Better for you now or in the past?

Thank you all for your replies.

There are some poignant posts, but you are all poets I think.

Shardovan said:

On the other hand, I think my/your/Sparkly's generation (I think we're broadly in the same age range) was the last to be born into the analogue age (we still have sensory memories of using rotary phones!), and we've therefore had the most exhausting adaptive battle to fight. Too young to opt out of the newfangled (like my aunt's partner did - retired a few years ago and has never touched a keyboard in his life, and never will), too old to have gotten the nice intuitive user interfaces and early-age immersion that makes it all so smooth and effortless for Generation Z or whoever. Instead, we got the clunky learning curve of going from limited exposure to BBC Micros, to maybe an Amstrad in the home, to the early rough edges of the nascent internet, to Office programs that were fiddly rather than easy to navigate, and prone to crashing, and vulnerable to viruses etc. In other words, navigating all the difficult birth pains of digital tech becoming a necessary but unwieldy presence in all areas of life. And finally, we go to the age of the smart phone, where things started to feel a little more like they were meeting our non-digital-native mindsets more than halfway to compensate for all that discomfort of being put in front of devices that made the very air around them nervous with their brittle auras of 'get it right for god's sake or you'll lose your night's work' and all the attendant stress of that. 

Brilliantly expressed.

Shardovan said:

Until then, people of my age can be grateful that we got a pretty decent trade-off - maybe even the best one? A childhood with some gentle modernity - raised on the soothing tones of Oliver Postgate and Blue Peter instead of the frenetic relentlessness of the Cartoon Network, and TikTok and whatever else. But still able to selectively opt in to YouTube videos, and podcasts, and Twitter and other things that amuse, divert, and entertain in ways that let us be in control of our own 'schedules' while still finding time for the reduced ambient complexity that any middle-aged person needs to go back to to stay healthy (or at least I do anyway).

And this.  I need 'reduced ambient complexity' too as a refuge ie my bedroom, the dark, a reading lamp, and a Kindle.

Roy said:

I often think of The Shawshank Redemption when ‘Red’ is telling the probation board as an old man how he wishes he could go back and talk to the young boy he once was. That’s exactly how I feel, I would have so much to explain to him. I still morn that lost child.

That is very poignant Roy.  I would like to go back to the younger me too.  I'd have so much to tell her, but I'm unsure she'd listen. 

Kate Kestrel said:

The pandemic has had a terrible impact on my life and the lives of other people in my family. Because of this I look back to the 80s and 90s with huge affection and nostalgia.

I'm sorry to hear that Kate.

I didn't lose anyone I loved during the pandemic and I loved the lockdowns and local walks, so my experience is very different.

Luftmentsch said:

As an Orthodox Jew, I don't use computers, TV, phones etc. on the Sabbath and it's very calming,

When I was a child, on a Sunday,  no shops opened and there were no cars on the road.

I actually miss that.

Also, there were no TV or telephone in the house I was in until 12. Obviously no PC.

I'm not religious, (probably agnostic), but a peaceful, respectful day once a week is/was important.

Thank you for sharing that information.

Martin said:

After I hit 50, I was much more relaxed about myself, my oddities became just that, not an enormous burden that might squash me flat at any moment of inattention.

Good to hear, and similar to me, although I think 40 was my watershed.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Thank you all for your replies.

There are some poignant posts, but you are all poets I think.

Shardovan said:

On the other hand, I think my/your/Sparkly's generation (I think we're broadly in the same age range) was the last to be born into the analogue age (we still have sensory memories of using rotary phones!), and we've therefore had the most exhausting adaptive battle to fight. Too young to opt out of the newfangled (like my aunt's partner did - retired a few years ago and has never touched a keyboard in his life, and never will), too old to have gotten the nice intuitive user interfaces and early-age immersion that makes it all so smooth and effortless for Generation Z or whoever. Instead, we got the clunky learning curve of going from limited exposure to BBC Micros, to maybe an Amstrad in the home, to the early rough edges of the nascent internet, to Office programs that were fiddly rather than easy to navigate, and prone to crashing, and vulnerable to viruses etc. In other words, navigating all the difficult birth pains of digital tech becoming a necessary but unwieldy presence in all areas of life. And finally, we go to the age of the smart phone, where things started to feel a little more like they were meeting our non-digital-native mindsets more than halfway to compensate for all that discomfort of being put in front of devices that made the very air around them nervous with their brittle auras of 'get it right for god's sake or you'll lose your night's work' and all the attendant stress of that. 

Brilliantly expressed.

Shardovan said:

Until then, people of my age can be grateful that we got a pretty decent trade-off - maybe even the best one? A childhood with some gentle modernity - raised on the soothing tones of Oliver Postgate and Blue Peter instead of the frenetic relentlessness of the Cartoon Network, and TikTok and whatever else. But still able to selectively opt in to YouTube videos, and podcasts, and Twitter and other things that amuse, divert, and entertain in ways that let us be in control of our own 'schedules' while still finding time for the reduced ambient complexity that any middle-aged person needs to go back to to stay healthy (or at least I do anyway).

And this.  I need 'reduced ambient complexity' too as a refuge ie my bedroom, the dark, a reading lamp, and a Kindle.

Roy said:

I often think of The Shawshank Redemption when ‘Red’ is telling the probation board as an old man how he wishes he could go back and talk to the young boy he once was. That’s exactly how I feel, I would have so much to explain to him. I still morn that lost child.

That is very poignant Roy.  I would like to go back to the younger me too.  I'd have so much to tell her, but I'm unsure she'd listen. 

Kate Kestrel said:

The pandemic has had a terrible impact on my life and the lives of other people in my family. Because of this I look back to the 80s and 90s with huge affection and nostalgia.

I'm sorry to hear that Kate.

I didn't lose anyone I loved during the pandemic and I loved the lockdowns and local walks, so my experience is very different.

Luftmentsch said:

As an Orthodox Jew, I don't use computers, TV, phones etc. on the Sabbath and it's very calming,

When I was a child, on a Sunday,  no shops opened and there were no cars on the road.

I actually miss that.

Also, there were no TV or telephone in the house I was in until 12. Obviously no PC.

I'm not religious, (probably agnostic), but a peaceful, respectful day once a week is/was important.

Thank you for sharing that information.

Martin said:

After I hit 50, I was much more relaxed about myself, my oddities became just that, not an enormous burden that might squash me flat at any moment of inattention.

Good to hear, and similar to me, although I think 40 was my watershed.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.