I guess I’m curious about generations (namely GenZ and Alpha) who didn’t live in a pre-Internet time. Like,

  • How was the concept first explained to you, or when did it click?
  • Do you understand how insane it is to have the aggregate of all human knowledge — the only comparable thing once being a physical library or university — one search away? That it’s absolutely insane you can engage in a real-time conversation with someone on the opposite side of the world? That you can find niche communities in an instant?
  • Were your parents super strict about internet usage? How quickly did you find workarounds?
  • hitagi
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    fedilink
    82 months ago

    How was the concept first explained to you, or when did it click?

    I don’t remember. We had classes throughout elementary school that taught us how to use computers. I learned how to read the news and use email from my mom. I learned how to play games like Silkroad and StarCraft from my dad. I don’t remember who taught me how to watch videos on YouTube. It kind of felt natural I guess.

    Do you understand how insane it is to have the aggregate of all human knowledge — the only comparable thing once being a physical library or university — one search away? That it’s absolutely insane you can engage in a real-time conversation with someone on the opposite side of the world? That you can find niche communities in an instant?

    No, not really. I never thougt about it that way until I was much older.

    Were your parents super strict about internet usage? How quickly did you find workarounds?

    Very strict. I could only use the internet if it was for school work during the week days. But during the weekends, I was free to use it however I wanted.

    There were no workarounds until high school when I was free to play games and surf the web as much as I wanted any day of the week.