The world before the internet was just the world. We glance back looking for confirmation that somehow the time ‘before’ was lacking in some way. It wasn’t.
Only a gifted few could even conceptualise an entity like the internet. We weren’t idle, twiddling our thumbs waiting to fill the void with something we didn’t even know was possible. There was no void. Time spent online today has simply displaced other activities.
As GenX, we were our on our bikes and having adventures with friends. A brief hiatus when we’d down tools long enough to refuel. After tea we were back at the coal face excavating as much fun as we could find. Fettered only by the encroaching sunset.
There was no time to document life. No reason to curate an aesthetically pleasing avatar, cosplaying at being our best self. We were too busy living, creating and banking our own memories.
GenX straddled both worlds. We grew up when General Zod was in the phantom zone. Now we’re having Zoom meetings with colleagues trapped in the phantom zone. A little foreshadowing there perhaps…….
The Influenzas 
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