strangely hydrated generation

Every once in a while, I find myself feeling like I am old now. I say things I can imagine my mom saying if she understood the culture in which she finds herself living but not engaging. I hear myself thinking "How can those girls walk in those shoes?" or "that boy will be sorry one day when he no longer wears those things in his ears and he has big holes in earlobes that hang down to his shoulders."

This morning, as I was unloading the dishwasher, I was thinking about the fact that I rarely see a person under 35 any more who isn't toting along something to drink, a bottle of "pure" water, Nalgenes in assorted colors, travel coffee mugs, or fountain drinks from Citgo. No one looks twice at someone carrying beverages into worship services, indeed, how many mega churches now boast food courts?

I am wondering why this is? Are we a particularly salted culture, the food we eat, especially the fast foods that experts report families eat 6 of 7 days a week, drizzled in fat and salt that demands liquid? Are we too busy to sit down and sip a cup of coffee with a friend, coffee actually made in someone's kitchen rather than behind Starbucks' counter? Is life's pace such that enjoying iced tea on the front porch with a neighbor is not an item on the Daytimer agenda?

I don't know the simple answer. I imagine it really has something to do with the casual approach to life, the same factor that sees people attending church, weddings, and funerals in shorts or bib overalls and flip flops as well as the sad truth that enjoying a meal as part of your family culture has been replaced by eating just to not be hungry and done on the way to the next activity. At any rate, I think I don't like it.