3 ms·

The writer seems to be confusing 2008 for 1998. I remember middle school from 2008 onwards. Almost all teenagers were online by then (on MySpace, then Facebook)

The writer seems to be confusing 2008 for 1998. I remember middle school from 2008 onwards. Almost all teenagers were online by then (on MySpace, then Facebook). Nothing prevented your father from checking emails on his Blackberry at the breakfast table, your sister from texting on her cellphone or playing games on her iPod. Teachers had to ban cellphones in classrooms back then due the teenagers texting or playing mobile games, and there were PSAs about being driven to suicide by cyberbullying. By 2009 you could already obsess over Facebook likes - before then, you could measure your popularity by the number of friends you had versus how many your own friends had - and embarrassing photos could easily end up shared online or circulating among the other students. It may not have been as extreme as today, but an embarrassing video of yourself could just as easily end up going viral online and leading to social ridicule - see the Star Wars kid.

frosted-flakes 8y ago
In my experience, the turning point was between 2008 and 2011. I was in late elementary school in 2008 (grade 8), and I don't know if any of my classmates had a cell phone. Yes, some people had Facebook, but I think it had a minimum age limit of 15 years (?), and stuff like Instagram did not exist. People still called each other on the telephone. Fast forward 2–3 years into high school though, and everyone was on Facebook, probably half of my classmates had BlackBerries (BBM was all the rage), and some people had iPhones. A few kids had their own laptops that they brought to school, but schoolwork was entirely paper-based. (Heck, I didn't have home Internet access until after I graduated from high school, but I think I was in the minority there.) Using your phone during class resulted in it being taken away. Now I look at my youngest siblings, and everything they do is online. They submit homework through Google Classroom while browsing Instagram on the sly (Facebook is for fudder dudders), and their phones are their lives. They don't call people, and txt spk lk this is rly populr again for some reason. And teachers encourage phone use during class for certain things.
- Mirioron 8y ago
  I think the turning point might be regionally dependent. I know that social media was already popular before 2008. It simply wasn't Facebook, but other sites such as MySpace, Orkut etc.
  - frosted-flakes 8y ago
    I agree, to a certain extent. People were definitely on social media and used online IM (plus stuff like YouTube and Runescape), but I think the hard disconnect that occurs when you step away from the family PC is worlds away from having a phone in your pocket. These days, we're always connected.
adrusi 8y ago
I was in 7th grade in 2008. Facebook had just started to become popular at the school. Crucially, no one had a smartphone. People weren't going around posting pictures of what happened in school. I'm sure there was gossip in other circles, but I hardly saw any. My experience of seventh grade in 2008 mostly resembled what happened in the story.

frosted-flakes 8y ago

In my experience, the turning point was between 2008 and 2011. I was in late elementary school in 2008 (grade 8), and I don't know if any of my classmates had a cell phone. Yes, some people had Facebook, but I think it had a minimum age limit of 15 years (?), and stuff like Instagram did not exist. People still called each other on the telephone. Fast forward 2–3 years into high school though, and everyone was on Facebook, probably half of my classmates had BlackBerries (BBM was all the rage), and some people had iPhones. A few kids had their own laptops that they brought to school, but schoolwork was entirely paper-based. (Heck, I didn't have home Internet access until after I graduated from high school, but I think I was in the minority there.) Using your phone during class resulted in it being taken away. Now I look at my youngest siblings, and everything they do is online. They submit homework through Google Classroom while browsing Instagram on the sly (Facebook is for fudder dudders), and their phones are their lives. They don't call people, and txt spk lk this is rly populr again for some reason. And teachers encourage phone use during class for certain things.

Mirioron 8y ago
I think the turning point might be regionally dependent. I know that social media was already popular before 2008. It simply wasn't Facebook, but other sites such as MySpace, Orkut etc.
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  I agree, to a certain extent. People were definitely on social media and used online IM (plus stuff like YouTube and Runescape), but I think the hard disconnect that occurs when you step away from the family PC is worlds away from having a phone in your pocket. These days, we're always connected.

adrusi 8y ago

I was in 7th grade in 2008. Facebook had just started to become popular at the school. Crucially, no one had a smartphone. People weren't going around posting pictures of what happened in school. I'm sure there was gossip in other circles, but I hardly saw any. My experience of seventh grade in 2008 mostly resembled what happened in the story.