The fact that I don't have any idea who Ed Sheeran is, automatically disqualifies me. You see, I grew up in a generation when things started to go downhill.
And by downhill, I mean both definitions of the contronym. Things got a lot easier but the situation worsened.
I belong to the last generation that used hard-bound Encyclopedias. We were the last to use (high-quality) branded household appliances and electronics almost exclusively. We never drank coffee when we were kids, for we believed and that only the old people needed the stuff. We didn't go to Starbucks to take photos of what we will be drinking for breakfast. Drinking water as actually regarded as normal. We were the last people who believed that sex was sacred and viewed smutty materials in private.
We were somehow satisfied with our delusional fascination with scented pens, stationeries, and aroma beads (aka Kisses).
Our parents, the Baby Boomers, 'were the enjoyers of unprecedented economic prosperity' and were able fund real properties unlike the generations that followed them. We, the Generation Y (beg to be classed differently from Millennials), have older siblings from Generation X. We grew up listening to music from Gen X'ers and MTV. The Boomers experienced 'a second sexual awakening' a decade after their first offspring and all the teachers know us as the younger siblings of the X-Generation.
'Our formative years looked nothing like those of the Millennial, television came in largely via antenna, our movies were on VHS, our music was on tape cassettes. The internet wasn’t around, and by the time it was in any way that meant something, you could be disconnected by someone picking up a phone somewhere else in the house.'
We are the 'digital natives', we used GeoCities, Napster, MySpace, Friendster and mIRC. Back then, the only annoying things you can find on the web are glittery texts, ugly backdrops, requests for (Friendster) testimonials, and (sadly) multiple mugshots (later termed 'selfies'). People didn't air out dirty laundry on social media back then because the Universe was sensible enough and forbade the existence of the 'LIKE' button.
Walkmans and Discmans we considered portable and outdoorsy.
'We collected CDs assiduously, only to replace them ten or fifteen years later with limitless discographies we could toss in our pockets. Our first cars had tape decks, for god’s sake, and you were a god if it was the kind that automatically switched to side B when side A was finished'.
'A black binder of CDs had permanent shotgun in our cars, and sometimes the discs were so scratched that the player would spit it back out like a wrinkled (peso) bill in a vending machine.'
'I probably will not bother to explain film cameras and one-hour photo developing.'
'We were fully formed adults by the time we got our first cellphones. That, by itself, is enough to separate us from the Millennial tribe. Plans were made by landline phones, and parties happened by word of mouth rather than Facebook.'
Photo filters didn't exist back then, Humans who looked like humans stayed that way (humans who looked like dogs stayed looking like dogs too). Now, everything is backwards. Humans who do not look like dogs seem to want to look like one, and humans who look like dogs can photo-filter themselves to look more human.
Y2K scared the hell out of everyone. Had I known that the year 2000 would bring more than just a computing flaw, I would have been really frightened. Yes, I am a soul stuck in the 90's.
Quoted texts from: Patrick Hipp
