generation tech

i've been thinking lately about how much time i spend online. this first occurred to me one day at work, i checked my gmail account, and saw that two people had posted comments on my myspace page. i could barely wait to get home to check what they had written (myspace is blocked at my work. made me very angry at first, but i've come to realize it's probably the best decision a business can make). then, i get home and check myspace, only to move on to facebook, watch an episode of grey's anatomy on abc.com, check my email, my bank account (all of which i had done just 3 hours before at work) and eventually sign off.

and at work, we were discussing when we started relying on email. i'm the youngest person in my department, and some were saying they didn't use email until college, until their third job, until they started at a different company, whatever. i chime in and say that i had my first email address in 8th grade. they looked at me like i was some kind of internet slut. feefee18@hotmail.com. that's what it was...i don't think it works any more though. (i remember when i got it too. i was into yahoo chatrooms and such - my god, that sounds terrible - and some kid that i chatted with for 5 hours told me about hotmail...and i was nervous to sign up, because i thought someone would be able to trace me to my house)

so after lunch today, i was perusing facebook.com, and found a group to join, made up of people that went to my grade school. i took a peek at the members, thinking, "i'll know everyone in this group!" low and behold, there are people in the group that are graduating high school in 2010. that means they'll be done with college at the earlist in 2014. i'll be 32. but they all have pages, and have pictures they've posted (some of the girls are really slutty looking too...i don't think i looked like that when i was in 9th grade) needless to say, i don't know any of them.

so someday, i'll be sitting at work, talking with my co-workers about my first email address at age 13, and someone 15 years younger than me will say that they had an email address when they were 7. and i'll feel just as old as the people i said it to.