this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
62 points (98.4% liked)

Showerthoughts

31266 readers
683 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
    • If you feel strongly that you want politics back, please volunteer as a mod.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report the message goes away and you never worry about it.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

There seems to be a similar general demographic of late 30's to early 40's users here... (could easily be my confirmation bias saying that). I was around for Napster, GeoCities, MySpace, Yahoo, Mama, AoL, AiM, and if you are ~40yo, you likely were in this same wave of broad scale adoption of the internet by average Joe jr public in the latest 90's and early naughties. We are the first group where digital life is the rule, not the exception(s) and early adopters; the first gen of internet grandparents... How does that legacy play out. /r

all 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm 54. We built this shit from the ground up. We went from zero internet to dial-up as we went from teens to young adults.

We installed the first DSL and cable lines, mitigated Y2K in the field and on the keyboard.

We straddled the digital divide. We've seen it all.

tl:dr; Lawn. Off of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I came into this thread all puffed up with pride, only to be humbled by your post. Humility is important, thank you. Please accept my upvote as an insufficient offering to those who came before us.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Thank you! GenX is a unique generation. I often wonder what it was like at the dawn of the Industrial Age.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Uh oh! Don't forget ICQ!

Related note: Remember how all dads (ok not all, but a lot) knew how to fix a car? Now dads are in charge of fixing the computer/WiFi.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

My notification is still the ICQ UhOh sound. Drives my wife up the wall.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My notification sound is ICQ UhOh too! Damn I loved ICQ..way better than MSN ..I was so sad when everyone stopped using ICQ to use MSN

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah AIM for me but I did them all with pigeon

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Trillian FTW

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Ditto, my daughter thinks its great.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Cars are way more complicated. Maintenance is somewhat the same for things like brakes and oil, but taking down a check engine i light trigger is worse than wifi. No scanning for a code doesn't tell you what broke. It tells you what isn't reporting right. Diagnoses is up to you.

That being said, cars are way more reliable in general. We don't need to fix them nearly as often. Unless you're me and keep buying 90s shitboxes to save money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Just like our grandparents, check engine light can turn on if you cut the wire...

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I look forward to playing n64 Mario kart in the nursing home with the bros

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

You say Mario Kart 64 for the age cred but we both know it will be double dash and I'm from pre SNES Mario Kart era.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is no pre SNES Mario Kart era, the first Mario Kart was for the SNES..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I know I mean my first console was an atari first racing game was RC Pro Am for the nes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What features pushed you over to Wii. I was not a fan of the giro driving for Wii. But I'm interested in your thoughts .

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I’m just progressing the plot. I don’t really have Mario kart preference.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

You didn’t have to use motion control, but MKWii has motorcycles that actually had a mechanic that set them apart from the karts. They killed it on the switch, but you used to be able to pop a wheelie that would increase speed while making turns hard. Great for a boost on straightaways. The downside is the karts would bump you all over the course. MK8 motorcycles are just a slightly different stat than the karts. No real advantage or disadvantage.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Barely parents mate, grandparents fml

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

Shout out to my mom, who really drove us as a digital family when I was growing up.

She just turned 80 this week.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I must have missed Mama. I know the rest. Kinda weird that you didn't include tripod, angelfire, or talk city. Or message boards. I mean, Lemmy and reddit are essentially just message boards on steroids, but there used to be ACTUAL message boards.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

10bux

It was peak forum, for a little while at least.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

A person born in 1935 is 65

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm just shy of 40... My ex had what's now my son when I was 21. My son is 18 so... guess I'm kind of close to there... though my son has my level of anti-socialness so... I dont really see being a grandparent in the near future.