Danny Guzman (Father)

Born: 08/03/1977

Danny has witnessed decades of technological change and has learned to adapt with each new step. Reflecting on his childhood in the 1980s, he described it as “a different time.” He emphasized the sense of freedom that came from growing up without constant digital connection. While his family had a television, his first major purchase was a portable CD player, something that felt cutting-edge at the time. Danny reminisced about how simple life felt back then and expressed awe at just how much the world has changed throughout his lifetime.

Born: 12/01/1997

Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Blake was among the first generation to experience technology as it evolved rapidly. He recalled a time before cell phones were common, expressing disbelief at how today’s 5- and 6-year-olds already have iPhones. For Blake, the rise of social media was a defining part of his youth. He reminisced about the early days of AIM messaging, which eventually led to platforms like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Being in school during this digital revolution, he witnessed firsthand how transformative these platforms were. Blake fondly referred to that era as the "golden age of social media," when everything felt simpler, more personal, and less filtered than today.

Born: 05/12/07

Interview: Nya was part of the first generation to grow up surrounded by advanced technology from the very beginning. She often finds it strange that high schools didn’t start using laptops in the classroom until around 2017 or 2018, considering how much tech was already a part of her life. She got her first iPhone at just 6 years old and joined Instagram at 7, where she loved posting slime videos, lip-syncing clips, and content on Musical.ly, long before it became TikTok. Laughing, she admitted that she used to tell others to join TikTok before it was cool, saying, “I was a hater.” Her experience reflects a childhood shaped by constant digital connection and creative self-expression online.

But why is that? Is it because people back then had a sense of freedom that we can’t experience today, a time before the constant feeling that someone might always be watching? With technology tracking our every move and social media encouraging us to curate our lives, it’s easy to feel like we’ve lost the ability to just exist freely.

It also made me question whether we’re experiencing a lack of quality connection. Today, communication often happens through screens, and while we’re more connected than ever, it doesn’t always feel meaningful. Back then, interactions were face-to-face, spontaneous, and deeply personal. Now, a like or comment sometimes replaces a real conversation.

Talking with my dad made me realize that maybe it’s not just nostalgia, maybe there really was something special about that time. It’s not that people today don’t want connection; it’s that the way we connect has changed. And in some ways, that shift might be making us feel more isolated, even in a world that never stops communicating.