Apple vs. digital generations vs. me

On Connected #124: (54:03) (transcribed by Otter)

Federico: I remember life before the smartphone, before the, you know, the Internet everywhere. But it’s, I also don’t really remember it, like, it almost doesn’t make any sense that there was a time where you can’t look up, you know, maps on your phone…

Myke: Yeah, yeah.

Federico: Or talk to anyone for free. Like, these things, they were started, kick started by the iPhone and by the App Store. But I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that we’re getting older, could be, and maybe it’s the fact that it’s been 10 years. But it, like I struggled to remember how it used to be. Like I remember when my parents and I went on road trips, we had to actually take out, you know, fold out maps with us. And now you just walk out and you fire up Google Maps or Apple Maps on your phone and, you know, you can get to anywhere.

Stephen: Yeah.

Federico: So it is difficult for me to remember how it used to be, because it’s been such a fundamental change to society, to the way that we do everything. I struggled to remember how it used to be. I know I used to have other phones, I know it used to be different. It just doesn’t make sense when I think about it.

Well, I certainly remember my life before the Internet everywhere. I remember having to look up a hug bus route table book every weekend morning, and my frist phone was a dumb phone when I was 14, because my parents were very sick of not being able to contact me when I was out doing stuff alone.

Also: I am eight years younger than Federico.

Recently I have been thinking about this a lot. Many Chinese of the same age as me are in a very strange position as of digital generation. We were able to pick up computers and Internet at a very young age, but still had to mostly rely on analog stuff up until very recent. I have been using Mac for several years now, but my mum still asks me for Windows tech support, since she does not want to spend the time to adapt to macOS after more than twenty years.
When I had a dumb phone, I was on GSM or EDGE all the time, and used SMS to post to Weibo, typed on T9 keyboard.
When I had my first Blackberry, for the first time I had mobile Internet connection, and read long format articles every morning on its beautiful huge screen (not anymore on today’s standards).
When I had my first iPad (mini gen 1), I used it to took photos and post them to Instagram, because I post my good photos taken by a DSLR to Flickr. Now I post all photos to Instagram, and my Flickr account is just another IFTTT ghost.

I remember using Google China and Yahoo China. I remember installing Maxthon on a super slow Win 2000 computer. I remember longing for bluetooth earphones that I could listen to music on without hurting my ears. But, oh my, they do feel like a previous life.