I felt compelled to comment on the words of your correspondent on page 6 of last Friday’s Tribune titled “Young Viewpoint”; ‘My life revolves around Facebook’.  What a wonderfully well written, concise, mature and well thought out commentary by Aleyn Silva.

Like Aleyn, I don’t have a presence on Facebook as I have never found the need for it. As Aleyn illustrates, would we all not be better off socially if we interacted with each other openly when out in company, rather than sitting texting and Facebooking at a restaurant, party, cafe or hotel? Maybe this open dialogue would be better than bitter and vitriolic postings on social media?

But, my real intention is to comment about the state of our youth, your youth. My late mother was born in 1921 and before she died some years ago she told me, several times, that growing up as a 17 year old she was constantly hounded by older aunts and great-aunts who stressed upon her that the youth of her generation were all lazy, had no manners, dressed badly, were incompetent and that Australia’s future was in grave peril if these (her) young people got control of the country.

During the following seven years, almost a million of these lazy, badly dressed and incompetent people enlisted to serve and defend this country. I think the record shows that these young people made a pretty fair fist of doing what was asked of them, and at enormous sacrifice! But, they did more than that; those who survived went on to produce generations of young men and women who happily gave the very same service and sacrifice for Australia.

So, I don’t need Facebook but if all our seventeen year-olds are like Aleyn then we will all be well governed and defended by our 2014 “badly dressed and ill-mannered” youth into the future, come on Australians, get out and interact, face to face, like the “oldies” did!

Richard Glover,

Bowning