In the Long Ago Techless Days

So as I’m  out walking down K Street today to grab lunch, this chick walks by wearing striped black and white tights and big, clunky Doc Marten mary janes. And this huge, massive wave of nostalgia hits me so hard it almost knocks me right into the guy selling fake Gucci purses off the sidewalk.  I was like, oh, man, remember when I used to wear EXACTLY THOSE THOSE TOGETHER? That was back in college. Many many years ago.

So many years ago, in fact, that although I wanted to immediately go home and find a picture of myself in witch tights and Docs, I couldn’t. Because there are very few pictures of me in college, even in late high school. (Which is, no doubt, for the best.) Why? Because not only was there no such thing as a camera on a phone–there was practically no such thing as a cell phone on campus. I sure didn’t know anybody who had one. No MP3 players, either. Just lots of people hanging out and talking to each other.

And while I do love my iPhone, and I couldn’t live without it, probably, I am a little nostalgic for those long ago days when people couldn’t take pictures of each other and post them on Facebook every five minutes; when there was no such thing as a social network except for the people you met at the afterparty; when nobody wore headphones or had their ear glued to a phone, and where nobody was Tweeting where they where and what they were doing every sixteen seconds. I mean, if I traveled back in time to then, I’d probably die of boredom–my attention span has shrunken like a hunger victim’s stomach. But I’m kind of glad I was young then. It was nice to have all the time in the world.