A few years ago it wouldn't have been uncommon for me to think something along the lines of, "I wish I'd been born in a different decade." I thought, surely, that my disinterest in the popular culture of my peers wouldn't be so if I had been born in, say, 1969. Surely my tastes were simply crafted for a different era.
Over the years, I've realized just how wrong I was - hilariously so, I might say. Because in these last few years I've come to one absolutely certain revelation - I would not be the man I am today were it not for the technology of this very era. I would not like the things I like, I would not think the way I think, I would not know the people I love if not for the opportunities our technology offers.
I fear I may sound hyperbolic. Yet I assure you I have not exaggerated one bit. Let's explain, looking in detail at ways technology has changed my life, and how those very things would be impossible, or nearly impossible, if not for that technology.
Perhaps one of the most marked changes I've undergone in recent years was in my musical taste. Ironically, as important as music is for me today, six years ago my stated opinion on music was that I didn't care - I had never been affected by music in any meaningful way. The turning point for that came in the fall of my sixth grade year, when I received my first iPod, and two CDs from my aunt and uncle compiled from their favorite songs. The closest approximation to these gifts twenty years ago would have been a Walkman and some mixtapes, and I hardly think my aunt and uncle, with their two children, would have had time to meticulously compile mixtapes from their favorite songs by the age-old process of hoping each came on the radio. With my exposure to music begun, it was only a matter of time before I began seeking out music of my own. Not through radio, because there has never been a time in my life where the bulk of what one might find on the radio had any appeal to me whatsoever. Rather, I found it through the internet. Hey, I'll admit that some of it I discovered through Guitar Hero. But technology deserves the credit nonetheless. In time I began to crave more music that I could take with me on my oh-so-futuristic iPod. Inevitably, the piracy began. Was it legal? Not at all. But was it pivotal? Absolutely. The freedom to download what I wanted, when I wanted, and to take it where I pleased invigorated and almost certainly enable music to take hold of its important place in my life. My music tastes have changed beyond recognition since then, almost entirely due to music I was exposed to over the internet, or by friends who found it the same way. Today I've invested large sums of money into a record collection that I doubt I ever would have wanted if not for the influence of some people on the internet.
In similar fashion, I doubt my opinions would be the same without technology - particularly the internet. Surely there are individuals in my life who deserve a great deal of credit, particularly my father. But the internet gave me somewhere to discuss and refine these opinions in ways the real world never could. The influence of internet communities that I've frequented at different times such as Reddit and Tumblr on my political views is inestimable. What's significantly more measurable is the internet's influence on my religious beliefs - or rather, lack thereof. Without a doubt, my own crisis of faith that eventually led to my current beliefs was not only catalyzed, but entirely caused by information I found through the internet. My exponential growth in skepticism that eventually led to recanting my faith has influenced my worldview in myriad ways since then, and I imagine that a Michael living twenty years ago would still have been an obedient Catholic boy.
But the most profound effect technology has had on me has been on the level of personal relationships. It seems to me that many in the previous generation have a great deal of skepticism regarding the internet's ability to actually develop relationships, and certainly Facebook has not been a great ambassador for this. But aside from the myriad interests my friends and I share that simply would not exist without technology, allow me to supply two compelling examples. The first of a good friend. A year and a half ago we met over the blogging website Tumblr. We struck up a friendship and began texting. Over time our friendship grew. I offered him support and friendship that he simply did not have at home in California. He offered me someone to talk to when my concerns and anxieties were to inflammatory or secretive to be shared with those I knew at home or at school. In time our relationship came to the level of brotherly affection. Without a doubt we never would have known of each other's existence, much less become such close friends without technology.
The second example is a little less obvious. It's my girlfriend. Now, one would think it absurd to say our relationship would not be the same, or would not exist, without technology. After all, she lives little more than a mile away - walking distance. But if not for technology, I never would've known about the webcomic that originated that character who I dressed up as to go to a tiny little convention in a local library. And I never would have met her. Without the internet I never would've been reminded of her existence by Tumblr. Without the internet I never would have begun messaging her frequently online. And we never would have discovered that we did live so close together. The cartoon that gave us cause to meet for the first time to watch it together, we never would've known about it. The anime that we watched together on the day we first kissed, we never would have known it existed. Without Skype and cell phones the amount we talk to each other would be reduced by 95%, almost entirely to weekends. Dare I say that, without the kind of bonding and connection we've gained through technology, we never would have lasted as long as we have.
I can't imagine what my life would be like without these two people. Or without the music that fills my life, day-in, day-out. Or without the very opinions that shape my worldview. I know that were I born 20 years ago, I would not be the same person I am today. And I suspect I would not be as happy a person. My life is defined by technology. So is that of everyone my age, in ways they take for granted every day. We are the Internet Generation, and I would never have it any other way.
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