTube TV gives you that as well with no contract.

I will as well share this, I watched all of our basketball and football games last season on regular YouTube, watched the game vs App on regular YouTube LIVE, as the game was played. Granted, it was at times like watching TV broadcasts back in the day before Cable when the picture was not always crystal clear but I was able to see the game live without having to buy anything else. And most of the time I was able to find a full rebroadcast of the game directly after the game was played live so I would not have to DVR it, I can just go to a full game replay or just watch a highlites if I want to skim thru and save time. Not as solid as DVR a game with cable or a dish and there are some games that I could not find to use this option, so it is not al roses, there is give and take. I do think ACC games to be carried by CW as well will help, CW is a over the air digital channel and I pick that up with my digital antenna.

I have found one bug in my set up that I do not like, I want to give you the good as well as the bad so you can make your own decision. As I have shared, I love the History channel, I am really hoping they find something on Oak Island, I want to know what is going on at Skin Walker ranch as just 2 example of what I love on that channel. I tried to go thru Amazon and get that channel stand alone but in the sign up process made me select my content provider and T-Mobile was not an option so I could not get it done. I also had an issue with YouTube TV that is a bit funky, when they gave me my internet box at T-Mobile, they could not use my address to assign and turn the box on because my zip code was not yet on their map of coverage areas so they gave me a Charlotte zip code. Well at some point I was asked thru my TV to verify my Charlotte zip and frankly, did not know what it was, think I may have been able to just pick any Charlotte area zip and been fine but I didn't. That was actually the main reason I elected to just drop the YouTube TV at the time, that may be cleared up now but my internet still thinks i have a Charlotte zip. That is a special situation that few would have to be concerned about that due to where I live, limits my choices more than most.

again, good info and thanks so much for providing it.

 

[bluetoe]

When you cut the cord there is a good bit of give and take involved.

so far, I only have ROKU's offerings, and I have checked out the live channels. Going through the menu of channels, I find it definitely more cumbersome that Spectrum is in doing the same thing. But Spectrum's system is sometimes just idiotic. For example, you can make the menu list roll so you don't have to hit it channel by channel. But using that feature is maddening. If you depress that button, you have to be careful not to send it into hyperdrive, where the channels zoom by faster than you can possibly follow, and which will almost definitely take you way past where you're trying to go. If you use caution to avoid this, and depress the button for just the instant it gives before hyperdrive kicks in, you only advance the channels two or three at a time, making the feature almost useless. It has been this way ever since I had TWC. In all that time, I know they have to have gotten a gazillion complaints, yet they have never addressed it.

Also, even more maddening, is the popup covering the bottom third of the screen telling you what channel you're on. To begin with, I know what f'ing channel I'm on, I went there. But it appears whenever you do anything. If I'm watching a football game and I want to go frame by frame to see if that was pass interference, the popup will appear in every frame. Then you have to press another button to make it go away. So you're sitting there with your hands twisted over the remote pressing alternate buttons to make their slow-motion actually allow you to see the frame by frame slow motion.

I've called to complain about that and of course I had to talk to the moron reading from her 'what to say' sheet. Nothing I said got anything more than the 'well, it's there for your benefit' response.

I could go on and on of course. But I'll spare you.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to vent. Glorious will be the day I walk in with an armful of Spectrum equipment and plunk it down on their customer service counter. I'm keeping it for now until I settle on what I want to replace it with on my shiny new ROKU.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I just can't make myself cut the freaking cord! I have Uverse still along with several streaming services. I prefer to pay way too much and know I can see anything I want rather than take a chance on missing something important because I can't work my tech! SDung made a funny, but I wonder how he would have liked rotary phones??? Flip phones are coming back too, smart arse! (you can't fool me by calling it "folding") Bring back my Razor! BTW: pick up the phone and talk to me like a human-stop the stupid texting!

 

[bluetoe]

I prefer to pay way too much and know I can see anything I want rather than take a chance on missing something important because I can't work my tech!

it's like you can read my mind. That's exactly how I've been, but Spectrum has become too unreliable and I'm going to go ahead and take the leap into the great (and miserable) unknown. Pray for me.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I tried to work with DirectTV but had too many outages. My wife loves Roku and we really enjoy Prime. I'm a sci-fi buff so I'm enjoying Disney + too. I probably could cut the cord at this point, but I can't risk missing a UNC football or bball game + I need my local channels for news!

 

[DSouthr]

it's like you can read my mind. That's exactly how I've been, but Spectrum has become too unreliable and I'm going to go ahead and take the leap into the great (and miserable) unknown. Pray for me.

If you do cut the cord, I would strong suggest that you do the following:

1) Keep your cable modem for internet. My best pathway so far is T-mobile and compared to my other options it is fantastic but I would love to be able to have cable modem because you just can not beat that speed with cell phone tech for now.

2) Go ahead and get YouTube TV, gives you the ESPN stuff you need, it does have ACCN.

3) Keep what you have now and test out the cord cut with the new options just to be sure you are going to be happy with cutting the cord before you actually do.

Good luck on what you decide is best for you!

 

[DSouthr]

I just can't make myself cut the freaking cord! I have Uverse still along with several streaming services. I prefer to pay way too much and know I can see anything I want rather than take a chance on missing something important because I can't work my tech! SDung made a funny, but I wonder how he would have liked rotary phones??? Flip phones are coming back too, smart arse! (you can't fool me by calling it "folding") Bring back my Razor! BTW: pick up the phone and talk to me like a human-stop the stupid texting!

TP, I am that guy that really gets pissed when my friends text me rather than picking up the phone and calling me. I don't get it, takes me forever to tap out a text when a 5min ph call gets it all covered and I can actually understand exactly how the discussion went. I had to text for business reasons, I didn't like it but it was required. This new generation doesn't just text more than call, it is not comfortable actually talking to others, they prefer to read others than to talk? Sorry but that to me is just weird, especially when I am that guy that looks at his cell phone as a great way to do 1 thing, talk to people, not write them. Coming from a world where phones were hung on a wall inside a building I think nothing of leaving home with out my phone, I actually do not want to be on call reachable 24hours a day 365. I absolutely do not like or want to be tracked by my phone any time I step out of the house, if I feel the need for others to know where I am I will let them know.

I shared this a while back but is a true story, Thanksgiving a few years back, I spent with some dear friends, husband, wife, 3 kids, and granny. WE are all sitting in the living room as granny is just finishing up cooking the Thanksgiving dinner. It is SILENT in that living room but for the occasional snickering, I am looking around like what the heck folks, you guys are family, it is Thanksgiving and you are not talking? Then I discover, they are talking, they are all talking to each other, they are texting jokes back and forth and having what for them was a great time? FREAKIN WEIRD!

 

[bluetoe]

If you do cut the cord, I would strong suggest that you do the following:

1) Keep your cable modem for internet. My best pathway so far is T-mobile and compared to my other options it is fantastic but I would love to be able to have cable modem because you just can not beat that speed with cell phone tech for now.

2) Go ahead and get YouTube TV, gives you the ESPN stuff you need, it does have ACCN.

3) Keep what you have now and test out the cord cut with the new options just to be sure you are going to be happy with cutting the cord before you actually do.

Good luck on what you decide is best for you!

that's pretty much the path I'm taking, almost to a 'T'. I am thinking about going to Google fiber or something other than Spectrum for my internet.

Your advice is much appreciated,

 

[DSouthr]

that's pretty much the path I'm taking, almost to a 'T'. I am thinking about going to Google fiber or something other than Spectrum for my internet.

Your advice is much appreciated,

I would have been sold at the word Fiber! LOL I don't think (actually I know) you could beat the signal quality speed or bandwidth that a fiber connection to a digital modem can give you. Copper is great but fiber is so many times greater than copper lines if you are fortunate enough to be able to have it.

UNderstand, it is the combination of a great TV and the great signal propagation from source to your TV that gives you the best picture quality your TV can produce. Copper is great but it does allow attenuation of your signal (the longer the copper lines are from the distribution box to your TV the loess signal you will have. That is why your picture sucks, you call Spectrum, after waiting all day for the tech to show up when he does he spends about 10mins adding a amplifier in line to boost the signal back up and you think they did a great job. The problem is the distribution box for your signal was to far from your house and they should have amped it up (at your house) when they pulled that line to your house. Techs are lazy, they will leave a job half finished if you are getting picture on your TV and then most want to blame your TV for the problem, which it rarely is. If you have a 4g TV, fiber is the best way to get that amazing picture hands down! It is funny, when I was with Dish, Spectrum hired the guys that we fired and we fired because they were really really bad. Truth is a really strong tech with Spectrum can double his income with Dish or Direct and if they are solid at internet connections even more but few really know much about I-net connections and siting in a really tiny window for a stable connection for things like Hughes or ViaSat (companies that use a dish to receive I-net signal).

 

[bluetoe]

I would have been sold at the word Fiber! LOL I don't think (actually I know) you could beat the signal quality speed or bandwidth that a fiber connection to a digital modem can give you. Copper is great but fiber is so many times greater than copper lines if you are fortunate enough to be able to have it.

UNderstand, it is the combination of a great TV and the great signal propagation from source to your TV that gives you the best picture quality your TV can produce. Copper is great but it does allow attenuation of your signal (the longer the copper lines are from the distribution box to your TV the loess signal you will have. That is why your picture sucks, you call Spectrum, after waiting all day for the tech to show up when he does he spends about 10mins adding a amplifier in line to boost the signal back up and you think they did a great job. The problem is the distribution box for your signal was to far from your house and they should have amped it up (at your house) when they pulled that line to your house. Techs are lazy, they will leave a job half finished if you are getting picture on your TV and then most want to blame your TV for the problem, which it rarely is. If you have a 4g TV, fiber is the best way to get that amazing picture hands down! It is funny, when I was with Dish, Spectrum hired the guys that we fired and we fired because they were really really bad. Truth is a really strong tech with Spectrum can double his income with Dish or Direct and if they are solid at internet connections even more but few really know much about I-net connections and siting in a really tiny window for a stable connection for things like Hughes or ViaSat (companies that use a dish to receive I-net signal).

more good info! Funny you brought up having to amplify the cable signal...I in fact put in my own amplifier, because without it I have no reasonable signal to my main TV.

Speaking of TV's, I don't know if you might have noticed my quandary over what new TV to get, but I keep going back and forth between an LG OLED and a decent Samsung QLED. The picture is stunning with the OLED but I'm afraid of burn-in because I leave the TV on a lot. The Samsung is less concern there and has some other advantages like handling glare better, but as good as the picture looks, it barely holds a candle to an OLED.

Any advice there?

 

[DSouthr]

more good info! Funny you brought up having to amplify the cable signal...I in fact put in my own amplifier, because without it I have no reasonable signal to my main TV.

Speaking of TV's, I don't know if you might have noticed my quandary over what new TV to get, but I keep going back and forth between an LG OLED and a decent Samsung QLED. The picture is stunning with the OLED but I'm afraid of burn-in because I leave the TV on a lot. The Samsung is less concern there and has some other advantages like handling glare better, but as good as the picture looks, it barely holds a candle to an OLED.

Any advice there?

Easy question for me, get the GE or LG as they call it now. WE actually got the contract to do service on Samsungs, only those under warranty, box swapping for the most part. But I was amazed at how many service orders we had for TV folks had less than 6mo. Great picture when it works but over priced for what you end up getting.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

My son and his friends were over our house one evening. My wife noted that a room with 8 14 year olds shouldn't be so quiet! I ran down the stairs expecting something terrible and those freakin' morons were sitting there texting each other and occasionally laughing. TV and computer were on, but all eyes were glued to their little screens! It is disturbing and is increasingly a problem in society! My parents had to punish me to get me to come inside and these kids have to be forced to look up and God forbid, go outside! Try getting someone younger than 30 to look you in the eye! I remember when they forced me at work to get "electronic mail" and I argued that I could just walk to the room next door and talk to peeps! I guess peeps will never get off my lawn now!

 

[DSouthr]

My son and his friends were over our house one evening. My wife noted that a room with 8 14 year olds shouldn't be so quiet! I ran down the stairs expecting something terrible and those freakin' morons were sitting there texting each other and occasionally laughing. TV and computer were on, but all eyes were glued to their little screens! It is disturbing and is increasingly a problem in society! My parents had to punish me to get me to come inside and these kids have to be forced to look up and God forbid, go outside! Try getting someone younger than 30 to look you in the eye! I remember when they forced me at work to get "electronic mail" and I argued that I could just walk to the room next door and talk to peeps! I guess peeps will never get off my lawn now!

It is disturbing and is increasingly a problem in society!

I could not agree more and I believe it is a major issue that is now effecting us in very negative ways. What you share about your parents having to run you back in to the house rather than out of it, yeah, that was my experience as well, I hated to be inside on a nice day, kids now days don't understand that. It is as if we all live now days in our own individual bubbles, where when I was a kid we lived among other people. I hate that it was my "baby boom" generation that started all of this. We decided that we wanted a better life style so both parents began to work and we allowed the cable TV and video games to raise our kids. We decided that we wanted to be able to always be in contact with our kids so we gave them cell phones, we decided we didn't like to get our butt beat when we screwed up so we stopped discipling our kids, send me to my room, really, that is actually where I want to be, in my room playing my video games, call (strike that, text me because calling me is to confrontational and you don't do that when I am in my safe place, don't make me call child services on you mom) me when food is ready and I will come and grab some to take back to my room.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Parents want to be friends with their children and explain everything in great detail. My parents' favorite answer was, "because I said so!" Mine to my kids was, "Are you sure you want to question me?" I don't know why peeps don't believe in controlling their kids anymore and especially hate saying no! Kids are becoming increasingly less resilient and entitled! The world will often say no to them but we don't prepare them for it!

 

[DSouthr]

Parents want to be friends with their children and explain everything in great detail. My parents' favorite answer was, "because I said so!" Mine to my kids was, "Are you sure you want to question me?" I don't know why peeps don't believe in controlling their kids anymore and especially hate saying no! Kids are becoming increasingly less resilient and entitled! The world will often say no to them but we don't prepare them for it!

LOL, my mom and dad's favorite answer was always, "what did I tell you to do", like I forgot LOL, I knew better than to say anything more! Or there was always "no child of mine is going to..." then fill in the blank with what I did. And the cool thing was, every time my dad took that belt to my butt, which for the record was OFTEN, he every time, about a half hour later came to me in my room and told me heart felt how much he hated to do that to me and that one day I would understand...Well, daddy, I understand now and I love you for it...

 

[DSouthr]

Parents want to be friends with their children and explain everything in great detail. My parents' favorite answer was, "because I said so!" Mine to my kids was, "Are you sure you want to question me?" I don't know why peeps don't believe in controlling their kids anymore and especially hate saying no! Kids are becoming increasingly less resilient and entitled! The world will often say no to them but we don't prepare them for it!

I always go back to words from my favorite poet, Robert Frost,

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

My mom & dad raised me, they were wonderful to me but I chose my road, be it right or wrong, it was on me, it was always on me, they tried as best they could to give me the tools I needed to navigate but there were to many times I was not smart enough to use them. Ya see, I have never blamed my parents for struggles I have gone thru yet I credit them for the good and why, because the good usually comes from doing the right thing and why would I want to take great honor for doing the right thing, it is what you are supposed to do! It breaks my heart that every child is not brought up learning that, want to fix what is wrong in this country, fix that first! Teach them there is more important things than themselves, God, Family, Country before self.

OK, sorry, I will stop preaching now... Well at least for now...

 

[tarheel0910]

You guys do know it was your generation that raised those parents right? So basically you guys are to blame for the current state of society.

 

[alabamaheel]

You guys do know it was your generation that raised those parents right? So basically you guys are to blame for the current state of society.

Also remember you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. You can send a boy to school but you can’t make him think.

 

[DSouthr]

You guys do know it was your generation that raised those parents right? So basically you guys are to blame for the current state of society.

I do understand that and actually said so in one of the replies above, not proud of that at all but I was not taught to avoid responsibility either. So yeah, guilty as charged...

 

[TPFKAPFS]

MY son is old enough but hasn't produced any children as yet so.....But since I will be part of raising the child and since I will never stop trying to pour wisdom into my son, I hope/pray he will be different than his generation!

As soon as we try to remove personal accountability, peeps devolve into their base selves! There has to be both a belief in something greater than oneself AND pride in doing what is right just because it IS right! Character is revealed by what we do when peeps aren't watching us and how we react when our mistakes are noticed by others!