As always, this is excellent and really, really thought-provoking. It seems to me that social media (and all their effects and consequences) are moving targets, not just through accelerating technological change, but also in ways that are very generational. Your statement "I’ve been on social media for nearly 20 years" initially seemed amazing, even shocking to me. I don't think any generation necessarily understands at all how each subsequent generation is using social media, and also that the time period between each "new" generation is getting shorter. [Aside: I am now so elderly that I'm actually five months too old to be a boomer, thank goodness.] Your understanding of the middle years in the life cycle strikes me as wise and accurate. Also your discussion of what is actual friendship and what is important.
I also find it shocking that it’s been 20 years. How?! Midlife has brought me an increasing awareness of how lucky we elder millennials were, to not be digital natives. My grandma had a rotary phone, and we had a car with manual windows and locks. We were the first generation to grow up quasi-digital, and I think there will be (already are?) many think pieces on how we were the final analog kids. James and I want a lot of tangible learning for our kids: globe, dictionary, analog clocks. It feels anachronistic and necessary at the same time. I struggle with how to raise kids in a world I increasingly don’t understand or partake in, but that’s a whole other series of blog musings.
As always, this is excellent and really, really thought-provoking. It seems to me that social media (and all their effects and consequences) are moving targets, not just through accelerating technological change, but also in ways that are very generational. Your statement "I’ve been on social media for nearly 20 years" initially seemed amazing, even shocking to me. I don't think any generation necessarily understands at all how each subsequent generation is using social media, and also that the time period between each "new" generation is getting shorter. [Aside: I am now so elderly that I'm actually five months too old to be a boomer, thank goodness.] Your understanding of the middle years in the life cycle strikes me as wise and accurate. Also your discussion of what is actual friendship and what is important.
I also find it shocking that it’s been 20 years. How?! Midlife has brought me an increasing awareness of how lucky we elder millennials were, to not be digital natives. My grandma had a rotary phone, and we had a car with manual windows and locks. We were the first generation to grow up quasi-digital, and I think there will be (already are?) many think pieces on how we were the final analog kids. James and I want a lot of tangible learning for our kids: globe, dictionary, analog clocks. It feels anachronistic and necessary at the same time. I struggle with how to raise kids in a world I increasingly don’t understand or partake in, but that’s a whole other series of blog musings.