26

As I turn 26 today my brain has entered a period of internal and external reflection. I remember when I was in my early teens. Those twenty-somethings seemed so grown, so adult and so far away. Now as I enter my formative twenties I realise how things don’t really change when you reach a new notch on your markings of years past. 

While writing this I thought for a while about what the last twenty five years have meant for me, and in all likelihood many of my peers. I believe that my generation in particular holds a unique place within the fabric of society. Technology in particular has massively impacted the rate and nature of change. We have been both participants and subjects in that process. There have of course been other factors that have had a personal impact on the way I view the world. In order to try to understand the events, decisions and structures that make me, me; I think it is useful to view some events that have taken place over the course of our 25 years on this planet.

1994-2000 

This period is mainly a blur – there are a ramshackle of smells, sights and sounds smashed together that form a mental picture in my mind of the mid to late nineties. I have a vague recollection of the 1998 World Cup held in France playing on some TV set somewhere as France lifted the trophy. 

I have more distinctive memories of the 1999-2000 New Year celebrations. There was a fear amongst the adults accompanied  by weeks and weeks of news coverage around something called ‘the millennium bug’. I remember struggling to try and grasp the concept but still thought it sounded a bit ridiculous! I remember as we entered the new millennium I was sitting in my grandparents busy house as their party was in full flow – the millennium dome (now the O2) in London was lit up on the BBC coverage with fireworks overhead. 

Sometime around early 2000 I have a distinct memory of playing ‘FIFA 99’  – my first FIFA experience. There was a ridiculous celebration you could do in the game, consisting of the whole team running around in a circle and pretending to be airplanes. 

2001

The passage of time is not linear, at least not in my recollection of events. These years (2001-05) seem to be the fullest in terms of memories, or at least these five years seem to have lasted longer than the preceding or succeeding time-periods. The summer holidays lasted forever; running around in woods, making trips to Tesco, riding bikes until it was dark. 

I remember 9/11. As I left school and walked across the rugby fields to head home I wanted to play in the park with the boys, it was a suspiciously sunny day. My mum declined my request and told me that we had to head home as ‘something had happened in America’. We got home and the whole family was sat around the television (one of the tv’s with a fat back). The news channel played continual loops of a plane hitting a tall skyscraper. Men and women kept talking and I could tell they didn’t really understand what was going on, or why. They just kept saying the word ‘attack’ and ‘terrorist’ – I hadn’t heard these words before, at least not in this context. The television stayed on late that night. 

I remember from that day onward the news seemed to be around a lot more, or at least I noticed it more. The newspaper front pages were often filled with pictures of army vehicles, George Bush or Tony Blair. The adults seemed angry and there were or it seemed there were more political conversations going on. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. IRAQ. BLAIR. SADAM. MURDOCH. This type of news seemed to linger for years and years. Whilst all of this was going on I remember hearing (or reading) about religion and  specifically a rise in the attacks on Muslim people both in the press and on the street. I couldn’t understand it. 

2002 

World Cup year. South Korea and Japan. Fat Ronaldo’s half haircut. Rivaldos knee nerves being somehow connected to his face. Brazil in general. This was also the year I got my first phone – the mighty Nokia 3310. The boys and I would sit up late at night and play snake, trying to beat the high score set on my phone by a stranger on holiday that year. (1200 if I remember correctly), we failed. 

The housing estate I lived on during this period was a new build estate with a demographic consisting of mostly young families with kids around a similar age to myself. It was a great place to grow up and explore – there is no adventure like cruising around on bicycle on a half build estate (especially at the weekend when all the builders went home). It turns out there have actually been studies that show the best type of play areas for children are not modelled ‘play parks’ . Apparently the best place to for kids to play is something akin to a building site/junkyard – see here.

2003-2005 

My memories of these periods consist mainly of news about Iraq. It feels like the entire weight of the media bombarded messages about that war relentlessly. Terrorist attacks across the western world seemed to happen with increasing frequency. Living in Scotland I did understand, or at least feel, like I was somewhat removed from that danger.

There was also a huge blackout in NYC that lasted for a few days; the images on the television were capturing and I remember at the time thinking that this was a sight that I probably wouldn’t witness (on tv or in person) again. ’The city that never sleeps; slept’. 

A space shuttle called Colombia crashed on reentry killing all seven onboard. The television showed pictures of pieces flying across the sky, like fireworks set off from the upper atmosphere. There were jokes the following day in the school playground something to do with the acronym NASA and what it stood for.

 I also remember playing a lot of playstation during this period – first GTA vice city followed by GTA San Andreas complimented of course by the ever present FIFA. 

These were the years of the sleepover.  The years of adventuring outside, further than the allowable perimeter set by my friends & my parents; the town 2km down the road felt like a different city! 

My parents also divorced during these years. I can’t remember the exact year or month but I do remember the day and time. A Friday and the clock in the bedroom – where the news was broken to me – read 01:37pm. 

2006-2012 

2006 was the year I joined high school. I could dedicate an entire blogpost to those years. 

This period I feel, at least in part, is where your character is created. It doesn’t happen all at once but slowly your mistakes, triumphs, relationships, situations and friendships mould and sculpt you. 

These are the years of the underage disco, the first trips to a proper nightclub, travelling abroad alone for the first time. These are the years of first love, and heartbreak. These are the years of learning to drive, of camping in the woods and drinking too much MD2020. These are the years of the Arctic Monkeys, of trackie bottoms tucked in socks. The years of fallouts and fights, of walking around aimlessly just because you want to be with your mates and you have no ‘base’ yet. These are the years of midnight trips to McDonalds. I loved every minute. 

Whilst all of this adolescence activity was accumulating, as I suppose happens with every generation, something else was taking place. 

Social media slowly started to take off. My personal journey began with Piczo and quickly morphed to BeBo (love for love?). At the same time I spent countless hours involved in group chats on MSN (mention for a mention – (yn)). 

MSN in particular provided a space for the youth to connect with one another in a space removed from parental constraint and hidden from the cold/rainy Scottish  weather. Entire relationships existed solely online – which was at the time a first, especially in terms of the scale. Everyone had an MSN account & everyone gave ‘Smarterchild’ abuse. During these early years our parents never really had a clue about computers, at least mine didn’t. At the time I couldn’t have imagined what the world would look like ten years later. Instagram was far off, influencer culture even further. ’Stories’ were things contained within the cover of a book. There was no such thing as target advertising, fake news or echo chamber. 

Whilst all of this technology wizardry was being unleashed upon the world something else was; the 2008 financial crisis. 

The medias obsession morphed, from a fixation on war and terrorism, to the financial markets. There was a sense of impending world doom. Job losses, unemployment rates, foreclosure. It was an uncertain time especially when the purpose of getting a high school education was supposed to led to securing an apprenticeship or moving higher education, The outcome of both of those pursuits is supposed to lead to gainful employment however the constant messaging of crashes, austerity and ‘road to recovery’ were anything but motivating to a student in their 2nd-6th years of education. It is a strange situation to consider there may be no financial light at the end of the educational tunnel, and was somewhat demotivating. 

The messaging of crash slowly subsided and was replaced by a new word, one I had not heard before: austerity. 

2012-2016 

I remember for about six years there was an event on Facebook to celebrate the end of the world, scheduled for 2012. It had something like 1million attendees. That year came and went & nothing ended! 

Austerity. The university years. The years of technologisation. 

As I started studying business at The University of Edinburgh the focus of media seemed to shift from impending financial doom to a more subdued, melancholic chorus of austerity, cuts. Lecturers went on strike,  public sector workers were subject to a pay freeze which spanned years. The feeling was not particularly positive. Front line services were being quietly cut and there was a rise in companies usage of something known as the ‘0 hour contract’. This basically meant you had no right to paid leave and also had no idea what your wage would be for the coming month. 

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, granted the university years result in your closest mates being scattered across the country and beyond. The group that had held firm through high school slowly starts to dissipate; in that sense I was lucky. The boys and I kept in touch regularly, a task assisted by the flurry of social media apps available. We also met up regularly – a trip to Dundee to drink too many beers and climb atop the university union building, a trip around Aberdeen city centre in a party bus following a Noel Gallagher gig, many trips to Glasgow for weekend gigs. I count myself lucky that I’ve been blessed with a group of mates that have stayed relatively firm for years. We have added a few new members to that group, particularly through our weekend trips to watch Hibs play at Easter Road! 

Talking of Hibs… I couldn’t talk about 2016 without mentioning the Scottish Cup Final. That weekend will never be forgotten. It wasn’t just the fact that our club had won ‘the big one’ after so many years which in itself was amazing, but the memories of that day are more than just football. The rose tinted effect of nostalgia may be presenting itself and clouding my memory as I reflect but I’d say it was one of the best weekends of my life. The buildup the previous night in a mates free house (mum was on holiday). The bus through West starting very early, and the bottles of beer consumed en-route. The predrinks in the Celtic supporters bar a small jaunt from Hampden. That Henderson cross. The bus back and the ensuing occupation of Leith, from The Walk to Easter Road and all streets in-between. I’m not sure I’ll ever experience anything like that again.  

During my university years I was lucky enough to meet people from all across the globe. I started to appreciate the fact that the world was bigger than the town, city or country you come from. I slowly realised that my opinion wasn’t the only one and that listening to other points of view, perspectives and trying to understand how you feel about those viewpoints is a useful pursuit. On the one hand, it makes you surer of your own position and can solidify your stance, On the other hand it can open up your brain to a perspective that you alone may not have been capable of conceiving. Whether that be because of; your ingrained generational beliefs, your cultural heritage or just because you hadn’t considered a different view. The more people I speak to from different countries the more I feel my views morph. I think that’s a good thing; learning doesn’t have a stop point & speaking to others with different beliefs, cultures or upbringings only speeds up the learning. 

I traveled a lot during these years – trips across Europe and to Asia. Each journey adding something more. The noise around austerity and recession seemed to fade. 

2016-2020

Growing up. 

The period after the comfort of a defined path; school and university, can be scary. People move at different paces. I embarked on a career in a bank, having a number of roles. Managing projects, travelling to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Poland on ‘business’. Nights spent alone in a hotel room are not as glamorous as one would imagine, although the £25 a night food allowance is somewhat appetising.

These years were not particularly good or bad – they were necessary. 

I learned a lot about happiness, about what is important. During this period the technology theme that runs through this recollection became more apparent, particularly because of the nature of the work I do. I began to understand more about how systems work, about categorisation and algorithms and how they influence a range of decisions the average Joe makes.

In order for people to separate conspiracy from fact I think it is important that each of us read about how these systems work. Technology isn’t a speciality anymore, it is a necessity. 

These years seemed to be the year of the side hustle, the years of progression. The years where some people got married, bought a house, got a dog, started a business, had a breakdown, moved somewhere new, fell in love, had a baby. 

These are were the years of the undefined paths. 

The latter portion of these years also gave way to an awareness I hadn’t yet experienced from my generation. An appreciation for big issues like; sustainability, equality, justice, support, caused based issues. It is comforting to see others taking a stand for the values you yourself believe in.

COVID-19 has hopefully reminded us of what is important, of our daily privilege to gather with friends, to conduct physical exercise, to stroll freely across the land.

I am excited for the next chapter in my undefined path. To travel more, to settle, to meet people & hear opinions, to embrace and taste all that is thrown my way on this exciting journey.

See you in 2044 for the ‘Jack is 50’ recap. 

Inabit x