I went into the dimly lit living room, where Dad was sitting engrossed in the newest electronic issue of “Along Our Europe”.

I chose two dresses for the Gala Evening a long time ago, but I still hesitated which one to choose. Even though Dad is already old and his taste is limited only to shirts and jackets, all the time I still value his opinion, so I came to him dragging him away from the read. I put my hand close to a small picture, where the photographs of the two dresses appeared on the screen and I gave it to my Dad. At that moment my Grandfather, humming a melody of his favourite song, went into the room. He came up to my Father and glanced over his shoulder. Dad handed the picture to him.

‘Grandpa, advise me which dress I should choose?’ I asked.

He peeked unwillingly at it, but took it. ‘The progress of technology’ he said ‘makes me forget how to use my own muscles’. Certainly he would rather I brought my dresses down from my bedroom, let him see them, touch the fabric, but the cool glass of the electronic frame was everything he could base his opinion on.

He peered at the pictures, and after a moment indicated one of them. The beige dress, I knew it. Dad nodded and went on reading. I went back to the bedroom and after a moment I came back wearing their favourite one.

I looked at myself in the mirror and heard my father’s voice coming from the distant end of the room.

‘What’s the occasion?’ he asked.

‘Nothing special, Dad. I’m just leaving with friends to the newly opened restaurant in the city centre’ I answered primping my hair.

For a moment he said nothing and when he started to speak, I heard some concern in his voice. ‘I’m glad that you’re going out, but don’t come back late …’ he said.

‘I know, Dad. You always say that. And I never come back late.’ I replied.

‘What will you be doing?’ he asked. I never liked him asking me so many questions, but I answered patiently, because I knew that he was worried.

‘I don’t know what organisers are planning for the Grand Opening.’

‘Michael, no need to bother about it. As you pretty well know at present young people are full of energy, I’m sure they will have a great time!’ Granddad turned to Dad with a joyful voice, fortunately saving me from taking part in the discussion.

‘No, Father, and you’re fully aware of it. As you’ve aptly noticed, that’s the youth of today, and the youth of the past was different.’

‘It’s no use talking about the past, son. Let us be pleased with life being totally different. Times when people communicated only via Internet will never come back, that‘s already behind us.’

‘Exactly, Dad, now you can see I am going out. Things are what they should be.’ I put the jacket on, kissed my grandfather on the cheek and make for the door.

Dad, who was a teenager back in the beginning of the 21st century when the sudden progress of technology only started, grew up in times, when people rarely went out and met one another. He told me that teenagers felt very lonely at that time. Having had numerous discussions on that topic, I learnt that community websites had replaced traditional social meetings and people lost their interpersonal skills. ‘It is hard for me to imagine it, Dad’ I said ‘because after all, nothing can replace a face to face conversation!’

‘We didn’t use to think about that this way…’ he replied.

My Grandfather, who was quite young in the 80’s was in this respect different than Dad – a young person who wasn’t spoiled by subsequent modern technology, always comments on this in the same way:

‘There’s not much good about present times. When your father was your age, the era of omnipresent electronics only begun. Then I thought Marta Prędka 1st Prize Czacki High School The Change 3 that one day we would have electricity in every household. I’m not truly pleased with it, but the progress of science and technology cannot be stopped. I’m only grateful for one thing, that you, the youth of today will not make the same mistake we once made.’

Before I left I glanced at both of them.

Both were engrossed in the read. Dad kept the tablet in his hands, grandfather – one of the last paper editions of the newspaper from 2023. I went out to meet my friends.

I do not know, how the future will look like in several years’ time, but I know that if we follow in our elder and experienced ancestors’ footsteps, we will be able to avoid mistakes that people used to make.