Gen X, the meh generation

The poll asked: "I wish I could go back to a time before everyone was 'plugged in'" And people answered Strongly Agree / Agree / No Opinion / Disagree / Strongly Disagree

Other than noting it was a "Harris Poll" it said nothing about how many respondents there were, how they contacted them or anything else.

Would the world be better if everyone wasn't face-down in an illuminated rectagle every moment they could be? Before climate change became so ridiculously notable? Before Trump? Etc? It probably would be nice. It doesn't mean there shouldn't be Internet, or anything else, really.

There was a point where being online meant you'd read a manual and knew a damn thing. That was nice. But hey. We've got an open-source federated social media platform now, so. Po-TAY-to, Po-TAH-to.

Anyway, I think the phrasing of the title is clickbait.

Gee, I wonder if asking the question as "a time before everyone was 'plugged in'" had anything to do with it.

I would definitely be unemployed if that happened.

Yeah, that headline is substantially different than the question asked. I would probably rank mid way on that scale, but pre-internet? You can fuck right off with that. The internet and our modern devices are science fiction magic to pre-internet me. I paid by the minute for dial-up bbs time at 300 baud.

The internet and always-on social media has its foibles, but living without it is a nonstarter.

As someone who lives in the country side young people are typically very mellow and quiet and the older folks always mention how odd it is that folks my age are so very lifeless compared to when they were my age and as a young person I don't really know what to do when I'm just waiting like at least in the city I can sometimes find someone to have a conversation with or some building to marvel at but when I'm in the middle of the woods logging or something idk I can't really help but brause reddit and as of now lemmy

If we can get rid of social media but keep things like Wikipedia, then sure, keep a few things.

But if it's all or nothing, fuck it, i'd happily pull out my old Samsung flip phone and paper day planner.

Anything is better than the miserable corporate nightmare that social media has turned the world into.

I would take it away. Sure there are a lot of good that has come, but I think it's a net, hah, negative.

As an elder millenial, the last generation that experienced no internet, I will speak on behalf of the rest of us, you have our support.