• atomicorange@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Y’all remember the computer room? Like that guest bedroom or whatever that wasn’t really used for anything other than housing The Computer?

    • tiramichu@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Plus all the accoutrements that invariably went along with The Computer.

      A printer and a scanner

      A filing cabinet for all the things you liked to print and scan

      A rack full of CD-ROM disks like Encarta 95 and Ecco The Dolphin and CorelDRAW 4

      A beige container with clear plastic lid for storing floppy disks, that for some reason had a lock on it as if floppy disks were the Crown Jewels

      • 𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        I still have all this stuff and the room. probably because I am not good at cleaning. also the office chair straight out of 90s. Maybe if enough time passes of not throwing things out I will be able to open a museum and make some extra

          • 𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            I don’t know, I feel like office chairs are made for some aliens. Never found one that is comfortable so I always sit like some fucking crab in a jar, feet on the table, hands desperately trying to maintain stable connection to peripherals.
            Truth to be said I gave up on sitting. I do all my work reclined, slightly stoned, half nude with an air fan on max setting in a 25 wet bulb celsius

      • atomicorange@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        So many accoutrements! This was also the original home of the box of random cables that lived under the bed. Some day I’ll be buried with those cables.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        I had about 4 different boxes of floppies, with different keys for each. Any key worked in any lock. The handle of a spoon worked in any of the locks.

        Just don’t forget to put the dust cover back on the CRT monitor and keyboard when you were done!

        • Klear@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          A do miss the degauss button.

          Edit: There has to be an app that would simulate the button, right? I did a quick search just now and found one for iphone, another for android, but too old so it’s no longer available/working. I’ll look some more tomorrow.

      • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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        3 months ago

        Being constantly connected is bad for us because we haven’t figured out the right coping mechanisms. I bet the generation Gen Z raises will do a lot better since Gen Z will be familiar with exactly how hooked on simulated connectedness you can get

        • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I doubt that. My mother was addicted to CompuServe back in the day and I was a neglected child because of it. I give my kid all the attention I can, but he wants more than I can possibly muster.

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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            3 months ago

            Well. Then maybe the next gen after that will be the cohort that for the most part raises their kids like you are. We all try to protect our kids from the trauma we went through, and raise them to interact with the world in better and healthier ways than we do. Right now the fight is to make sure the next generations get the chance to do better

            • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I agree and hope that continues to get better for more children. I just feel bad for the kids that don’t have as empathetic parents.

        • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I doubt that since most of gen z is injecting the feed directly into their arteries. They suffer fucking withdrawals if disconnected for more than a few minutes without something else to occupy them.

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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            3 months ago

            Those withdrawal symptoms are what they’re gonna want their kids to avoid. They’re so addicted because their parents didn’t worry as much as they should have about if all that connectivity would be okay.

            • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              They’re addicts, they won’t look past their own needs long enough to think of others. Social media addiction isn’t as physically destructive as meth but is out it right up there mentally

    • 5redie8@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I can still hear the white noise ringing of the hard drives that hit you as soon as you walked in. So good

      • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        I knew a kid whose mom didn’t want him using the internet after she went to bed so she unplugged their cable modem each night and locked it in a goddamn safe lol. I think he eventually found a similar model at CompUSA or Best Buy and just got his own.

    • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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      3 months ago

      Yeah, unless you grew up in the Bible belt then it was in the corner of the dining room with no privacy.

    • EvolvedTurtle@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Me and my brother established ourselves as like The computer kids so my extended family just dumped off all there broken and old computers

      Now we have a room, not for using them but to store all the random tech we have accumulated

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      And it was always cold because someone’s father would always say something like “I’m not paying to heat that room no one is ever in it.”

    • PrimeMinisterKeyes@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The dads of two guys I knew remodelled their entire basements to accommodate “the computer.” Now writing this down, it sounds like they bought VAXes or something, but it was just plain old Pentiums, plus printers and stuff.

      • LeFantome@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        They were just looking for an excuse to remodel the basement and “the computer” made it seem like something they were doing for the family.