<![CDATA[Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today.]]>Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today.

God I miss it.

I tried to put some of that into words, but when I was done, I realized that I just have more questions than answers.

I miss the

The Open Internet Needs Users

favicon

(peteftw.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/73227eb3-4c87-4705-b147-cf933197cf51/being-gen-x-means-i-grew-up-with-a-version-of-the-internet-that-s-very-different-from-what-people-experience-today.RSS for NodeFri, 01 May 2026 05:05:47 GMTMon, 20 Apr 2026 06:40:34 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:51:53 GMT]]>@sen yep fully agree.

I think the big difference was when peoples stopped *going* online and started just always being online.

Having a desktop. Initiating a dialup connection. Being intentional with the act of going online.

These things felt very different from today’s internet where everything is hyper connected, always on, and closed off (from an app perspective)

😞

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116437595841526845https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116437595841526845Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:51:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:40:58 GMT]]>@waffles I mentioned missing the 'old internet' sometimes to someone recently and they said "me too! flash games, kazaa and limewire, AIM..." It was at that point that I realized that their "old internet" is my "middle internet" 🙂 Though if anything, old and middle have a lot more in common than middle and modern do.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sen/statuses/116437552859209355https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/sen/statuses/116437552859209355Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:40:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:42:03 GMT]]>@waffles And it's working nicely, thank you for adding it. 🙂 I'm always so happy when I can add another entry into my feed reader's "Personal Blogs" category.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mei-home.net/users/mmeier/statuses/116435905627948823https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mei-home.net/users/mmeier/statuses/116435905627948823Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:42:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:38:15 GMT]]>@mmeier hah, ok — you’ve convinced me: I really should support RSS.

I slapped some Perl together to make that happen. Thank you!

(I’ve been trying to get more and more back into RSS as my main use of time on my phone/devices. It’s really nice sipping coffee and going through people’s writings)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116435890670038529https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116435890670038529Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:38:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:22:09 GMT]]>@waffles Yeah. I'm 100% with you on the blogs. I would really like to have that massive amount of blogs from the 2000s back as well. Sitting there with an RSS reader and reading the day's new post was nice. It's still nice today, for all the pages which still have RSS feeds. Sadly, even some pages with interesting posts about nostalgia for the Internet of yesteryear don't have an RSS feed...*hint hint*. 😉

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mei-home.net/users/mmeier/statuses/116435827368041261https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.mei-home.net/users/mmeier/statuses/116435827368041261Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:22:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Being “gen-x” means I grew up with a version of the Internet that’s very different from what people experience today. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 06:47:51 GMT]]>One of my kids is starting a computer engineering degree. I asked them if they wanted to learn about BGP, or networking in general, and they just said “nah, not really”.

It hit me that I had to learn about IRQ settings, BAUD rates, SLIP scripts, modem INIT strings just to get a connection.

I felt like I had to build my own communications device before being able to get online. Now every device is “just always online” and that kid is missing that same curiosity. It’s crazy to me.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116435692512697978https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.yttrx.com/users/waffles/statuses/116435692512697978Mon, 20 Apr 2026 06:47:51 GMT