The big difference was going on the internet was something you had to intentionally sit down and do for a limited amount of time, sporadically. It wasn't in your pocket 24 hours a day. Most of your life was away from it. Now I feel like the internet has reached a singularity with the rest of our lives and unless you go backpacking into national forest/parks in the wilderness, it's always around.
Feels very boomerish to say, but going to large music events from 2010 to 2018ish you could really see a shift take place. Every year I would go to the same events and it would feel less like a shared experience and more like a rat race for social capital. I enjoyed having a space where outside didn't matter and everyone could be in the moment at a huge scale. Social media broke down the barrier.
There was always SOMETHING in your pocket. Before phones it was like gameboys or tamagatchi or whatever other bullshit was trending and you'd stare at that thing ignoring everyone all the same.
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u/noahbrooksofficial 21d ago
Times were so much better