Overheard my kid say 'the internet is for homework' and it hit weird

My 9 year old was on a school tablet and asked why people 'used the internet for fun' back in the day. Reddit threads, forum rants, all that stuff we lived in, she sees as just a tool. I realized the whole messy, weird community layer is gone for her generation. Has anyone else watched a young person treat the web like a utility and felt that shift?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair7022d ago

Back in the day" hit me right in the knees, man. I'm pretty sure I wasted half my teenage years arguing with strangers about which cartoon character could beat up another cartoon character. Now I just use the internet to check my bank account and look up how to fix my dryer. Hell, I told my kid I used to print out MapQuest directions and she looked at me like I said I churned my own butter. The messy weird community is still out there, it's just hiding in Discord servers now, and honestly I'm too tired to find it.

hannah_west3921d ago

Accept that the magic is mostly gone for her generation. They grew up with everything already loaded and ad-free, so the web feels like a vending machine. The messy stuff we loved was about discovery and accidents, not just finding answers. You can't force that on a kid who sees a search bar and thinks "homework." I'd rather she learn to dig for weird corners on her own than have me explain what a forum flame war was. The shift is real, and it's not coming back.