"We've Grown Old Before Actually Getting Old"

"The thing is, we're in sort of a weird spot. We were raised in the pre-digital era, and our values were very much shaped by the analog world. Now we're having to contend with the post-digital era—not just contend with it but figure out how to sustain long lives and careers within it. Because we're not that old yet! But we are the last cohort to have known the world in its pre-digital form as adults. I mean, I worked jobs, as an adult, where there was no email and we were still using Rolodexes and Selectric typewriters alongside our giant computers. This was in the early 1990s, which wasn't that long ago. The pace at which things have changed is breathtaking, really. The result is that Gen Xers can sometimes sound like grouchy old people while we're still in our 40s."

Otis Houston at Los Angeles Review of Books interviews Meghan Daum.