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Most of this is just "things were better when I was young". It's nostalgia for a past that might have had some advantages for some people, but was also worse in

Most of this is just "things were better when I was young". It's nostalgia for a past that might have had some advantages for some people, but was also worse in a lot of ways. 40 years ago if you lived in a small town and had nerdy or niche interests, you were mocked, bullied, and socially isolated from your peers. Now you can find thousands of other people who share your exact passions and interests and connect with them through the internet. The status quo is always defended by people who are well adapted to it. But the status quo doesn't work for everyone. The internet age is making life a lot better for a lot of people who were previously marginalized. I'm sure that when Gen Z gets old, they'll be nostalgic for the good old days of TikTok and Instagram. They won't understand whatever new VR metaverse their children live in, just like Boomers and Gen Xers don't understand the current situation. It's a story as old as time, but the world will move on and continue improving.

dotnet00 3y ago
This is also what comes to mind with all of the "just go out and socialize like the good old days" suggestions. Being an introvert I'd still rather just stay indoors and enjoy my niche hobbies, if anything I'd be less social due to not being able to meet people with similar sets of interests to share spur of the moment thoughts with. Hell, the way I got even more into tech (in the very early smartphone days) in the first place was because my friend group - which isn't easily changed when you're not an adult - was not very accepting of my hobbies/interests. I still remember the mocking I got for not being able to match the quality of a AAA game or mocked for tinkering with electronics by people who were 100% confident in their opinion that cheap earbuds would spontaneously explode. There's also the mention of asking for directions instead of using map apps, have we already forgotten how frustrating an experience it used to be, trying to find a place, getting vague and often wrong directions, circling around the same place until finally getting the right directions?

dotnet00 3y ago

This is also what comes to mind with all of the "just go out and socialize like the good old days" suggestions. Being an introvert I'd still rather just stay indoors and enjoy my niche hobbies, if anything I'd be less social due to not being able to meet people with similar sets of interests to share spur of the moment thoughts with. Hell, the way I got even more into tech (in the very early smartphone days) in the first place was because my friend group - which isn't easily changed when you're not an adult - was not very accepting of my hobbies/interests. I still remember the mocking I got for not being able to match the quality of a AAA game or mocked for tinkering with electronics by people who were 100% confident in their opinion that cheap earbuds would spontaneously explode. There's also the mention of asking for directions instead of using map apps, have we already forgotten how frustrating an experience it used to be, trying to find a place, getting vague and often wrong directions, circling around the same place until finally getting the right directions?