internet explorers club | growing up in / with / in spite of the internet

I have no idea what generation I'm a part of. This is, for people my age, not a surprising conundrum. Some identify with Gen X, some with Generation Catalano, some with the older end of Millennial, but I think I'm just going to give up, or at the very least identify with "Jen Why" from Wonderfalls.

Regardless: those of my age have the luxury / burden of having grown up on the Internet, with all that entails. I feel fortunate that my rise happened before the age of social media, but during the age of websites-- as embarrassing as my first website was, it's actually kind of endearing (spoiler alert: I am just as pedantic as ever):

There have been some great pieces the last few weeks that dealt with that issue - growing up with the internet (and by with here, I really do mean alongside). Summer Anne Burton wrote literally How I Grew Up On The Internet, and with the notable exception of Manic Panic hair dye, it's pretty similar to my youth -- but with Titanic RPGs instead of horse ones. I love that the slug is "social networking: a love story," because there is something about the relationships we formed in those early days that have a weird lasting effect. I am, after all, still friends with someone I met in a Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Beejoli Shah wrote A Eulogy for my AIM Screen Names, My Former Lives, to which I will also say RIP Chica1914, ironysquared, randommaven, hummely098, etcetera.

Speaking of our Current Internet Lives, Leigh Alexander has written Let's Ignore Each Other Together, and it purports to be about wearable tech, but like so much Leigh writes, is much deeper than that.

Now, please, get back to watching Groundhog Day, as is your National Duty today.

--Emily

p.s. I love the dancing sharks at the Super Bowl so much, so here you go:

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