Gen-X Woman Points Out How Ridiculous Today’s Social Media Habits Would Have Looked In The 80s
Nano Erdozain | Pexels It’s the 1980s. I walk into the gym, ready for my aerobics class. Before Natalie starts up, I load my 110 Kodak Elektralite with film and ask Julie to take a picture of me posing in my leg warmers, making a tight bicep curl.
Boof! The flash goes off, and I hear the camera's high-pitched scream as it resets.
After class, I’m taking this roll to Eckerd Drugs to get it developed and sending a copy to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, so all my friends can see my weight-loss progress. Oooh darn, I should’ve posed with a glass of water filled with Crystal Light — maybe that would influence people to buy it.
While Gen-X got up to plenty of mischief, there was little to no evidence of most of it
Yellyana / Shutterstock
Tonight we are going out. Richard is picking me up at 9, then we’re going to Tom’s house party. He’s making trash can punch with Everclear. Three hours later, I’m feeling it.
Kathy and I sneak away from the party, run down the street, and steal a street sign with Brian’s name on it. Brian Drive. Karen got a picture of it and is going to share it with her mom. Her mom is cool and usually thinks the stuff we do is pretty funny.
The next day, my mom bangs on my door screaming, “What did you do?!” I can hear the rasp of her Virginia Slims in her voice. What the heck is she so mad about?
I get out of bed and open the door. She’s standing there with a police officer. He’s holding a picture of Kathy and me with the sign. I guess Karen’s mom didn’t think that was so funny.
“I love steak, look at this!” screamed Paige. She took her Polaroid camera out of her bag and started taking pictures of her dinner plate.
“What the?” I yelled at her, “Everyone is staring at you. What are you doing?”
“I want to capture this so I can never forget it, and I’m going to take enough copies to share it with all of my friends.” She squealed and continued tossing half-developed images of steak on the table. I look around, embarrassed. She looks unhinged.
I’m thinking of cheating on my boyfriend. Maybe I’ll write Susan a note during Algebra and ask her opinion.
As I slip her the note, I have an uneasy feeling. Surely she wouldn’t show anyone. I mean, we just became friends. She’s super popular, and I’m not even sure why she wants to be friends with me.
After school, I’m sitting at the table doing my homework when I hear, “Hey, dope, pick up the phone!” from my sister.
I scramble to my room, slam the door, flop on my bed, and pick up my yellow Trimline phone.
“Hello?” I ask, wondering which one of my few friends will be on the other end.
“So you want to cheat on me? Tell you what, don’t bother; we’re done!” he slams the phone down.
My mouth gaped open. Maybe I shouldn’t have put that in writing.
Gen-X did stupid stuff, but in many cases, we got away with it
Eric Prouzet / Unsplash
Mostly because we were smarter than to document, photograph, or share our shenanigans with the general public, and partially because we are one of the last generations raised before the internet and social media.
We enjoyed the world as it was, and we could just afford to develop that roll of Kodachrome 24 for $4.99, so those pictures had to be special.
When I go to the gym, I now have to navigate around what I call influencer hour. Those few hours when the younger generations are there not to work out but to document the idea that they are working out and share it with the world.
Get off the machine with your 35 selfies (they all look the same, by the way) and let me do my seated rows.
The last time I was in a position to hire staff members, I was stunned by how seemingly intelligent people would document and share parts of their lives on social media that could make or break their chances of getting a job.
Posting cryptic things like, “You can’t speak love and anger out of the same mouth” at 3 a.m. speaks volumes. You’re not fooling anyone. We all know who you’re talking to. Go fix your relationships offline.
Generations change, but social media has made us all uber self-absorbed and a little bit stupid
So, before you snap, write, or post, ask yourself:
“Does anyone really care about this?”
“Is photographing this a good idea?”
“If I write this, will it bite me in the behind later?”
“Who cares about my steak?”
Chances are you’ll be surprised at the answers.
P.S. Eckerd called. Your film is ready, and I took the liberty of telling them you wanted doubles.
Kristen Crisp is the founder of Not Even Wine With Dinner. A community/mission for those looking for peer support with sobriety, self-esteem, mental health, aging, and all the things that come with being human. She is also a frequent writer on Medium under the handle @notevenwinewithdinner.
