3 ms·

It's a different beast, these days, though. Back then, only "nerds" socialized online. Nowadays, everyone does it. I'm of two minds about this. On one hand,

It's a different beast, these days, though. Back then, only "nerds" socialized online. Nowadays, everyone does it. I'm of two minds about this. On one hand, I'm really glad that kids aren't screwing up their formative years. Drug use during growing/development years can wreck someone's life. The issue is that, if you are an addict (which is different from physical addiction. Many addicts never get physically addicted to anything), then you'll eventually have problems with drugs; even if they are "socially acceptable" ones, like pot or alcohol (pot being "socially acceptable" is kinda new, around here, but Things Have Changed). It'll still destroy your life, but, at least, you'll hopefully have something like an education, and living skills, by then, which can help Recovery (and also hinder it).

derwiki 2y ago
It was maybe only nerds in 1994, but by 1998 everyone at school was asking their parents for the internet so they could talk on ICQ—not just the nerds!
- mgbmtl 2y ago
  ICQ was a way of texting friends so that you could go party. At least for me, and I'm a nerd. I remember even "normal" friends were using IRC as a way to hookup. Cell phones were not very common. Looking at my non-nerd 17 year old, they meet maybe once a month, and it's to cook food together during the day. Nobody drinks. They just see it as a waste of money. Maybe not the most normal sample. They love biking and also go to circus school together (Montreal).
  - thefaux 2y ago
    Love how you describe your kid as not a nerd and then mention he bikes and goes to circus school :)
    - jamal-kumar 2y ago
      Nah that's just normal quebecois stuff. Picture cirque du soliel or how much the french love bikes
- ryoshu 2y ago
  That was still nerd behavior depending on the group you were in. A lot of folks knew AIM, but ICQ was different.
- amatecha 2y ago
  For sure, I remember that. I remember that even the most popular, non-techie kids got on ICQ, though it was probably more around 1999 by that point, but every kid that had a computer at home had an ICQ account (though how often they could actually go online and use it was another question, thanks to dialup lol) Though, still, only the geeky kids like myself were spending numerous hours online and having a high % of socializing occuring online, even then. The non-computer-geek kids would come online for like, an hour or two. I had already been online for hours before them, and would still be for many hours afterward (it helped that we got ADSL in 1998, after so many years of 14.4/28.8 dialup)
jrm4 2y ago
My gut is that this will mostly break even at best. Whatever "gains" you see in terms of less drug addiction, etc, you're going to see losses in terms of the negative effects of not being "in person." I confess that it's probably to early to even strongly know what those negative effects are, but I don't think this picture is likely one of strong improvement.
klooney 2y ago
I was addicted to, of all things, text MUDs, when I was younger. It's ditch weed compared to what you can get now.
- Modified3019 2y ago
  My drug of choice was “Wyvern” by Steve Yegge, which was heavily influenced by MUDs despite being graphical: https://web.archive.org/web/20040102095422/http://www.cabochon.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20040102095422/http://www.caboch... You could connect to it with just telnet, and while not realistically playable that way, it was great when just chatting.
- berdon 2y ago
  Dark Castle here. DIKU based MUD. Ah the good stuff.
aniviacat 2y ago
> if you are an addict [...] then you'll eventually have problems with drugs Do I understand you correctly that you're saying that people addicted to smartphones in their youth will (more likely) become drug addicts in adulthood? What makes you think that people don't just continue being addicted to phones as adults (instead of doing drugs)?
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  Nah, but addiction to smartphones might be an indication of future issues with other stuff (not just drugs). Long story, not really the kind most folks around here are interested in hearing.
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  I’m not sure which of you I agree with more, but I don’t think GP is crazy: self-control (i.e. delayed gratification) is a transferable skill.

derwiki 2y ago

It was maybe only nerds in 1994, but by 1998 everyone at school was asking their parents for the internet so they could talk on ICQ—not just the nerds!

mgbmtl 2y ago
ICQ was a way of texting friends so that you could go party. At least for me, and I'm a nerd. I remember even "normal" friends were using IRC as a way to hookup. Cell phones were not very common. Looking at my non-nerd 17 year old, they meet maybe once a month, and it's to cook food together during the day. Nobody drinks. They just see it as a waste of money. Maybe not the most normal sample. They love biking and also go to circus school together (Montreal).
- thefaux 2y ago
  Love how you describe your kid as not a nerd and then mention he bikes and goes to circus school :)
  - jamal-kumar 2y ago
    Nah that's just normal quebecois stuff. Picture cirque du soliel or how much the french love bikes
ryoshu 2y ago
That was still nerd behavior depending on the group you were in. A lot of folks knew AIM, but ICQ was different.
amatecha 2y ago
For sure, I remember that. I remember that even the most popular, non-techie kids got on ICQ, though it was probably more around 1999 by that point, but every kid that had a computer at home had an ICQ account (though how often they could actually go online and use it was another question, thanks to dialup lol) Though, still, only the geeky kids like myself were spending numerous hours online and having a high % of socializing occuring online, even then. The non-computer-geek kids would come online for like, an hour or two. I had already been online for hours before them, and would still be for many hours afterward (it helped that we got ADSL in 1998, after so many years of 14.4/28.8 dialup)

jrm4 2y ago

My gut is that this will mostly break even at best. Whatever "gains" you see in terms of less drug addiction, etc, you're going to see losses in terms of the negative effects of not being "in person." I confess that it's probably to early to even strongly know what those negative effects are, but I don't think this picture is likely one of strong improvement.

klooney 2y ago

I was addicted to, of all things, text MUDs, when I was younger. It's ditch weed compared to what you can get now.

Modified3019 2y ago
My drug of choice was “Wyvern” by Steve Yegge, which was heavily influenced by MUDs despite being graphical: https://web.archive.org/web/20040102095422/http://www.cabochon.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20040102095422/http://www.caboch... You could connect to it with just telnet, and while not realistically playable that way, it was great when just chatting.
berdon 2y ago
Dark Castle here. DIKU based MUD. Ah the good stuff.

aniviacat 2y ago

> if you are an addict [...] then you'll eventually have problems with drugs Do I understand you correctly that you're saying that people addicted to smartphones in their youth will (more likely) become drug addicts in adulthood? What makes you think that people don't just continue being addicted to phones as adults (instead of doing drugs)?

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
Nah, but addiction to smartphones might be an indication of future issues with other stuff (not just drugs). Long story, not really the kind most folks around here are interested in hearing.
DiggyJohnson 2y ago
I’m not sure which of you I agree with more, but I don’t think GP is crazy: self-control (i.e. delayed gratification) is a transferable skill.