It is January 2026,
this week marks the 25th anniversary of Wikipedia, and it made me pause.
For those of us who watched it grow from a quirky experiment into a global reference desk
and even submitted a correction or two along the way,
Wikipedia became part of our digital ethos.
It shaped how we learned, how we shared,
and how we navigated the early web.

Just this morning I was exchanging notes with a pen pal up north,
reminiscing about what life felt like in the 1970s and 80s, before the internet became the air we breathe.

Those days are gone, of course,
and what we’re experiencing now is a classic case of shifting baseline syndrome.
Each generation accepts the world they inherit as “normal,”
often forgetting, or never knowing, what came before.

For those of us who lived a good part of our lives before the internet,
the contrast is striking. Human connection used to be physical and immediate,
conversations at the kitchen table, long phone calls, handwritten letters,
friendships built without algorithms nudging us along.

Our kids don’t really have that reference point.
Their idea of connection is shaped by screens and apps,
and whatever fragments of the past they catch in movies, which, of course,
is a poor substitute for the real thing.
It doesn't do justice to the past nor the present moment.

The baseline MOVED, and we’re among the few who still remember where it USED to be.

Tony A.

Back to

• More Articles
• Home Page