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midnight.pub midnight.pub/posts/2679

You know, often, when I say I miss older ways of computing or connecting online, people tell me "there's nothing stopping you from doing that now!" and they are technicay correct in most cases (though I can't, for example, chat with friends on MSN ever again...) However, let me explain that while this type of thing can *sort of* fill that hole in my heart, it isn't *the same.*

Say, for example, I wanted to

connect with others over a BBS.

The same can be said of old media. People will say "well, nobody is stopping you from watching old shows/movies now!" Again, they are technically correct. I can go home right now and watch *Star Trek: The Next Generation* to my heart's content. It will never again, however, be current, or new. When something is new, it serves as a shared cultural experience. Remember how "Game of Thrones* felt in the mid-to-late 2010s? Yeah, that.

It's sad. I sustain myself on a mixed diet of old things, new things, and new things intended for old millenials like me who like old things. It can be bittersweet.

The difference for me is marked by

the more organic way people used to

I myself own a cassette tape player, because there are a few music clips inaccessible to the public forms of streaming media.

I wouldn't say there's something magical about using a Walkman, but there is something practical about just pressing a single button and having the music play without delay.

I would say it's practicality and pragmatism that's missing from most stuff deemed retro.

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