EN 
IT Those Analog Days.
The more we move forward into the digital era, the more I miss the analog one.
I’m a child of the ’90s, born in a time suspended between the before and after of technology. I’ve witnessed the steady transformation and everything that came with it. But let’s go step by step.
Let’s be honest, when I was a teenager, the change was already happening. I was already enjoying some of the privileges of technology, I admit it, but nothing could have really prepared me for what I’m witnessing today.
There were already mobile phones when I was young, which must have been a big change for my parents’ and grandparents’ generations too, I imagine. But back then, they were taken for what they really were: useful tools to communicate and reach people even when you couldn’t be near them. The idea of connection already existed and, yes, I admit, it could keep you glued to your phone, but it was just to feel closer to someone. There wasn’t the kind of passive, meaningless use we see today, and you hardly spent 80 percent of your time on it spreading hate or being someone’s hater.
The Internet was also a huge step forward, of course, but let’s be honest again: you needed a lot of time to spend hours in front of the computer, and quite a bit of imagination to use it the way we do now, considering that most interactions took place in chats or forums. Those platforms allowed for a kind of anonymity that could protect you from the real insults or bullying that people now face openly.
Today, on the other hand, we are completely exposed. There’s no real privacy anymore unless you’re extremely careful. We constantly observe other people’s lives without real interest, we feel entitled to give opinions on things that don’t actually concern us, everything is within reach, and we’ve lost the pleasure of even the smallest things, from looking to discovering, from receiving to giving. Curiosity is gone, innocence is gone, everything feels taken for granted, and very few things truly satisfy us.
Let’s try an experiment: let’s live disconnected for a couple of days. Let’s reduce the use of our phones to the bare minimum needed to stay in touch with friends and family. Let’s forget about social networks and observe ourselves. Let’s watch ourselves be surprised by how interesting real life still is. Let’s notice how we smile when we hear an old song playing on the radio, how satisfying it feels to buy a newspaper or magazine we used to love, how we finally notice that picture on the wall at our favorite restaurant because, for once, the phone isn’t on the table.
Once, being online was a choice, an option that allowed us to take a break from real life before returning to it right after. Now it feels more like a golden cage, one we can no longer detach from, a constant mirror of judgment and comparison, a virtual reality that drives our real one instead of the other way around.
I wish I could go back to when life felt more authentic.
How do you experience all this?