futurebird ,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

wicked mean delinquent children who are mean to their poor elderly teacher
:( “what’s a modem?”

“why would you need to go home to update a website?”

It never ends.

alienghic ,
@alienghic@octodon.social avatar

@futurebird

Tell them in your day the computers screamed when you connected them to the internet.

futurebird OP ,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@alienghic They screamed and howled! They knew it wasn’t a good idea… but we didn’t listen… no no we didn’t listen… wanders off muttering

stevegis_ssg ,
@stevegis_ssg@mas.to avatar

@futurebird @alienghic
My favorite, with younger computer people, is to describe the days before Arpanet, Bitnet, Usenet, et al. merged into The Internet as such. I had a friend at a school on Bitnet, my school was on Arpanet, and you had to know a computer that was on both to relay the messages.

And UUNet was just a bunch of computers periodically dialing each other up to say "Got anything for me?" so you had to know the entire connected path to send a message.

CatDragon ,
@CatDragon@mastodon.world avatar

@futurebird punish them by playing the AOL sign on noise on repeat.

billyjoebowers ,
@billyjoebowers@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird

Going to print this out and send it to my friends on my Qwip machine.

rysiek ,
@rysiek@mstdn.social avatar

@futurebird "what's a website? like, a fanpage?"

leadore ,
@leadore@sunny.garden avatar

@futurebird But... do you mean they only access the internet via their phones, and none of them have a computer/internet service at home?

We still use modems today, if you have internet service at your house. It's that box with the blinking lights you connect to your router or directly to your computer. Your ISP rents it to you or you can buy your own.

futurebird OP ,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@leadore

"the modem--"
"do you mean the wifi?"
"no just the modem there was no wifi."
"... ?..."
"everyone had to get off the phone..."
"... so they could focus? Like how the sixth graders have to put their phones in the cubby all day?"

I think they are just messing with me at this point.

jrconlin ,
@jrconlin@soc.jrconlin.com avatar

@futurebird @leadore

You should show them this:

A photo of an Anderson Jacobson acoustic modem, which took a standard phone handset. It's basically a low beige box (hey, beige was The Color back in the 80's), with "cord" printed below two large soft rubber, vaguely bagel looking openings you would press the telephone handset into securely so two computers could scream at each other.
ALT
  • Reply
    • + futurebird
    grumpasaurus ,
    @grumpasaurus@fosstodon.org avatar

    @jrconlin @futurebird @leadore "CAN YOU GUARANTEE MY SAFETY"

    linuxfiend ,
    @linuxfiend@vmst.io avatar

    @grumpasaurus @jrconlin @futurebird @leadore

    I want a Winnebago.

    futurebird OP ,
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    @linuxfiend @grumpasaurus @jrconlin @leadore How do you make that thing in your handle blinky?

    What in the unicode is that?

    grumpasaurus ,
    @grumpasaurus@fosstodon.org avatar

    @futurebird @linuxfiend @jrconlin @leadore emojis enabled on your server

    apophis ,
    @apophis@brain.worm.pink avatar

    @futurebird @leadore it's funny but i really do wonder how much this constant intergenerational alienation of some of our most basic everyday experiences as social beings is really messing us up as a society if not necessarily species

    per_sonne ,
    @per_sonne@ciberlandia.pt avatar

    @apophis @futurebird @leadore
    "The stone..."
    "What stone?"
    "Before you used it on a mammoth, you had to chip it..."
    "Chip the mammoth?"
    "No, the stone, to make the blades!"
    "Blades? You mean, as in like my bronze axe?"
    "Bronze? What the..."
    At this point, they're just messing with me.

    swelljoe ,
    @swelljoe@mas.to avatar

    @futurebird @leadore see, this is why I could not teach children, because from this moment on, the entire curriculum would become "we're going to build the internet from first principles, starting with building an acoustic coupler modem and a dial-up BBS, so you understand."

    philip ,
    @philip@mallegolhansen.com avatar

    @futurebird @leadore @rysiek FWIW in this context, seemingly 29 is old, as I remember these events clear as day.

    Maybe it’s not about being old, just… not incredibly young?

    paulc ,
    @paulc@mstdn.social avatar

    @futurebird @leadore some day I will have to tell the interns that in the distant past only some staff had access to the Internet and that was via AOL dialup on a modem bank.

    underway ,
    @underway@masto.nyc avatar

    @futurebird @leadore 😂🤣 I remember those days

    thepoliticalcat ,
    @thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

    @futurebird 😂

    karabaic ,
    @karabaic@mastodon.social avatar

    @futurebird you should just sit there and <blink> at them

    apophis ,
    @apophis@brain.worm.pink avatar

    @futurebird i dunno, if a kid understands the significance of a private individual "updating their website" i think they'd realize nothing on their phone easily allows for the tasks required for that

    futurebird OP ,
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    @apophis They write code on their phones— and it’s not bad code— I think it’s bizarre still.

    ThirteenthWorrier ,
    @ThirteenthWorrier@mstdn.social avatar

    @futurebird
    I broke a hip reading this.

    ohmu ,
    @ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us avatar

    @futurebird
    Cruel. Heartless.

    mentallyalex ,
    @mentallyalex@beige.party avatar

    @futurebird :blobcat_thisisfine:

    Those children are mean spirited and should have their deserts withheld for a week! :blobcatlaugh:

    What's a modem indeed!

    shuffles back into the 90s with his AOL cds

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