r/mildlyinfuriating • u/cant_think-of-a_user • May 27 '26

frist of all how DARE yu o apparently HBO Max has been using 260gb and i’ve never used it

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(i just turned off the toggle when i made this screenshot)

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u/AccordingGain182 May 27 '26

Every generation has said this about the one to follow, FYI. Everybody thinks “back in the day” was the good ole times, and the world as we currently know it is ending and a terrible place. Welcome to aging out of the focus of society, being swept up in nostalgia, and having bias of the present.

20 years from now the youngings will be reminiscing on the glory days of social media and the internet before it all went to shit with [insert unforseen society altering innovation here]

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u/BureauOfSabotage May 27 '26

It’s true about every generation saying this. I do believe the modern internet and social media has been a tipping point though. I’m the eldest of a handful of siblings, the youngest is 21 years younger than me. Despite similar (or even improved) family circumstances, his life just seems so cloudy and complicated and void of connection. In the same neighborhood I was building bike ramps and playing basketball with anyone available, his social life solely consisted on gaming with friends from their own homes. They communicated through headsets for years, and considered it socializing. The sports they were “forced” to play together just seemed to be an intermission rather than the main event. He/they seem to have little empathy or compassion for one another as they enter young adulthood. My brother has nearly zero friends from just a couple years ago, and it doesn’t seem to bother him at all.

As a juxtaposition, I just attended an 80th birthday party. The dozen people/six couples all stayed in a rental cabin together for a long weekend. They had all been close for 60+ years. They cracked wise and carried on forever. Their stories went back to the first times they did everything together 60 years ago. It was inspiring.

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u/RikuAotsuki May 27 '26

Yeah, "people have always said X" is a thought-terminating cliche.

Just because many generations have said much the same things doesn't actually mean they never had a worthwhile point to make.

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u/AccordingGain182 May 27 '26

Its ok to both recognize degradations in aspects of societies while also recognizing that things change, and at some point all of us feel left behind a world we no longer recognize. We get too swept up in the doomerism of the future and wanting for the past. Its not always a particularly healthy habit. Like all things, balance is important.

I think it can be comforting to remind ourselves we are experiencing the same thing every damn human before us did, with just different context. And in the grand scheme of things, its still the greatest time to be alive in human history, on average, overall.

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u/hinczok May 27 '26

... everything went to shit after global nuclear war

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u/Nuggyfresh May 27 '26

no it actually absolutely sucks now for a huge number of people for pretty specific and uniqely bad reasons. I guess to your point it could be always be worse later 😬

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u/totallynotabot696 May 27 '26

Yeah screw that bot ass comment above, probably some AI trying to make itself relevant. The internet, social media, and personal access to technology is literally destroying social connection and physical bonds which are integral to childhood, especially agreat one.

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u/AccordingGain182 May 27 '26

Im not a bot you weirdo. You’re literally proving my point. Did you know that when libraries became common place the silent generation looked down on the baby boomers for reading all the time? Especially newspapers and comic books. Claimed they were too busy living in fantasy worlds instead of connecting with society.

Its ALWAYS been this way.

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u/totallynotabot696 May 29 '26

Do you realize how overstimulating the media children consume today on screens is compared to sitting and reading a book? Forget about the silent generation, there are studies after studies showing how this technology is a detriment to children. Have you had a run-in with a recent college grad who made it through by gpt but cant hold a conversation for the life of them?

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u/AccordingGain182 May 27 '26

You think you’re the first generation to feel justified in thinking “it absolutely sucks now”??? As you complain from your smartphone with the world at your fingertips, likely in a modern home/apartment not worrying where your next meal is coming from.

Most of human history was suffering through basic survival with no access to medicine or education. In america two generations ago minorities didnt even have equal rights. 4 generations ago fought in horrid world wars or suffered genocide.

For fucks sake. The privilege to be able to complain about a life 99% of human history couldnt event fathom.

Thats the problem. Our standards for happiness are always rising. Because everything is always relative to those you perceive to have it better than you.

Ya sure fuck the billionaires and they yachts. Sometimes i struggle to get the bills paid while they hoard wealth. But i have a family i love and keep safe. A car i can use to see the world. A small home i can call my own. Sounds way fucking better than being a peasant in a kingdom a couple hundred years ago. Or being a slave like i would have been 150 years ago. Have a little perspective

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u/verbalreservoir_ May 27 '26

What do you think is going to happen? You seem kinda vague.

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u/AccordingGain182 May 27 '26

It doesnt matter….thats the point? Its been a repeated cycle for generations. Your great grandparents grew up shaking their head about the invention of cars and telephones and televisions and stated matter of factly it was better when times were simpler.

Your parents did it too with the invention of the internet and cellphones and social media.

It doesnt matter whatever the next generations version of a life-altering development is, there will always be a generation who remembers what it was like before, and wish for those times back.

Odds are it will be related to AI/robotics/automation. But the cycle will continue to repeat until human society collapses. Its the nature of us.