Back

Beanie Babies, IRC, Reality Bites, The Breakfast Club. We are the last cohort to know what it's like to not have social media growing up!

FACTS
I ride the cusp between Gen X and Millennial and social media only showed up when I was almost 30! I think you can include the elder-Millennials in this for sure 😉Didn’t have any TV as a kid because my mom hated it so I don’t have any memories of that stuff! I watched MLP for the first time as a whole-ass adult 😂 It’s actually pretty good and SUPER-feminist 💪🏼
"Elder-Millennials"! Love that :D
GenX - the generation who ushered in tech to the workplace! I had a Macintosh SE with dual floppy drives in grad school while working at the UChicago library special collections on a computer running DOS. In my internship, I set up a LAN at a non-profit in its new office - that was not my job. My first official job (at USEPA), remember "IBM-compatible," we had computers in all our cubicles and an email system that connected all EPA offices and research labs. Because I coordinated a giant initiative, I had two computers in my space, an Apple for graphics and publishing software. I had my first laptop at KPMG, we chained them to our desks if not taking them home. Remember the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH on WindowsNT. Nerd nostalgia...
Yes! I remember being in the "computer lab" at University of Illinois, chatting with boys from around the world on IRC. Internet "dating" before dating apps (1993 or so).
Probably felt way less contrived...
HA! Yes!
I had a PC and a printer in my studio at Butler Hall at Columbia, but no dial up, so file sharing was impossible. We had group meetings in the Uris Hall computer lab. We could put things on a floppy and share it that way. Considering what you can do with a smartphone now, this seems so ancient.
Isn't it amazing to think about?!
I remain so damn thankful social media was not a thing when I was in school. Ditto for cell phones. Growing up is tough enough than to memorialize poor life choices. 😂
Yes as do I. Interesting thread. I'm in the UK so many of those references don't apply apart from The Breakfast Club - fantastic film. I don't really reminisce as such and am enjoying connect with millennials to keep me abreast of what's going on. I love the potential of intergenerational networking and mentoring, so much opportunity for us to share and learn.
I studied in Manchester as part of a year abroad program back in 1995. I remember, when traveling through Europe, needing to find a kiosk to purchase a calling card, then finding a payphone to use said calling card to finally make a call back home to let family know I was ok. The "good" side of things, today, is that the world feels much smaller, and it's true! The millennials aren't so bad :)
So true!! When I moved to the US in 1996, most of my friends and family back home in Germany didn't even have email and Facebook to keep in touch with international contacts was a far way off. (I did enjoy going over the letters people wrote me back in the day and scanning some I wanted to hold on to a few years back.)
I recently visited my parents, and found a box of letters written around that time as well. Did the same thing (scanned them). Love it!
Just re-watched Miami Vice season 1.