They're Heeeeere - Cas Young

Thinking about what the world was like 20 years ago, I realised 1995 is way further away than i thought. This is the year the Oasis album What's the Story (Morning Glory) was released and "Wonderwall" became the official angsty teen song of every proceeding generation, also the decade Salt N' Pepa released the true feminist anthem "None of Your Business." The 90s was also the decade technology really kickstarted. I like to think that being a 90s teen would have been so much more different than growing up in 2015, but I'm not sure if that's the case.

In the 90s, there wasn't exactly as much technology as there was today, and it sure wasn't as fast, but it wasn't that far behind what distracts us today from writing essays and blog posts such as these. Right now I'm being distracted by my friends all texting me, the music I instantly downloaded this morning, and Netflix pulled up in the adjacent tab with Mr. Roger's Neighborhood paused and waiting for me to return. We all think that we'd be less distracted if all this technology wasn't as ready and available instantly, but I don't think that's true. If it were '95, instead of texting my friends, I'd be calling them. I'd be watching crappy shows on MTV and playing my Gameboy for as long as possible. And I'd still be listening to music, but it would be in CD form.

Now that we've concluded my procrastination skills wouldn't be compromised, we can assess the strength of my other hypothetical abilities as they existed in the '90s. Communication would be a good point to discuss in light of the new technology everyone is complaining about today. My best friend is in college far but not too far away from me, and I text her every day. I send her videos and pictures she's just gotta see and she responds nonchalantly five minutes later telling me to calm down because "it's not even that great did you see this OTHER video..." Even though she's off in Indiana having fun in college, I can still talk to her throughout the day, I can still share all the things I find with her in a matter of seconds, something I couldn't do in 1995. I mean I could send her an email or call her, but that would require us to find a time where I could call her and talk to her for hours, and even then I couldn't show her all the videos and pictures I want to show her. Because of that, I'd be afraid we'd drift apart little by little. We wouldn't get to share little cool things about our lives with each other as they happen, and that's something I highly value. Today's technology is so much more intimate, and there's something really romantic about that.

I'm really glad I grew up in the time period I did. Because I grew up in the age of high speed internet and Macbook Airs, I'm able to listen to any song I want at any moment, I can tell my mom I love her whenever I want to without her phone ringing in class, I can do almost anything I want. Lots of adults are judgemental of this generation, saying we're always glued to our phones, but I don't think those statements are very valid. Technology today isn't making us brain-dead, it isn't turning us into mindless being who just stare at blank screens all day like that little girl in Poltergeist. Our smartphones enable us to do puzzles in our pocket, to hold a hundred or more CDs in one wallet-sized device, to speak to someone in a different country, and perhaps a million other things. Smartphones aren't addicting so much as stimulating- they're a way to connect with the people around us in a millisecond.

And now it's time for me to sit back and wait for the invention of eyescreens. Then I will very much never get anything done ever again. Whoops.