The Oregon Trail Generation: Life Before and After Mainstream Tech – Social Media Week
We’re an enigma, those of us born at the tail end of the 70s and the start of the 80s. Some of the “generational” experts lazily glob us on to Generation X
I’m a smidgen too old for this–I was born in the first half of the 70s rather than the latter–but a lot of it rings true.
In my case, online social spaces were something that became accessible to me during college. It was text-only, and none of it was archived anywhere–when things scrolled off, they were gone forever. This is a very good thing, as I said some profoundly asinine things on those BBSes that I would hate to have remembered forever by Google.
But you know what? I learned how to correctly reciprocate conversation on BBSes. I learned that not only could I talk, there were people who were interested in what I had to say. I learned how to date, how to be social, and how to flirt. I learned that talking with people could be fun.
Online social spaces made it possible for me to be a somewhat social person in ways that 18 years of relentless and overwhelming pressure IRL had never managed. I have always been and will always be a text-first person, because my auditory brain is all kinds of funky, and I was finally in a space that played to my strengths rather than hitting all of my weaknesses.
You should read the article. I am EXACTLY this generation (I was born in 1979 and I am presently 36 years old). My husband is 6 years older than me (putting him firmly in Gen X) and I am quite aware of the technology gap between us. He still refuses to use Facebook and can barely manage a smartphone.
In some ways i wish this social media had been around when I was younger; I was a very solitary, isolated, teenager with few if any people to connect with over the things I loved (mostly Star Trek back then). On the other hand there’s no super embarrassing fanfictions floating around. But the fics I did write are all lost. But I’m also glad I went to school pre-Columbine and pre-helicopter parenting. My mom told me once that yeah, she worried about me and my younger brother roaming the neighborhood like we did, but she knew it was better for us if we learned to do things on our own and had that freedom.
But I’m old enough to remember card catalogs and the excitement of the first time I used the internet. The sound of dial up is firmly lodged in my memory. I remember shock and awe at Netscape and the idea that the internet had pictures. I didn’t go to college right off, but I used Napster and MySpace and LiveJournal and Facebook and now Tumblr.
The way I put it is I’m young enough to pretty easily get technology, but I’m also old enough to appreciate it.
And I’m very, very grateful for it. Pretty much all my friends now I’ve met because of the Internet. I’ve discovered and learned so much, and kept in touch in ways I could never have imagined when I was a child. When my husband was deployed to Iraq we’d video chat from time to time and I was always amazed by the simple fact that we could do so. I’ve Skyped with my dad and watched a sunset with him. So I’m grateful and even if (when) I feel old sometimes these days, I know that I am also very lucky.
