Technology and schools in the 90s and now?

I'm currently enrolled in college and all I see is students texting and looking at their I-Phones. Even when I graduated high school in 2007, we had more social interaction face to face. If Columbine happened today, would of Eric and Dylan still accomplished their plans or would it be even easier through text?
Also, not to change the subject, but I think technology has ruined the social environment. No one talks to one another face to face anymore. Everything is through texts.

bradt93 wrote:

I'm currently enrolled in college and all I see is students texting and looking at their I-Phones. Even when I graduated high school in 2007, we had more social interaction face to face. If Columbine happened today, would of Eric and Dylan still accomplished their plans or would it be even easier through text?
Also, not to change the subject, but I think technology has ruined the social environment. No one talks to one another face to face anymore. Everything is through texts.

I would agree with you on the second bit, when you visit a school or really any social place where people gather everyone is face down on their phones.

I think there are multiple ways the crime would be different. Now there are theories out there of people tapping phones etc but lets take off the foil hats lol. I think for one it would have been easier to prove Eric's transgressions at this time. If you recall the only reason the cops could not find Eric's website was because they did not know how to get to the URL. I doubt that would be the case today.

Because internet usage is so much higher now, I think he would have been found out much more quickly if he continued to post as he did in 99. That said he might have become more private if he knew that others were actively watching.

Looking at the victim side, look at how other crimes happen.... we get real time access to victims. Voicemails, texts, videos etc are all readily available. We would be seeing the massacre in the library as it happened. Imagine that!

I don't think Eric and Dylan communicated much during the massacre to begin with. I don't think phones would change that. It is easier than ever to get information, so they might have been able to make proper bombs that went off. Phones would make recording things easier, just like with Stoneman Douglas, we would probably see video from inside the school as the shooting was happening.

I love technology, and I am thankful for it. I think it has enhanced the social environment. Most often we are all communicating on our phones in some way. As a person with social anxiety, technology has made it easier for me to be able to communicate with anyone. For many people talking face to face is hard. Technology has given a voice to a lot of people who didn't have one before.

Spoiler:

1994-2000 has been dubbed the "Wild West" days of the Internet. Crazy webpages such as Eric's AOL debacle were more of a fringe thing. It was very easy to find bombmaking instructions though much of what there was, was faulty (I wanted to make a stink bomb for a school prank, which I never did, but there were plenty of ideas online as how to do so.)

You can watch "Clueless" and "Scream," two key teen movies of the 90s, to see the beginning of the concern with cell phones, though they were merely phones. Couldn't browse the Internet on them. The webcam thing in "American Pie" seems positively ANCIENT now, kids looking at that must feel the way I did as a 90s kid looking at Matthew Broderick's computer rig in "WarGames," from 1983.

I did send text messages in high school, junior high, actually, in 1995......but it was using a scientific calculator where you could change numbers to letters. It was the equivalent of passing notes!!!!

And more of the massacre would certainly have made it onto tape, whereas now, the evidence we have--the cafeteria footage, the 911 call, the tour through the bloodsoaked library afterwards. the hearsay evidence--has forced us all to recreate the horror of Columbine in our own minds.0

Internet was just rounding into form way back when. Eric would have been arrested more than he did if he continued to post what he posted. Its a tough call on if technology and the phones today are helping the world especially America. The positive side is you can connect with people you typically wouldn’t have connected with and real time information and feeds but the negatives outweigh the positives for me. People can have agendas. People can bring up something you posted a million years ago. People can be mean and feel they can say whatever they want online. If something bad happens, first reaction for most people is to bust out your phone and start recording. Its not right and not healthy. It’s a proven fact your WiFi radiates throughout your house and slowly kills your brain. Talking on the phone for a long time kills your brain too. Overall, staring at a phone screen or computer screen or tv for a long time as opppose to being outside and about is just not healthy.

I know there are some 90's kids on the board, so we know probably how it was when we were younger and having to leave answering machine messages and stuff for people and first experiencing AIM.

I was online at 16, I really loved the idea of talking to people all over the world and I did feel less lonely at times, especially meeting the people I did for better or worse after Columbine happened. It really brought a lot of people together. Even people who didn't live in Littleton. I was 2,000 miles away. I also spoke to a lot of people who loved theatre and acting. I got to learn about a lot of places I ended up visiting when I was in college. I loved all the knowledge I could obtain too.

I think now there is an over saturation. I even find friends who are older than me don't want to talk on the phone, it truly feels less connected even though we can instantly connect if that makes sense. Then again a lot of us here have a good rapport together but but if we were all in a room? Would it be incredibly awkward? It helps those who are shy or have social anxiety build relationships with others. I really agree with a lot of points made above.

If it happened now, they probably would have posted the Basement Tapes on YouTube and more than likely we would have seen footage from the library and other areas of the school.

I bet others would have interacted with them much like some people here spoke to Adam Lanza and Randy Stair.

It would depend on if Columbine happened after other big shootings... it was kind of the catalyst for a LOT of what happened after. So if they were 17 and 18 now and no other shootings like that happened before it would be interesting to know.

I wonder if they saw a bigger world outside of Littleton if they would have done it?

I still maintain that it was the perfect storm and the exact time something like that would have happened.

I wonder what social media they would have had. I imagine Eric on twitter and Dylan begrudgingly getting a Facebook page so his parents could tag him and Byron in holiday posts.

Eric on social media would be a disaster.

W.A.R. wrote:

Eric on social media would be a disaster.

He would be like Nikolas Cruz for waving red flags.

Ziamber II wrote:

W.A.R. wrote:

Eric on social media would be a disaster.

He would be like Nikolas Cruz for waving red flags.

I think hed be a bit savvier than Cruz, assuming he was raised with the tech and not just plopped down in 2018 straight from 1998.

Well, Eric and Dylan could've posted the people who bullied them on social media and embarrassed the crap out of them. Rocky and his gang wouldn't of been able to get by with the crap they did either if they were still in high school today.

By the way what kind of dumb name is Rocky? LOL. I would've called him rock for short.

You know what surprises me some, if anyone would've goten along, it would've been Rocky, Eric and Dylan. Think about it, they could've taught Rocky how to hack computers and how to shoot. Rocky could've taught them how to work out and get buff. Who knows, when you think about it, all three were kind of arrogant and egotistic.

bradt93 wrote:

You know what surprises me some, if anyone would've goten along, it would've been Rocky, Eric and Dylan. Think about it, they could've taught Rocky how to hack computers and how to shoot. Rocky could've taught them how to work out and get buff. Who knows, when you think about it, all three were kind of arrogant and egotistic.

But the flaw here is that Rocky, as far as we know, never wanted to kill people or tried to kill people.

QuestionMark wrote:

bradt93 wrote:

You know what surprises me some, if anyone would've goten along, it would've been Rocky, Eric and Dylan. Think about it, they could've taught Rocky how to hack computers and how to shoot. Rocky could've taught them how to work out and get buff. Who knows, when you think about it, all three were kind of arrogant and egotistic.

But the flaw here is that Rocky, as far as we know, never wanted to kill people or tried to kill people.

Well he and a group of 4 other jocks did stab someone repeatedly and burglarized their place about a year before the attack. The charges were dropped to a misdemeanor which supposedely pissed off Eric and Dylan and proved that jocks can get away with anything. Here is a couple of interesting old articles about it:

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The second talks about how all of the students speculated that Rocky and his brother Dusty were on their hit list (which I would almost bet on).