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

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by lennybird@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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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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[-] praise_idleness@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 months ago

No one really explained it to me, to be honest. A few kids started using it when we were about 10-11, so I just joined in. Picked it up pretty quickly though.
I think my experience is quite different from many Lemmy users. English isn't my first language, and for a long time I couldn't really read/write in English. You might take it for granted, but the sheer quality/amount of English content out there compared to other languages is beyond comparison. There was still plenty of information available in my language, but it was pretty limited. Not everything was up-to-date, if it existed at all. It wasn't until I finally felt confident with English that I really experienced that "wow, everything is at my fingertips" moment, with all the communities and websites out there.
They soon realized I wasn't just messing around online, but was basically that nerdy kid who went to the library(the internet) every day. They were pretty cool about it, thankfully.

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

A few kids started using it when we were about 10-11, so I just joined in.

Sounds so illicit.

this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024

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