2 The privilege of being Generation X (C2)

In this episode, I reflect on a strange symmetry: I have lived exactly 26 years on either side of the millennium. This ‘sweet spot’ offers a unique perspective on the tech revolution; a watershed moment that moved us from the ‘imposed slowness’ of the 1980s to the frictionless distraction of 2026.I discuss the privilege of being a digital immigrant, the ‘reciprocal inversion’ of our desires for speed, and why I conflate privilege with slowness. From recording The Breakfast Club on a Betamax VCR to the ‘algorithmic static’ of social media reels, I examine how the ubiquity of choice can prevent us from choosing the right path.Join the Linguacade Deep Dive on Patreon for a breakdown of this episode’s lexical highlights: creeping normality, the attention economy, uncontrolled algorithms, a watershed, friction, frictionless distraction, infinite scroll, pervasiveness, the crux of the problem, unflinchingly, enforced slowness.