Born too soon.

A 2009 survey conducted for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children found that 19 percent of teens had sent, received or forwarded nude or nearly nude photos through text message or e-mail.

When I was a kid we passed paper notes to each other. I remember a girl in my freshman year of high school that used to look up "dirty words" in the dictionary, write the definition down and pass it around to us. Words like penis, vagina and breast. They weren't really dirty, but we were kids with AM radio, 6 channels on the TV and a repressed sex drive. A product of our times.

At 52, the list of people willing to send, receive or forward nude or nearly nude photos through text message or e-mail is noticeably small. I didn't have a telephone in my bedroom until I was 17, so I can't imagine having a cell phone at that age, but kids are running around with smart phones with text message plans and Internet access. I'm guessing that their parents don't know or care what their kids are up to. As long as they aren't talking or whining about something. The cell phone has replaced television as the new baby sitter.

Meanwhile, technology is moving faster than the law allows ...

For the computer user who can't bear to be unconnected, Chrysler has something for you -- an in-vehicle Wi-Fi system that will turn Chrysler vehicles into rolling hotspots.
Announced as part of its Uconnect system, Chrysler will offer the system in most of its 2009 vehicles with the in-vehicle router and installation at about $500. The application also requires a $29-a-month subscription fee.

Of course there is a fee. There is always a fee. Add that into your monthly car payment, because God forbid you go without Facebook for a half hour while you drive to work. A "Uconnect System." Nice. How about a "Udrive System," or is that asking too much from a car?

In most states it is illegal to text message and drive or use a cell phone without a hands-free device. So, what do the auto makers do? They devise a rolling WiFi vehicle that makes the car its own hot spot. Your local government can't move as fast as technology. They have passed unenforceable laws against using the phone while driving, so why not push the envelope a little further and put a full-fledged Internet connection in the car too? Next up: Laws against web surfing while driving. One more thing.

One of the reasons we are in the sad economic state we are in is that there are so many more things that cost us money than there used to be, and our weekly paycheck can't keep up with all the junk they tell us we need.

Cable television rates keep rising. My Comcast service went up again last month. Cell phone bills that we didn't have 10 years ago, Monthly internet fees and a ton of junk we didn't have to pay for 15 years ago amount to a big expense for people who aren't earning six-figure salaries - which is to say, most of us.

But we'll soon have universal health care, and that's good, right? Don't get me started...

More on that later.