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For younger generations, what was it like growing up with the internet? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by lennybird to c/asklemmy

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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?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'd always been amused at the fact that boomer school librarians were primarily the ones responsible for "teaching" students how to "use computers". It really hammered home the point early on for me that you learn primarily by doing, not by being instructed.

How was the concept first explained to you, or when did it click?

I was too young to have it explained. I was just given access to computers since as far back as I can remember. And internet-connected computers almost just as far.

Do you understand how insane it is to have the aggregate of all human knowledge

I disagree with the notion that all human knowledge is reachable through the internet. I didn't used to have this perspective until only a few years ago.

Were your parents super strict about internet usage?

I had absolutely no supervision, aside from concern over time spent playing games (which I think they perceived differently from non-game activity, which can be equally as unproductive).

How quickly did you find workarounds?

Usurped de facto control over the family router as a by product of being the only one both willing and able to "help" "administrate" it. It remained that way until the day I moved out.

I think that millennials got to enjoy a once-in-human history opportunity of digital literacy asymmetry between immediately adjacent generations. We had unprecedented freedom.