this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

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There seems to be a similar general demographic of late 30's to early 40's users here... (could easily be my confirmation bias saying that). I was around for Napster, GeoCities, MySpace, Yahoo, Mama, AoL, AiM, and if you are ~40yo, you likely were in this same wave of broad scale adoption of the internet by average Joe jr public in the latest 90's and early naughties. We are the first group where digital life is the rule, not the exception(s) and early adopters; the first gen of internet grandparents... How does that legacy play out. /r

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[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm 54. We built this shit from the ground up. We went from zero internet to dial-up as we went from teens to young adults.

We installed the first DSL and cable lines, mitigated Y2K in the field and on the keyboard.

We straddled the digital divide. We've seen it all.

tl:dr; Lawn. Off of it.

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I came into this thread all puffed up with pride, only to be humbled by your post. Humility is important, thank you. Please accept my upvote as an insufficient offering to those who came before us.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Thank you! GenX is a unique generation. I often wonder what it was like at the dawn of the Industrial Age.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Uh oh! Don't forget ICQ!

Related note: Remember how all dads (ok not all, but a lot) knew how to fix a car? Now dads are in charge of fixing the computer/WiFi.

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

My notification is still the ICQ UhOh sound. Drives my wife up the wall.

[–] czardestructo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Ditto, my daughter thinks its great.

[–] ThunderLegend@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My notification sound is ICQ UhOh too! Damn I loved ICQ..way better than MSN ..I was so sad when everyone stopped using ICQ to use MSN

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah AIM for me but I did them all with pigeon

[–] not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Trillian FTW

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cars are way more complicated. Maintenance is somewhat the same for things like brakes and oil, but taking down a check engine i light trigger is worse than wifi. No scanning for a code doesn't tell you what broke. It tells you what isn't reporting right. Diagnoses is up to you.

That being said, cars are way more reliable in general. We don't need to fix them nearly as often. Unless you're me and keep buying 90s shitboxes to save money.

[–] slumberlust@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Just like our grandparents, check engine light can turn on if you cut the wire...

[–] artificialfish@programming.dev 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I look forward to playing n64 Mario kart in the nursing home with the bros

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You say Mario Kart 64 for the age cred but we both know it will be double dash and I'm from pre SNES Mario Kart era.

[–] DarkMetatron@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There is no pre SNES Mario Kart era, the first Mario Kart was for the SNES..

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah I know I mean my first console was an atari first racing game was RC Pro Am for the nes.

[–] artificialfish@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What features pushed you over to Wii. I was not a fan of the giro driving for Wii. But I'm interested in your thoughts .

I’m just progressing the plot. I don’t really have Mario kart preference.

[–] invertedspear@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago

You didn’t have to use motion control, but MKWii has motorcycles that actually had a mechanic that set them apart from the karts. They killed it on the switch, but you used to be able to pop a wheelie that would increase speed while making turns hard. Great for a boost on straightaways. The downside is the karts would bump you all over the course. MK8 motorcycles are just a slightly different stat than the karts. No real advantage or disadvantage.

[–] ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Barely parents mate, grandparents fml

[–] radix@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Shout out to my mom, who really drove us as a digital family when I was growing up.

She just turned 80 this week.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I must have missed Mama. I know the rest. Kinda weird that you didn't include tripod, angelfire, or talk city. Or message boards. I mean, Lemmy and reddit are essentially just message boards on steroids, but there used to be ACTUAL message boards.

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

10bux

It was peak forum, for a little while at least.

[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

I'm just shy of 40... My ex had what's now my son when I was 21. My son is 18 so... guess I'm kind of close to there... though my son has my level of anti-socialness so... I dont really see being a grandparent in the near future.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

A person born in 1935 is 65