Cyberbob
Traveler
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2022
- Messages
- 58
- Reaction score
- 128
- Awards
- 34
Like many of you, I grew up on the net. When I wasn't in school, I was wired in. Messing with HyperCard. Downloading mystical software and MP3s. Adventuring in Myst. Chatting on AOL Kids Only chat rooms. Exploring the world wide web.
I have a deep nostalgia for the 90s net and the early web. I know many of you do too. For some of you, it might be BBS era nostalgia. Or IRC, MUDs, newsgroups, you name it. For others, it might be MySpace nostalgia, early YouTube, Halo, or Wii.
Regardless your era, these digital realms of our formative years are either changed, becoming vacated, or gone entirely.
Unlike those before us, or those increasing few alongside us who never took to the thrills of digital life, our digital nostalgia, combined with rapid technological innovation, have perhaps in some ways warped our psyche.
Imagine if your childhood memories were exclusively sports, or chess, fishing, hunting, cooking, cleaning, crafting — analog, classic-in-the-sense-of-timeless activities. Personally, I have many memories of all of these things, but none nearly as significant to me as my digital experiences. Those, my cherished digital experiences, were what shaped me, for better or worse, because they captivated me. And so, those memories are what form my nostalgia.
It's easy to imagine a life of analog nostalgia, one less impacted by technological change. As an adult, we might find great joy in returning to those nostalgic things, like fishing, carpentry, or watching baseball, and in many cases, little will have changed. Perhaps a new setting, or new people by your side, but all the same experiences would be there, largely undisturbed by time, waiting for you to revel in again.
For us, those with nostalgia for digital places of old, our old ways and their realms are gone. The hardware too ancient. The software incomplete or incompatible. The interface too dated. The graphics too poor. If you emulate or virtualize your way back to nirvana, many of these places are now empty. But of those that aren't, there is still something awry— times have changed. We have changed. We have seen beyond the promise of the early net. We have experienced post-wonder. And where there is not wonder, what is there left?
We are left with an unquenched longing. A place of unbelonging.
But, we wander on, seeking wonder. Some of us will find it. Others, we'll have to create it ourselves. New realms. New places for others, like our younger selves, to revel in. So that they too might form their own unquenchable longing, and wander on, seeking, creating.
I have a deep nostalgia for the 90s net and the early web. I know many of you do too. For some of you, it might be BBS era nostalgia. Or IRC, MUDs, newsgroups, you name it. For others, it might be MySpace nostalgia, early YouTube, Halo, or Wii.
Regardless your era, these digital realms of our formative years are either changed, becoming vacated, or gone entirely.
Unlike those before us, or those increasing few alongside us who never took to the thrills of digital life, our digital nostalgia, combined with rapid technological innovation, have perhaps in some ways warped our psyche.
Imagine if your childhood memories were exclusively sports, or chess, fishing, hunting, cooking, cleaning, crafting — analog, classic-in-the-sense-of-timeless activities. Personally, I have many memories of all of these things, but none nearly as significant to me as my digital experiences. Those, my cherished digital experiences, were what shaped me, for better or worse, because they captivated me. And so, those memories are what form my nostalgia.
It's easy to imagine a life of analog nostalgia, one less impacted by technological change. As an adult, we might find great joy in returning to those nostalgic things, like fishing, carpentry, or watching baseball, and in many cases, little will have changed. Perhaps a new setting, or new people by your side, but all the same experiences would be there, largely undisturbed by time, waiting for you to revel in again.
For us, those with nostalgia for digital places of old, our old ways and their realms are gone. The hardware too ancient. The software incomplete or incompatible. The interface too dated. The graphics too poor. If you emulate or virtualize your way back to nirvana, many of these places are now empty. But of those that aren't, there is still something awry— times have changed. We have changed. We have seen beyond the promise of the early net. We have experienced post-wonder. And where there is not wonder, what is there left?
We are left with an unquenched longing. A place of unbelonging.
But, we wander on, seeking wonder. Some of us will find it. Others, we'll have to create it ourselves. New realms. New places for others, like our younger selves, to revel in. So that they too might form their own unquenchable longing, and wander on, seeking, creating.
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Virtual Cafe Awards
