Oh, the woes of Digital Natives! Stateless living in veiled privacy. Endless information at hand, in hand, and with surveillance, caught up in an existential crisis of our own making. Just a click away, a most ludicrous way of self-loathing. In a peculiar display of digital self-flagellation, this generation has decided to punish themselves via old records with the flick of a finger!
Our Digital Natives live in an age where every online post, tweet, and cringe-worthy status update from transparent teenage years is etched forever in the annals of a collective digital history.
Moments of reflection turn to punishments from an ever-present past. Yes, you heard right; they’re reading their overzealous online fanfic of living, through a caricature of embarrassing posts that make a mother blush, and sober minds cringe — blogs of angst, tawdry tweets, unfinished schoolwork, and sorted emails. Innocent to some, controversial by others, you’ll never know how the roulette wheel lands.
Let’s not forget our erstwhile pre-digital natives. Born before the primordial internet era, they stare in amused bewilderment — memories of nonexistent records, one-sided, sparse, precious, and private collections. For them, forms are physical, tangible, and stored in cardboard boxes, not in clouds. Documents and photographs are treasured memories saved with reverence and care. Our Analog Ancients have yet to worry about impulsive posts returning to haunt them. No, their past is safe in the dark and dusty attics or the backs of closets. Safe as family secrets or forgotten by those left behind.
If memory serves, a phrase no more, as Google, Bing, and ChatGPT feed the youth forevermore. A simple search gives speedy direction to nostalgic tours of memory lane.
So while our Digital Natives are drowning in their digital detritus, cringing at their past persona and contemplating whether they should delete their online past and start afresh, the Analog Ancients are happily reminiscing over their fading memories of a paper past.
A juxtaposition nothing short of poetic irony: Digital Natives, plagued by an excess of history, and Analog Ancients, cherishing their precious few memories. A satire of the digital age, indeed!
To our Digital Natives: brace yourselves. The past is just a click or subpoena away. To our Analog Ancients: the future is here to stay and can’t be wished away.
