Post #2470952

2026-05-02 22:20 UTC

In Because Internet, Gretchen McCulloch argues that there are three waves of "internet people". The first was "before it was cool", the second when it became mainstream (give or take the turn of the millennium) and the third when internet was already a thing. The third are young people, too young to remember the 1900s and therefore the time before internet, and old people who go online because it's unavoidable and also more intuitive and easy than ever before. Despite the generation gap, they have things in common and in contrast to the first and second wave (which she also subdivides but that's beside the point). For example they never used mail as primary communication and they have smartphones as first device and most often second hand from a family member. Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk and sorry if I took your shitpost too serious but there's truth and science behind it and I couldn't not share it.

Replies (2)

@orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-05-02 22:49

I wish we'd refer to early internet era as something other than the 1900s. WWW ostensibly started in 95. Maybe we just call it "The 90s" and be good with it? When we start referring to the "turn of the century" as the early 2000s, I may just outright die.

Open ##2470972
@Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 2026-05-03 02:53

I grew up when the internet was already a thing but I didn't really get to use it until I was a teenager. We had a family computer with space cadet pinball on it, and as a small kid I didn't know how to surf the web, I only knew how to play the games like solitaire. I knew you could connect your DS (It's not a Gameboy, mum!) to the internet for online multiplayer, but it was too complicated to figure out without a grownup's help. When I got a bit older, I got My own laptop for schoolwork and discovered the internet. I got hooked on webcomics and Reddit. I had a dumb phone for emergencies, which was later replaced with a smartphone on a prepaid plan, with too little data to use it for the internet. So I browsed the internet from the Ubuntu desktop I built at home. Eventually I got a monthly plan and joined the 21st century, but it was a long way getting there. Technically I fall into your third group, but I don't have anything in common with these kids.

Open ##2470973