Let me explain. So imagine this tv show with the plot taking place about like a few decades before the internet was invented. If I see that, I suddenly feel some sort of anxiety as in: “Damn, how did people even get information?”, like I suddenly imagine myself, there, as a child, and not having access to this seemlingly unlimited access to information that I currently have, and not to mention, entertainment content. So like, that feeling of feeling like I’m in the past (as in: I’m imagining myself being in the past), but not have access to the internet just gives me a very bad feeling. Idk how to describe it. As an introvert, I’d hate the pre-internet era.
For context, I’m Gen Z (I mean like birth year around 2000-2005), and I grew up reading a lot of Wikipedia and educational Youtube videos, and variety of news articles, and reading through a lot of internet forums. I hate imagining a world where I didn’t have that. Like Growing up 100 years ago, I would feel even more lonely and isolated, I’d probably have ended my own life out of boredom, if it weren’t for the endless amount of information I am able to obtain.
What is this weird feeling that I’m feeling?
Reverse-Nostalgia?
History-Phobia?
Techno-philia?
(Am I being weird? 🤔)
I grew up in New Zealand in the 50s-60s. We got most info on current events from the radio. Later on there was TV, but it was mainly radio. Our radio had long-wave and if atmospheric conditions were right you could pick up foreign broadcasts.
Other knowledge came from school, obviously, and from libraries. I absolutely haunted my local library, and read voraciously. I still have a fund of info in my head from back then that comes in handy in pub quizzes. When I wasn’t reading I was out with my friends on our bicycles. We rode for miles at a time - I don’t remember ever telling an adult where we were going.
(About libraries - I don’t know if you’re aware, but the tycoon Andrew Carnegie funded libraries around the world, including the one in the city near my home town.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library
Having said all that and making it sound idyllic, it wasn’t. Society back then was repressive in major ways and people’s viewpoints were generally narrow. History books weren’t always telling the truth. It wasn’t terrible compared with say apartheid South Africa, but not great. There was a counter-culture bubbling away - beatniks and then hippies - so it was possible to get an alternative view, just about.
I love the technology that gives me access to not just information, but the lived experience of people round the world. I love reading posts here about mad trivial stuff like what you all are having for breakfast. I love taking a Street View tour of places I’ll likely never visit. I’m reading a novel set in Iceland at the moment, and can “drive” along the route a character is taking. I can video chat with my sister, who lives 10,000 miles away. It’s a miracle!