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All these years, I’ve pounded out my thoughts on a trusty Underwood Champion Portable Typewriter. My favorite authors wrote by hand or on typewriters.
Can you see Harper Lee writing To Kill A Mockingbird on an iPad? Or Emily Dickinson tweeting Hope is the thing with feathers on a mobile phone? Actually, Emily might have done that. What do I know? Chip’ll show me tweets and messages and posts from Media Jean, and some of her one-liners are pretty good. Just the other day she tweeted: “I’m flying through the air and see everything out of the corner of my eye.” If she had been writing about her unfettered imagination rather than her wireless connection, that’d be flat out poetry. Maybe it is anyway. Repeat after me: What do I know, what do I know, what do I know...? Comments 
Media Jean: Your dad’s right. If Emily were writing today, she’d love social media! She could be anonymous and public at the same time. If you ask me, she’s the patron saint of social media poetry. Go, Emily! 
Chip: I didn’t know who she was until dad lost his copy of Walden. He likes to read me Thoreau at bedtime. Now he reads Emily. I like her stuff better.
Media Jean: Lost? Didn’t you hide his copy of Walden?
Chip: Yeah. I thought I could get him to read an e-book. I even downloaded Walden to my phone. But he said that would be saccharine.
Media Jean: I think you mean sacrilegious. Your dad’s a riot!
Chip: I love him too. 
Johnny: Would you two slackers get back to work?! We’re supposed to be designing software! This is why every responsible corporation in America needs to block social media access for all employees!
Media Jean: Speaking of which, what’re you doing reading a blog on company time?
Chip: Shocking behavior for our CFO.
Media Jean: Unless CFO stands for Chief Facebook Officer. Johnny Green, the new Facebook face for Kid, Inc.
Johnny: One of these days I’m going to take over this company and fire you idiots.
Media Jean: Until then, get back to work, you slacker!
Have a thought for Bob? Write to us at [email protected]
To all you dads out there:
Do you feel out of sync with this synced-up world? Does the skiff of your soul struggle on the choppy waves of the future? It’s OK, you can admit it. You’re not alone. I have a feeling there are more of us adrift out here than you think. Here are my top Overwhelmed Dad Mantras, just for you:
There isn’t much in this world more wonderful than having all the answers for your kids. We really do know everything they need to know, but only for a few years. I still hear Chip asking me all those kid-sized questions: What time is it? Can you make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Where do strawberries come from? Can you tell me a story? How do we get home? What’s the moon? How do you tie shoes? Can you teach me to ride a bike? Why’s the sky blue? Can you walk on clouds? Now he has Google and AI. When I wanted to learn origami, I asked my dad. When Chip wanted to learn origami, he asked YouTube. When I wondered where my food came from, my dad and I planted a garden. It took all summer to answer that question. Chip gets all his answers right away, in clicks and bits. He doesn’t ask his ol’ dad much at all anymore. And when he does, he checks my answers online. Being a dad isn’t what it used to be. I miss gazing in his wide open face when I gave him the answers. Miss looking up the answers together when neither of us knew. Miss how long it used to take to discover the world around you. Miss all of that. It was over way too soon. Comments
Chip: I’m going to ask dad why the days are so long in summer. I already know. I looked it up online. But I’m going to ask him anyway. Then I’ll ask him to make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Media Jean: It’s hard work raising a parent these days. I still ask my dad to take me to the last video store in town even though I got everything streaming on my phone. Maybe mom’s right: it’s the little things that count, especially with dads. 
Comic strip from the series "The Story of Fall"
(Kid, Inc. Volume 1: Look Out, Tomorrow, Here We Come!) Have a thought for Bob? Write to us at [email protected]
Chip asked for a list of my M & Ms (Mantras and Mottos). It’s a long list, but here are a few.
Hate to admit it, but it feels good to vent these out. I should print T-shirts. Bet there are enough overwhelmed dads out there, I’d make a couple of bucks. Might as well let loose with a few more.
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Chip: My dad’s got a million of these.
Media Jean: Maybe you should start smaller, Chip. Try upgrading your dad from Luddite to Neo-Luddite.
Chip: Great idea! As a Neo-Luddite, he could fight technology while still enjoying some of it’s benefits.
Media Jean: Exactly!
Johnny: When are we going to print those T-shirts?! For once, Chip’s dad is right: non-geek men are an untapped market!
Media Jean: We could sell T-shirts online and split profits 50-50 with your dad.
Johnny: Whoa! 50-50? Are you crazy? 90-10!
Media Jean: I guess that’s only fair. Chip’s dad did most of the work.
Johnny: Not 90-10 to him! 90-10 to us!
Media Jean: But we’re benefiting from his creativity.
Johnny: So?! Branding, packaging, manufacturing, marketing, selling — that’s all on us!
Chip: Without the creative, we’d have nothing to brand, package, manufacture, market or sell.
Media Jean: Let’s vote. All in favor of 50-50? Aye!
Chip: Aye!
Johnny: No!
Media Jean: 50-50 it is!
Johnny: One day I’m going to buy this company just so I can fire you idiots! Mark my words.
Have a thought for Bob? Write to us at [email protected]
I’m a blogger.
Me, of all people. I don’t use computers. I don’t trust technology. Bob don’t surf. But he blogs. This might be a good time to repeat my new mantra: What do I know...? What do I know...? What do I know...? I should have expected this. Knowing my son, it’s surprising I didn’t end up online sooner. Alice is going to laugh her head off when she reads this. Bob’s Blog. Good grief. Comments
Chip: I hope it wasn't a mistake putting Dad's journal online. He seems more overwhelmed than ever.
Media Jean: It's OK, Chip. Your dad loves you. Sure, he's a Luddite, but he'd rather blog with you than live on Walden Pond without you. 
Comic strip from the series "Bob's Blog"
(Kid, Inc. Volume 1: Look Out, Tomorrow, Here We Come!) Have a thought for Bob? Write to us at [email protected] |
AuthorHey, I'm Bob, and I hate technology. So why am I blogging? Because I love my son. He upgraded my typewriter to wirelessly post every keystroke online. It makes him happy, so here I am. Archives
April 2026
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