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?
I started using the internet at 11-12. Mostly played flash games and looked up cheat codes. When AIM came out I was hooked. I talked to the girl down the street for hours and we ended up “dating” for a month and then she broke up with me. She was Chinese and I think her family disapproved. She was crazy with the emoticons and typed in mixed case LiKe THiS! She taught me a lot.