Wednesday, June 27, 2007

generation gap

Talking to my 20-year-old little brother.

Me: Do you and your friends email each other?

Tom: Mainly we IM.

Me: What if you're not both online at the same time?

Tom: We send emails, but how much can you say in an email?

Me: You can say a lot! Bob* and Vanessa* used to trade ten-page-long emails right as they started dating.

Tom: [sputtering] Ten - page - emails??

Me: It's not that unusual. A lot of people have done that.

Tom: I didn't even know email clients could support emails that long!

Me: Don't be absurd.

Tom: Why didn't they just break out the quill and fountain ink? And ready the carrier pigeons!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

And by "generation", you mean in internet years, right?

ThomasHan said...

dang, then I must be *really* old.

we actually meet up in person and talk (yes! face to face), now that's a first for the new generation, huh? :)

Anonymous said...

I use threaded SMS on my treo... just like IM (at least to me!) .. always great for a funny comment or clear insight

Anonymous said...

I met the love of my life by chance while working in a time zone 12 hours different from my home...The proverbial other side of the world.

Cannot get farther away...

We exchanged e-mails...then after chatting online... We exchanged phone numbers.. Then, texting, sms, web cam etc...

At first it was.. Hi how are you?
Then a good friendship developed..

The next thing I knew If my mail was empty and no text messages, I longed for her. EVERY DAY

Conversation went from "I hope that we meet again" to We must meet again"

After 7 years of university, grad school for both of us...so far from each other... We met...

Totally different dynamic from a tryst with the local girl.

The Internet has changed the world in so many ways.

Mom and Dad grew up 9 blocks away from each other...

Even though we now live in the same city... I love her every word sent by test, or e-mail..

Anonymous said...

Written letters are best--you can embellish the margins with little quips and doodles, and the delay builds anticipation. Then again, I'm probably the only person in the known universe that prints their porn. When you're sitting there in your fez and smoking jacket, it's nice to have something, er, tangible...

Minya said...

Hey Niniane, happy birthday! If I remember correctly, this should be a late happy birthday. Now I decided not to wait for your post about it. I still remember how you looked at your house a year ago at the offsite. Thanks for treating us interns so nicely.