I was born in 1998.
There are many timespans which include that year. Some of them started hundreds of years prior, some only a few. Many continue until the present day.
When I think about the state of the world when I began to comprehend it, it seems like it could have always been that way.
It’s hard to imagine a world without internet, without books, without the automobile, one where the borders on a map are wildly different. Yes, I can think about it, hear about it from people, and even experience it myself if I’m creative enough, but it still feels like I’m missing a piece that would be needed to fully grasp that other time period.
It’s even harder to comprehend how recent some of these changes are, which is what bugs me the most. Websites have only been around for 33 years. But having been born in the middle of that, I can’t quite grasp the recency of it.
How long something feels to someone is related to the proportion of their life that it takes up. Because websites, books, and countless other things have existed for 100% of my life, it feels like those things have been around forever, and that they could remain around forever. But a quick look at the history books tells us that it likely won’t, because it never has.