Do you think the GenX is the lucky generation because we're the only generation that got to experience both analogue and the digital world?

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crashin70@reddit

I kind of feel sorry for us because we are old enough to remember every single thing that we had and no longer have.

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indie_web@reddit

I think we're lucky because we went pretty much under the radar.

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itsmellslikefish@reddit

Much better off than those 21st century digital boys, they don't know how to read but they've got a lot of toys.

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worrymon@reddit

Tell me about the girl who's a vegetarian...

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itsmellslikefish@reddit

Her dad is a lazy middle class intelectual and her mommy is on valum, so ineffectuaaaaal.

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Difficult-Map3465@reddit

The Silent Gen and Boomers created the digital world and were the first to enjoy it and still do.

You're Welcome.

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Winter-eyed@reddit

Millennials and some late boomers did too.

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I have some news for you. My silent gen mom is MUCH more adept with the digital age than my wife. Every generation deals with significant change, and every generation thinks they're unique in that experience.

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Mouse-Direct@reddit

I’m confused as to how Silent Gen, Boomers, and Elder Millennials didn’t also experience this.

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

I see it as Silent Gen, Boomers and Elder Millennials were at a transition point, Gen X had the end to end cycle.

Have you seen a silent gen or boom trying to use a smart phone at the check out, there is a difference between suffering with it and embracing it and I thing that is where GenX earned their stripes so to speak.

With that said I'm in IT and seeing some of the younger generations using technology is a bit comedic because if it's not a smart phone app then they're also screwed.

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notevenapro@reddit

I dont use a smart phone at checkout. What is the reason?

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istara@reddit

Elder millennials would be similar. Younger boomers, like older Gen X, spent a good chunk of their early adult and working lives without much technology.

As a 1970s Gen Xer, email and personal computers were a thing pretty much as soon as I started university. I did use a Filoflax type thing for a couple of years but digital soon replaced it. And all of my friends and colleagues were also soon online as well.

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sane-asylum@reddit

“Lucky” does not describe my life experience.

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FuggaDucker@reddit

Nope. Not even close.

I would argue that some of our boomer and silent generation parents experienced this on a MUCH grander scale than we did.
My 84 year old mom uses the same technology we do, lived through the invention of television, then lived through it being digitized. She is still here.

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largos7289@reddit

Dude the early millennials are up there with us too. 81 was the cut off we didn't have internet till 95-ish.

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Hefewiezen1@reddit

I don’t think I’d call it lucky… technology was fun back then . Then we watched it turn into a means of control.

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lawtechie@reddit

As someone who has worked in technology since Clinton was President, I feel the same way.

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micrometeorite@reddit

I think it's fascinating, having lived through a significant period of change in human (technology) history. As a detailed example, while studying as a sound engineer I learned to splice and record on analogue tape, and started using digital recordjng and editing at the same time.

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Current-Routine2497@reddit

I feel having boomers for parents negates all pros of our generation but yes it was cool to see things like that evolve

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DasArtmab@reddit

The timing was very lucrative for me. When I came into the workplace, I brought a knowledge that did not exist. In addition, I have the ability to shut it off. Truly blessed

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TXtogo@reddit

I think the older GenX is lucky because mostly we have grit that developed because we had to figure shit out everyday without excuses.

Nothing gets under my skin like a lot of excuses, no personal accountability and entitlement… I feel like by and large 80s kids are a little tougher than this.

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electricsheepsfoot@reddit

Our parents did too, so we're not the only lucky ones.

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TheNolaCatLady@reddit

You're correct. My boomer parents are just as savvy with today's digital goodies as Gen X. They lived more of an analog life than we did and now they get to experience all of the digital world too.

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parnassus744@reddit

I remember consciously feeling, around the late 70s/early 80s, how our world was becoming more modern, just in time for my teen years in the 80s: whether it was cable TV and all that HBO, Showtime and MTV were suddenly bringing us; or those first Apple home computers; the video arcades and games like Atari— you could literally feel the new electronic and digital dimension growing all around us, for us. Definitely different to the mostly analog feeling of the early/mid-70s, and I loved that newness.

But: I AM glad we didn’t have social media then. As a young adult it would’ve been nice, sure. But very glad that those middle school and high school times, some crazy sh*t too, are mostly documented in the heads of those of us who shared it together, and not in countless posts.

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Sgt-Tau@reddit

What's annoying for me is all the Climate Change BS. We grew up with global cooling, then it changed to global warming and now Climate change. Most of it is BS and weak or faulty science. The biggest annoyance is we watched the whole Climate thing flip flop from one excuse to another. They couldn't make up their minds. It's all the flip flop that caused me to be doubtful. Besides, the weather man can barely figure out what the weather is going to be like tomorrow or the day after. If he can't get that right why should I have faith in what the weather is going to be like 10 to 30 years from now?

The only good thing was it caused us to try to keep a better eye on pollution and watch what and where companies were dumping in the dark of the night.

I realize that this isn't a popular opinion. People hold to Climate change tighter than any religious zealot. It's almost a religion to some.

Now where did I put my asbestos long johns for the responding incoming flames?

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Dechibrator@reddit

What are you on about? We heard the planet was warming up since the 70s, Mad max is not in an ice age. And weather reports are getting crap mostly because national agencies got big fund cuts in the last 20 years.

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Sgt-Tau@reddit

Newsweek in 1975 Time had one in 74. Obviously I hit a nerve so if you're interested you can Google it yourself. I'll avoid this place in the future.

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Dechibrator@reddit

Don't worry too much about the discussion mate. We're just here to pass time

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Sgt-Tau@reddit

We had global cooling warning about a new ice age mixed in there at some point. I remember looking forward to it hoping that would mean some relief from hot Texas summers.

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Sgt-Tau@reddit

Quick Google search said global cooling was a thing in the 70's.

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heathen-nomad@reddit

The idea of a 1970s scientific consensus on global cooling is a myth fueled by sensationalist reporting, such as Newsweek’s "The Cooling World" (1975) and TIME magazine. Studies from 1965–1979 actually showed that only 7 papers forecasted cooling, while 44 predicted global warming.

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Dechibrator@reddit

Then Google "summer 1976"

There were many theories, and still is. That's why Global warming became climate change at the turn of the millenium. And why we got harsher winters and hotter summers. But globally, temperatures are rising.

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atlredneck@reddit

I remember always hearing about the big hole in the ozone layer due to all the cfcs in aerosol cans

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Dechibrator@reddit

Yes, but it was mainly in Australia, so we didn't really care

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

{community rule 6}

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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GenX-ModTeam@reddit

{community_rule_7}

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itsactuallynot@reddit

We used to write letters, we used to sign our names

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cosec00@reddit

I think GenX had the best experience because we got to experience the net before it became all corporatized. It was basically a wild wild west of ideas and no one worried about their privacy--you could basically stay anonymous. The worst you experienced was maybe picking up a virus.

Then the masses showed up and it became a propaganda marketing shit show bit by bit.

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SoCal7s@reddit

I feel like anyone who got Disco & New Wave as it happened are the lucky ones. I wish I was 4-6 years older - which would make me a fake ass Boomer denying Generation Joneser.
I hung out with a much older crowd (me 11 them 19-25 mostly stoners with day jobs). I always felt at the time that they were having the best time. Living life deeply. Like way too into their music & movies & partying; no thoughts beyond the next good times.

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81FXB@reddit

Agreed, i’d say those being born around 1950 had it better. Disco, summer of love… The beginning of the digital age was kinda fun but now it’s over the top with tiktok, targeted ads etc etc.

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pickle_day@reddit

I think the lucky part is that we got to be kids/teenagers/young adults without social media.

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Dalivus@reddit

No. We’re the lucky generation because we had freedom, the best toys, the best movies, and the best music.

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63crabby@reddit

And avoided a major war, and any resultant draft. Very fortunate.

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Dalivus@reddit

As has every generation since.

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stay_in_the_thalweg@reddit

I feel like it's a source of pride. We're old enough to remember analogue, but bright enough to keep up with the digital age. (So far)

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deep-sea-savior@reddit

Boomers and millennials?

Regardless, there are some tech innovations I’ve embraced. But overall, it appears that it may end up being the demise of humanity. I’d be more than happy to go back to paper maps, antenna television, cassette tapes, adult magazines and lan lines; I don’t think there’s any going back though.

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

I see boomers and millennial at the fringe of the transition, GenX had the full experience of the analog/digital transition. My niece is a late millennial and doesn't know what it means not to have an internet connection or the WWW but then again it's all relative.

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deep-sea-savior@reddit

I see what you’re saying. But considering that every generation has something unique to their timeline, I just don’t see the analog/digital experience being any better or worse than what other generations experienced.

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oxymoronologist@reddit

Hehe, lan lines for LAN parties! 🥳

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

I so miss these, all the guys from work used to get together on a weekend and make a full day of it, BBQ, kick ass switches we "borrowed" from work and a few brewski's. The only thing that sucked was if you drew the short straw for being the Medal of Honour host server. Playing over a network doesn't have the same "fun" as playing with a group of people you know.

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NetJnkie@reddit

We weren't the only ones. And I'm not sure having to use analog media was "lucky".

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sliders45@reddit

How are we the only gen to experience it? My parents are Silent gen and they are still kicking it, having enjoyed both analog and now digital.

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Elusive_strength2000@reddit

I prefer before. 🤦‍♀️

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Savings_Artichoke913@reddit

Me too. Don’t know what you got..until it’s gone.

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Elusive_strength2000@reddit

We had another thing comin’.

We didn’t know or even want what we didn’t have and it was better that way. 🤯

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Budget-berry-80@reddit

I’m a little disappointed that the things we were supposed to have in the future (flying cars) neither exist nor even make sense anymore. There are still people who should probably have stuck to horses. I’m at the age when the Star Wars Bacta Tanks seems like a really pleasant way to heal.

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Restlessfibre@reddit

I am glad I grew up in the analog world. I miss it. Like a lot.

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Lopsided_Tomatillo27@reddit

I’m glad I grew up analog, but I don’t miss it. I like that any time a random song pops in my head I can play it if I want to. I like that I can look something up without having to put pants on first. I really like that I don’t have to leave the house to pay bills.

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WillametteWanderer@reddit

I am not a Gen Xer, however I am a Boomer and we got to experience both. I like technology better than analog.

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sandtomyneck@reddit

I absolutely loved being able to experience both worlds. The only regret for me was putting away our super 8 around 1980 when camcorders came out. The few super 8 clips that I still have from the 70s, I cherish far more than the poor quality of early camcorders. I can't even explain how much I love the aesthetics from the super 8 reels.

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Libgimp2@reddit

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

46-depressed female

So so so glad my mom didn't have ticktock when raising me.. I love my mom.. I just didn't want everyone knowing what happened.

And starting college, we had email-that was it.. Everyone in my dorm like decided they hated each other no clue why. So glad, no social media..

I cannot even imagine teen drama + SM + parents getting all mad at each other..

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newme52@reddit

💯

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Aggressive-HeadDesk@reddit

I don’t feel lucky having had to pay for the same albums in 4 different formats

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Shitwagon@reddit

Ha! Facts. Then again, Napster was a godsend.

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

Until someone had called the home phone and the Napster session ended and you had to start all over again.

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Hot-Freedom-5886@reddit

I think all of the generations that didn’t have phones with cameras following them around were the lucky ones.

The drunk, nekkid skeletons in closets today will all have their photos taken, and they will live in someone’s phone forever.

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

It's worse when it lives in the cloud because it will follow them for the rest of their lives and beyond and everyone else has access to it. It perplexes me that do we really need to know if someone breaths through their left or right nostril, I don't get it about putting everything on a social media platform.

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istara@reddit

Apparently the nostril thing alternates without you realising it. I forget for how long each side but your body naturally switches over and back.

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ScapeyourownGoat@reddit

Maybe that’s why they don’t drink anymore

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Dechibrator@reddit

And sniff cocaine in the toilets. We used to do it on the table!

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OkFarmer7619@reddit

At least we know what a DNS, TCP/IP and also use MAC OS & Windows.

gif

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More_Law6245@reddit (OP)

I had to laugh at this one, thanks for the chuckle because it's true. Mind you a number of years ago I had an early millennial tech security engineer who worked for me in a profession services group and professed that he didn't and never had used MS DOS, we all laughed and thought he was taking the proverbial and as it turned out, it was the first time I felt "old".

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cutsryd@reddit

gif

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jeephistorian@reddit

I had this exact conversation today. I do feel that we had a unique experience and are better equipped than those before us and after us to deal with learning new concepts and trouble shooting issues.

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istara@reddit

Same here. We get to live most of our adult lives with the convenience of digital, but we know how to survive without it, and our childhoods and educations weren’t wrecked by social media addiction.

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StankyBassFace@reddit

We definitely had unique childhoods. From being latchkey kids, witnessing space shuttles, and going from typewriters to computers…

Probably one of the last major technological shifts like it was.

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YourGuyK@reddit

Boomers and older Millennials have also experienced the analog and digital world.

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evilJaze@reddit

Silent gen and Greatest gen as well. My grandfather had a computer in the 80s and was torturing all of us with those chain emails.

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Moody_GenX@reddit

I have an uncle that did that. Like 10 a day. He'd be in his 90s if he were around today.

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EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit

Boomers embraced technology too.

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Ianthin1@reddit

My greatest generation grandfather bought the first personal computer in our family in the early 80’s. Why anyone thinks other people that existed through that transition didn’t live the same experience is beyond me.

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EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit

My dad was born in ‘36 and built our first computer in 1984.

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HyperboleHelper@reddit

I'm going to have to say that my GG grandfather lived through spectacular changes in his lifetime, but not the analog to the specific level of digital that OP is talking about.

Mine went from wagons to cars to planes to a man on the moon. Morse Code to commercial radio to B&W to Color TV. He went from computers being theoretical, to being the size of a room, to the personal computer.

Though he did touch our PC world and spent time on line through Prodigy, he missed out on that 24/7 connectedness that we all lived though.

My mom as a Silent Gen still runs everything audiovisual in her house! She could go another 50 years and be ready to work the latest and greatest updates into her life.

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VinceP312@reddit

Boomers lived in each world too as well as millennials.

We're not special

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AlfredRWallace@reddit

Boomers struggle with technology far more than Xs do though.

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SmokedPumpkin@reddit

That’s funny, because I’m a boomer and I teach younger generations how to use tech as part of my job. I’m also in charge of tech safety at a domestic violence agency, I built and maintain our website, I’ve been a sys admin in the past, etc. And for the record, I’m a young boomer, and the people who built the internet, Windows, Apple, etc., are all older than me.

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miggismallz33@reddit

Well aren’t you special.

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SmokedPumpkin@reddit

lol it really pisses you off when people don’t fit your preconceived ideas about them that you’ve crafted to make yourself feel less mediocre, huh?

Sorry, sweetie, but you’re not special.

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No-Hospital559@reddit

That's right, we really aren't.

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MAKLNE@reddit

Not just us! My Silent Gen dad sat in the parking garage reading the manual to our brand spanking new Macintosh (with a TWENTY MEG hard drive) while I saw Metallica play at the Worcester Centrum circa 1992! He grew up in the analogue world for sure, but embraced the digital one with abandon.

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IranticBehaviour@reddit

My dad was silent gen as well. He brought home a 'PC' (TRS-80) in the early 80s and took computer classes at my HS to learn how to use it fully. He hasn't been without a home computer since, he's in his mid-80s and has had one for more than half his life. My nan-in-law headed up a computer section in the early 70s and was the first person I knew with an e-reader (and the second with an iPad, lol).

I'm an older Xer, and I didn't really have a purely analogue childhood by any stretch.

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MAKLNE@reddit

Absolutely. So many of our parents lead the way in the digital revolution.

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HyperboleHelper@reddit

My Silent Gen mom is just as cool in her own way! She grew up listening to The Lone Ranger on the radio before her family purchased a TV, but I know we'll be on the phone together after the latest episodes of Silo drop in a few months because we both loved that series!

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MAKLNE@reddit

That’s awesome!!

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Ianthin1@reddit

How can anyone think this is even true?

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thicasawhaleomelette@reddit

You mean because Boomers are still alive?

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Ianthin1@reddit

And Millennials. Many of them were born into a fully analog world.

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IranticBehaviour@reddit

Exactly. And silent gen and even some greatest gen folks have also lived in both worlds, arguably more so even than us Xers. They're the generations that invented it all. Not one Xer grew up in a world devoid of computers.

OP is as off-base claiming we're the only ones to straddle the digital divide as millennials (and some gen Z, lol) are to claim they're the first to grow up with computers and video games.

The digital divide, imo, isn't as stark as the social media divide. Computers took over gradually, over decades. Social media was a monster almost in an instant.

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Ianthin1@reddit

Yep. My grandpa was born in a 4 room dirt floor cabin in Eastern KY, didn’t live in a house with electricity or running water until his teens, and died at 100yo with his beloved iPad in his lap. Doesn’t get much more analog to digital than that.

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1kpointsoflight@reddit

Definitely. Worst thing that happened when you r/tooktoomuch was you woke up with a permanent marker mustache

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implicate@reddit

Well, except the fact that I had multiple friends OD and die.

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1kpointsoflight@reddit

Sorry for your loss but apparently technology didn’t end that problem.

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AlfredRWallace@reddit

Chuck Klosterman's book the 90s is largely about this phenomenon, growing up pre tech but being young enough to be comfortable with it.

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reachers_toothbrush@reddit

This is the correct answer.

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tultamunille@reddit

Only? I mean that is hardly correct there are two generations before us…

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SmokedPumpkin@reddit

Wut? Definitely not the only generation that got to experience it.

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Ok-Barracuda8281@reddit

Yeah wtf

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Ilovethe90sforreal@reddit

Yes, indeed, definitely feel lucky to have lived in both worlds

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WatchPerfect6066@reddit

no.

I would rather of lived my entirety without seeing the demise of authenticity.

Many sing about how wonderful life has become with the advent of digital creation, &, some of the benefits are evident such as my ability to express my opinion on this platform, however,

whatever interest ...think of one, you have, follow it through with honesty & reality & you discover the method used to get to the pinnacle is often attached to deception, dishonesty & outright exploitation.

I've been told that throughout civilisations existence that human beings capability to exist & thrive in that i will always find fault in progress, im sure in some way that is true;

But we are heading into a very dangerous place with the extreme methods of automation being used & developed as we speak.

Everyone knows the benefits, but, the evil that lurks within its use & the issues those evils create are unlike anything that this planets inhabitants have ever experienced & to be quite frank and honest i think it more likely than not it will lead to mass destruction.

Automation is nothing new, its wasn't created yesterday, last week or last year its been around for centuries , but the production line developed in the 2nd industrial revolution opened up a new pandoras box that led to the creation of mechanical automation & I.C.T & that developed into the internet which lead to the current format being pushed at a rapid rate, Artificial intelligence on steroids.

A.I is nothing new, its been around since industrialisation , but this version in my opinion is a step too far.

Earth..is in trouble.

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Royal_Ad_6026@reddit

Yeah, but now we’re also in that phase where the advent of new technology like this always has major repercussions at first… and with the rise of AI and all of the data centers, we are now approaching a critical point where we’re going to be thrust backwards in civilization because of the damage we’re doing. No food, no clean water, etc

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Own-Phone-5923@reddit

werent millenials the last analog-digital generation?

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gatoenvestido@reddit

While phones the pocket computers we have now, home computers and internet access were ubiquitous.

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mrkstr@reddit

I don't know. I might have been better off if I was born later. I miss pre-digital days. The future is kind of stupid.

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Reasonable_Bid3311@reddit

no, we are the lucky generation because we got to experience hope. We lived in a time where we felt we could have it all. things don’t feel that good anymore.

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KaleidoscopeSilly797@reddit

Absolutely.

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Aromatic_Revolution4@reddit

I think that's just one of many ways our timeline made us very lucky.

We got to experience true freedom every summer day. We didn't have play dates and scheduled activity times.

We got cable TV so we were able to keep up with pop culture (hello MTV) but we could also just as easily walk away from it unlike kids today.

There were pressures being a teenager but we didn't have to contend with social media

And we didn't have cameras capturing every stupid, embarrassing, dangerous, and/or regrettable thing we did. Thank God.

But as we've become older - and hopefully wiser - we get to enjoy all the benefits of modern tech. And we'll all probably appreciate the advancements in medical tech most of all before too much longer!

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TurtleToast2@reddit

We're the last American generation to enjoy the "experiment" for the majority of our life. It's all downhill from here. That was pretty lucky.

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nellis003@reddit

I talk about this a lot - maybe not from the context of us being the only generation to experience both, but from the context of being in both worlds for a significant amount of time. When I was born, it was rotary phones, carbureted cars, and pen and paper. It was that way until I was a teenager, so the shift to mobile phones and advanced technology cars and everything being done on computers was a drastic one for me.

I think our generation has lived through the most interesting technological jump ever. We're certainly going to see tech continue to advance significantly, but I believe we've seen the most impactful shift.

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JoeNoble1973@reddit

I’ve made this exact point to my kids, especially when they ask me about The Before Times. My oldest (13) refers to it as ‘The Nineteens’. Not the 90’s…the 19’s. 😒

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canada11235813@reddit

“The late nineteen hundreds”

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ChodaRagu@reddit

I like that designation!

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PatienceandFortitude@reddit

I don’t feel lucky. I feel like I worked hard for everything

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PahzTakesPhotos@reddit

My kids are millennials. They lived in an analogue world/house/whatnot. The most up to date thing we had was cable TV. We didn't even have any gaming consoles. (husband is disabled and we lived on a very fixed income. We are doing much better now).

My oldest is 36. Her siblings are 34m, and 32f. We didn't have any computers in the house till the oldest was in high school. They didn't get their own cell phones till they were older (the oldest got hers in her senior year, the other two about a year after she got hers). They didn't get smartphones till they were adults and paid for them with their own money.

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TinyRandomLady@reddit

Gen X is not the only generation to experience both the analog and digital world. Gen X isn’t even the last generation to experience both.

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CannaSage61@reddit

Wrongful premice to the question. I am Gen Jones, and grew up with land lines and 3 channel broadcast tv. My father-in-law is from the Silent Generstion, raised when most households did not have their own radio, let alone a tv. He is as computer and app savy as any 20 year old. Some people get really arrogant about how special their generations are. Ya ain't special. You have seen a lot less advancement in functional tech than ya think, kiddo. You started with transistors. I started with vacuum tubes, and he started when telegarph was more common than long distance in half the country.

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Zytharros@reddit

I think the best way to word that is that you “grew up in the switch,” like your childhood and teen years were analogue, but your adult life included online stuff, whereas we millennials’ “grew up with the switch.”

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TrainingLow9079@reddit

These days I think generations that only experienced analogue might be luckier than we are...

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Finding_Way_@reddit

Honestly? Mainly I feel lucky because we were able to buy a home for an affordable cost while having basic working / middle class jobs.

And yes, to OP, it is mind-blowing the changes that we have seen between the analogue and digital worlds!

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SyStEm0v3r1dE@reddit

Definitely not just a Gen X thing as a millennial I did too

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SyStEm0v3r1dE@reddit

Speaking of analog things I still want an old radio again

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tranquilrage73@reddit

Yes!

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Unusual_Memory3133@reddit

Definitely yes.

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Purple-Catch-0609@reddit

100%. Gen Xers are the most fortunate generation for this every reason. We straddled analog and digital.
The 80’s and 90’s were the best decades ever.

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CaptMixTape@reddit

We have the best music too

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john-bkk@reddit

The 70s and 80s were interesting times, but it seems like people are too negative today, as if we can barely survive because we have so many social media and streaming media options. Sure, my kids are addicted to all that (we had them late). But the playgrounds are still out there, and if you go to them there are other kids there playing.

An old Walkman and a phone bluetooth tethered to much better headphones are doing similar things. Watching a movie on Netflix and a DVD aren't so different. Kids today are lucky if their parents don't just abandon them to screens for 18 years while they also stare at screens.

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Zargoza1@reddit

We got to experience the digital world before the corruption.

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happycj@reddit

Nah. I think we got to see how Things Had Always Been, and then What Could’ve Been … that was then co-opted by the same jerks and asswipes that have always ruined everything for everyone.

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NarrowFault8428@reddit

What about Boomers?

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bobs_big_bob@reddit

I mean that’s not true though. Plenty of people in older generations are still alive.

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Proud-Zebra9487@reddit

Millennials did too what do you mean “only” generation?

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AboveGroundPoolQueen@reddit

Right, boomers are still alive, so they would also count.

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit

I think we're lucky because we are the last generation to experience the world without the internet.

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Human_Call6322@reddit

And cell phones. We had to get on our bikes and actually go see people!

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CawlinAlcarz@reddit

And no 24 hour news cycle.

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Jonny4900@reddit

I’m think about this a lot and also how if I had kept up more closely with programming, hacking, and IT my career would be better off.

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MaximumJones@reddit

People born in the 1870s grew up when there was no indoor plumbing, toilet paper, toothpaste, transportation was on horseback, anesthesia had not been discovered, antibiotics had not been discovered, and lifespans were 50 or so years.

By 1926 those people were driving automobiles, some flying in airplanes, had fought a world war with automatic weapons, electricity and indoor plumbing was common, hygiene was INFINENTLY better, lifespans were longer...

We are no different. Same shit, different centuries.

Things were not "better before" as much as we romanticize.

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pepeneverknew@reddit

Thank you. The old my generation is better is getting really old.

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MarginalMan@reddit

I was just thinking about how my dad, who is 85, has seen even more. From the advent of television to overseeing large digital automation projects for banks at the end of his career in the late 2000s.

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Mobile_Aioli_6252@reddit

That's part of it - we've been able to roll with new technology as it presented itself, with little worries or effort, just fine

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TreasonalDepression@reddit

Turns out the digital world sucks. So I think we are the lucky last generation to have a childhood based in reality.

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NoAbbreviations290@reddit

I don’t think it was unlucky

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stevemm70@reddit

And, GenZ (in many cases our children) will be the last generation to fully understand life before AI.

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enigT@reddit

It will happen again with whatever big invention happens next. Maybe gen beta will be the last generation to fully understand life before chip implant in brains.

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BokChoyJr@reddit

We can call them Generation Huxley. They’ll be living in the Brave New World (1932)

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WatermelonMachete43@reddit

I don't know about Lucky, but I think it adds to the reasons we are adaptable...because we had to learn things on the fly.

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Balrog71@reddit

I remember not knowing how idiotic the people I hold/held dear were. The “information” aspect of it robbed us all

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thatotterone@reddit

in that aspect, yes! I feel very lucky
starting at the beginning of home computers and learning html (and a bit of java)..not for work but just so I could make a page for my cringe rp character heh but also knowing the hack to get around a locked rotary phone. It's a weird place in time.

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jordy1971@reddit

I don’t feel very lucky but for lots of other reasons

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Dechibrator@reddit

Once you learn to schedule a recording on the VCR, nothing is impossible. We're the golden generation

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Weird-Girl-675@reddit

Definitely. I can’t even imagine having to deal with social media while in school. Bullying that never ends!

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Ambitious-Concern-42@reddit

Undoubtedly. To see the analog era reach its glorious peak, only to be taken over by consumer digital products was overwhelming. This in turn was rendered almost obsolete by the Internet.

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zoziw@reddit

That reminds me of when Microsoft called company executives "digital immigrants" because they wouldn't let employees surf the net during the day.

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Specialist_Stop8572@reddit

Yes

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redhawkdrone@reddit

Being the “bridge” generation has provided some benefits that those before and after us didn’t get to enjoy. I would argue on some levels it was the best of both worlds.

Not growing up with social media was such an added bonus.

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Robbudge@reddit

I was actually thinking the same the other day.
Especially as we all grew up having to work shit out.
No internet or your tube.
No real information source on how to get the computer or record player to work.

I was in the office the other day. A colleague probably 10yrs my junior had no problem solving skills at all and the worst part is, doesn’t look stuff up and on the internet.

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La_Mano_Cornuta@reddit

I won’t feel lucky until I get my working hover boots / board.

I went from a rotary phone to tying up the phone with my baud modem to eventually carrying a phone in my pocket that’s more advanced than any of the previous by leaps and bounds. And it’s most definitely spying on me.

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SnooCakes8914@reddit

Yes. Because I can still do things the old fashioned way when technology fails.

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WhatTheHellPod@reddit

70's: Best Toys

80's: Best Pop Culture

90's: Best Technology.

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rundabrun@reddit

I feel that it benefits me in photography and music engineering, because all the digital tech is analogous of analog tech.

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SadSongsMakeMeGlad@reddit

I think GenX and Millennials straddle a unique line of growing up as natives to both the analog world and the digital world. But, as far as I know Boomers are still with us, even some Silent Generation. They experienced the transition too, don’t forget.

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MutedTechnology8644@reddit

Yes I assure you my older boomer relatives are on Facebook.

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-Granby-@reddit

I don't know about lucky but it was cool to be a kid in the 80s without all the tech spending time playing outside with actual people. Then as a young adult in the 90's it was cool to see the internet and computers become a thing. That was back when the internet was fun and tech was enjoyable and voluntary.

Now it mostly just sucks. Tech and phone especially are not really optional anymore if you want to function. You need an app for everting. The entire internet has been monetized by big corps and enshittified and curated to death with algorithms.

I miss 95-05 internet/tech and I also miss 85-95 no internet/tech from a kids perspective.

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Wraisted@reddit

I felt like we were lucky because society chose to ignore us and leave us alone