Phones: Three Generations

So Bluey has an episode called "Phones." In just over seven minutes, it encapsulates three generations' worth of joy and sadness thanks to the Internet and the ubiquitous smartphone.

In the episode, Chili's father visits and is invited to play Restaurant with the girls. He's shown to a "house" he rents from people on the Internet, and is chastised for walking to the restaurant to order hie food. He's also called on the carpet for daring to use his phone to call the restaurant to place an order. He's eventually schooled into how to order food online. He again goes to the restaurant to pick up his food, and is told, of course, it's going to be delivered.

He goes back to his rented house, gets his sausages -- and is scolded for chatting with the delivery person -- and concludes: "So do I just eat here, alone?"

The kids' response: "You can watch TV on your phone. There's a TV app."

So Mort makes his own app, and after smuggling a crocodile into the delivery driver's scooter, forces social interaction into the game by being summoned to the restaurant through a croc catcher "app" he makes on the pretend phone he's given.

The kids, of course, don't know another world, or at least take it for granted that people would prefer to order their food online and eat it without any interaction at all. Mort, of coruse, is more familiar with the world where if you wanted something, you physically went and got it.

Bandit and Chili, the Gen-Xers in the crowd, know both worlds, and don't have much to do this episode, so there's no bridge between old and new.

Anyway, it's a hoot to watch.