My parents swiped right

Millennials, you're off the hook. A new and even more contemptible generation is here! They are called CENTENNIALS, and they turn 18 this year. You'll spot this new species by its short attention span and cloying sentimentality. It's all about expressing your unique teen ❤personality!❤

1. Inside the town with no mobile phones. The "Quiet Zone" embraced nomophobia long before it was cool: The West Virginia town has no cell phones, microwaves or vacuums, as a rule. The ban started to protect a local telescope. But it's also become a symbol of what modern lives require -- and what they, ya know, don't.

2. When our data disappears. It's not just personal photos and records that are threatened by digital change: Some films are at risk of vanishing, too. Hollywood heavyweights have paid millions to back up their data, but that's something most small producers can't do.

3. From a 1994 gem about the nascent Internet: "Most of us still see those with [basic computer] skills ... as ‘geeks’ in anoraks. But to call someone a geek may yet become a compliment."

~Never forget~

Postscripts: IS DC THE NEW SILICON VALLEY? (3777 words/15 minutes/part one in an apparently earnest series)

Postscripts: Cat rap. Kayaktivism. A lottery for Twitter fame. Illuminati, Snapchat and map apps -- explained!! How to visit Cuba. How to Instagram your food. I remain entranced by stories about this Russian dude. 23 movies summed up in Vines. 10 popular cats from YouTube's early years. "Sadness is not a meme," @sosadtoday sez, but her Twitter sometimes brings me close to tears. "My parents swiped right"; don't swipe and drive; don't swipe at all, beg apps like CovenantEyes. Think clickbait is a new thing? Think again! (Also: It's far from dead, my optimistic friends.)

Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

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