“We are the generation of nostalgia. We grew up in the age of transition. From hand-written letters to electronic mails. From film to digital. We were fascinated by new things, neglecting the way we spend our afternoons. Cupcakes and tea. Play-Doh and Polly Pockets. Young and naive. Technology completely changed the way we waited and we grew up too fast. The simple things in life seems more meaningful now. We grew up in the age of transition and have become the generation of nostalgia.”— (via everythingisbloomable)
I… technology meant I could have conversations. I had so many layers, and only the top layer ever got access to expressive language. And the more real, the deeper part of me, never had any access to words until I could type. And until I found people on the Internet who wanted to talk to those layers of me…
…I’m just not nostalgic about what it was like before that was possible. At all.
I liked play-doh and polly pockets, too. And I like marbles and stuff too. And a lot of it, I don’t have to remember, because I still have it.
But I like being able to communicate and have a peer group much more than I like any of that.
And I think that kind of nostalgia hurts kids like me. Who are growing up in a world in which computers and the internet are ubiquitous, but are deliberately kept away from them.
Who are only allowed one hour a day on electronics, lest they not be real kids anymore. Who have thousands of dollars worth of toys that are associated with this nostalgic kind of Real Childhood, but no computers.
Who are signed up for expensive and horrible activities so that they will be socialized, but not allowed access to the tools that would make real communication and social interaction possible.
And just… there were a lot of things that couldn’t have been better in my childhood because the resources I needed just didn’t exist. They do now. And things could be so much better, if kids who need what I needed then were allowed to use it now that it exists.
^ this
(via madeofpatterns)
