(N=1) I have a general feeling that the next generation is more consumerist due to this lack of permanence in the tools they grew up with. Live in the vibrant present because the past is inaccessible and the future is too difficult to think about.
A world where kids can retreat into the comforts of the past doesn't exist as an option, and they can only turn to the enshittified analogs of the present, with the knowledge that they won't exist in the future. It's a generation forced to be existentially apathetic to anything other than the now.
This is a fascinating theory/perspective, and it makes sense, though reading it I've felt an itch in the back of my mind: What about photography? We now have the fortune of having a camera with us everywhere. My parents derive great enjoyment from showing their childhood photos, and I must imagine this phenomenon will continue – though maybe it won't? Conversely, the accessibility of photography lends itself to potential over-utilization and hence devaluation. This year alone, I'm nearing 2000 photos taken. In 20 years, how will I pick out the ones that matter? Before, photography was for the special things, now it's for everything. Even though my parents have smartphones, they still have this mentality of photos as a precious resource. My dad has taken less than 200 in the whole lifetime of his phone. This just doesn't exist anymore.
Sorry if this wasn't coherent, you just got my mind turning and I started spitballing! Thank you.
Ok, but it’s that or hand-curate thousands of photos per year. That option’s still there, but what’s actually happening is most folks let the computer figure it out.
I would agree. I'm 15 and I usually spend my time away from the culture, news and technology of today. I don't even know how to use Spotify, never owned Bluetooth headphones, don't plan on dropping Windows XP on 2 of my laptops anytime soon, and use Winamp. I didn't even know Apple was making a VR headset until yesterday and I had to ask what a Thunderbolt port was.
I don't like making this the typical "oh im so unique my generation is stupid" but everything from my past is fading away into obsolescence and the things I like are so dumb now. Games are getting way shittier, barely anyone makes a finished game with a standard bonus multiplayer coop/deathmatch anymore, now every game is a fucking live service e-sport that's free to download and expensive to actually get good items in. Technology is driven by surveillance capitalism and whatever fad this week catches on with the false promises pushed by AI bros and crypto bros, hardware is getting less open and harder to repair. Thank god I was raised with a homemade PC built out of the crappiest parts imaginable because it taught me a lot. Countless hours of trying W7, W10, random Linux distros, overclocking, figuring out why it won't post, upgrading things, maxing out the DDR3 RAM, plugging in a fan found in the basement only for the cable to start pouring smoke, exploding a hard drive after playing TF2 one Friday night for like 3 hours because I bought 5 MvM tickets.
Maybe I'm just some edgy kid going on about how woe is me and the world sucks but it seems to me things are getting harder to enjoy in the world.
A world in which it’s easy and cheap (or even possible!) to enjoy lots of media of the past is itself a very new thing. Within living memory, hearing a song on-demand meant being or knowing someone who could play an instrument. Those family sing-alongs around the piano that you see in older movies and shows, tapering off (but still sometimes appearing!) in the 80s, are an artifact of that time.
Seeing some kind of performance, or a film, at home, was even harder until pretty recently.
Things like acting in community theater or being able to play an instrument or having other kinds of small-time artistic talent used to be a lot more socially valuable.
A world where kids can retreat into the comforts of the past doesn't exist as an option, and they can only turn to the enshittified analogs of the present, with the knowledge that they won't exist in the future. It's a generation forced to be existentially apathetic to anything other than the now.