I mean, I haven't been alive for all of history unless the self-centered universe is a thing.

only for the intellectually diverse

In all industries the worker is eventually alienated from the process of production through specialization. They need not know the process of manufacture or how the machine functions. They must only know their part in it. In all cases the workers must be reduced to the significance of a cog so that they may be easily replaceable

So for an old fart like me, C/C++, netcode and multi threading senior, it's all over?

I was explaining to my kid what a cassette was, and then I realized that I had to explain what physical media was first. Like, no, movies and music didn't always just materialize out of the magic light-box.

Also had to explain to a nephew what the save icon was. That was funny.

The mediaiferous epoch.

Lol

"The internet was invented by Francis P. Mueller when an apple hit him straight in the dick..."

Well, you see kiddo, it all started with the Eternal September and it’s been downhill ever since. Also your music is too loud and stay off my lawn.

Believe it or not, there used to be a time when companies weren't invading every part of your life with ads.

Ads were 6 minutes of garbage between TV, and between the pages of magazines and newspapers.

People would talk to each other on the phone. No ads. Mark their calanders to get together if they felt like it. No ads. Then actually meet up. Some ads.

Now, when you talk to anyone you know on Facebook? Ads. Any social media? Ads. Opening Google calander? Ads. Twitter? The person you're talking to is an bot /ad. I don't even have to be watching an actual TV show now to be served ads on my TV. Just turning it on gives me an ad.

These ads are from organizations trying to spin you a narrative urging you to give them money. The strategies they use for this are fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Things like: "Don't miss out on that Lububu!" "Make sure to book your tickets for the movie opening next week!" "Make sure to buy this pillow before liberals take it from you."

People now believe these narratives simply because they've been shoved into every aspect of our lives via social media.

These ads, collectively, are not something that ever existed in any society to the amount they do now. So it's absolutley no surprise that the "narrative" these ads are telling us is completely warping people's minds.

People still think Fox News is news. Simply because that's how it's advertised.

A lot of people equate 'the internet' with the web, which would be 1989.

Others will point to when they got their first email address, some years before that.

Really though, you should be looking at the beginning of ARPANET, which goes back to 1969.

I peg the start around 1994. By then it was a household term, computers and dial up were fast becoming ubiquitous, people were learning to navigate the web, etc.