Hello Steemians :)
Today I'd like to talk, and possibly ramble like a madman, about my own experiences and feelings of growing up as a so-called "Millennial". Perhaps some of you can relate.
Remember when you felt safe?
I 'Member.
I remember sitting on the backseat of my Dad's VW Beetle without wearing a seatbelt shockandhorror. I remember eating bread; WHITE bread filled with evil Gluten and not dying! Playing in the street with the neighbourhood children without fear of being kidnapped or worse. Riding my bike, or rollerskating without enough body armour to rival Sandor Clegane!
Remember the wonder you felt when you owned your first gaming console?
I 'Member.
Mine was a replica of the NES, we couldn't get originals where I lived. I remember playing Mario, Donkey Kong, Mega Man 1-6. Not having save games, and dying over and over, but persisting until you finished the game. Sitting in front of the TV for countless weekends with a friend or sibling playing games with two controllers. I am an avid, passionate gamer to this day and we have come so far in terms of immersion and graphics, but it's hard not to remember these gems without feeling a pang of nostalgia.
Remember the time before you had a mobile phone? Let alone a smart phone!?
I 'Member.
If you wanted to get hold of someone, you called their landline. If you wanted to make plans with someone over the telephone, you had to make sure you were there at that time! There was no Whatsapp. There was no SMS, nor e-mail, nor Facebook. If your friend was waiting for you somewhere at 2PM, you had to make damn sure you were there on time, or risk losing the friend! I remember feeling more connected to the people in my life, even though in 2017 we are all more connected than ever! I remember talking to my family members around the dinner table or at a restaurant instead of staring at a screen. I remember when people had table manners. When people just had manners.
I remember listening to music on a Walk Man, with earphones that used a cable and a cassette that had to be rewound! I remember playing games on a computer with a 286 processor and writing my first Basic programs on a 2nd hand Commodore 64.
Remember the 90's and the first time you used the Internet?
I 'Member.
Nothing before and nothing after has ever excited me as much as the sounds that a US Robotic's 56K modem made as it was dialing into my ISP's server to give me access to this newfound world. I remember Netscape Navigator. I remember everyone writing their own HTML and putting up webpages on sites like Tripod paying homage to their favourite musical artists. I remember naughty no-no websites not having movies, but pictures, and frantically slamming ALT-F4 when a parental or older sibling was nearby! I also, traumatically, remember the phone bills my parents' sometimes received at the end of a month where I had forgotten to disconnect the modem.
Remember when music was actually good?
I 'Member.
I know this may make me seem like a 105 year old, but hear me out here. Even though I wasn't a teenager in the 60's as an example, I still enjoy the Beetles, and I think many of us do. The music that kids listen to these days is just horrid, but I still think that they could enjoy some of our 80s and 90s idols.
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Now I'd like us all to remember. We do not all have this feeling they call "entitled". We are not all lazy. We do not expect handouts. We are not soft and pathetic just because we didn't fight in World War II and build our own houses with our bare hands from bricks we assembled ourselves from beach sand. I get it - the Baby Boomer's were a tough generation, but they weren't perfect. We may have had some things easier than they did, but not everything, not by a long shot. The world is in a mess right now. The economy in most places is in a mess right now. How many of you can honestly afford to buy the house you want, or buy a house at all? How many of you drive the car you thought you'd have when you were 12 years old, or have the life you imagined as a teenager? They told us we could "do anything" and we believed them, but doing is far harder than imagining the dream.
Work hard, but be yourself. Treat others kindly. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, not your peers, not your older siblings or parents, but only to yourself. You don't have to be better than anyone except the person you were a day ago - the best you can do is be the best version of yourself for yourself, and nothing more.
We were "first" in so many things, let's be the first generation to raise the next generation to make the world a better place, instead of just talking about making the world a better place.
Thank you taking time out of your day to read my ramblings, my apologies for the long post. I wish you all the best :)
AsMoDeUs