6 thoughts that crossed my mind while reading Emma Gannon's Ctrl Alt Delete

I recently read Emma Gannon's mémoire Ctrl Alt Delete: How I grew up on line and I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved being able to relate to many of her experiences and I loved how open she was regarding dating and sex. I loved reading about the ups and downs of her career. Indeed, as a recent graduate looking for a job in a hostile market, this book has really inspired me to listen to myself and to see where my interests and passions will lead me. 

Here are six thoughts that crossed my mind while reading it:

1) Frequent references to Girls and Harry Potter… I’m clearly in the right place!

2) There definitely should be online dating (online friending?) sites! It is indeed really hard to make friends when you’re out of school, not to mention an introvert. When I do meet new people I often feel like we don’t have much in common (at least not enough to become friends). With a friending site I would be able to find and connect with people who have the same specific interests. How cool and convenient! If only I knew code I would create the new Tinder…. 

3) I never noticed that Gwen Stefani’s song “What you’re waiting for” was about chasing your dream. I had always focused on the Alice in Wonderland inspired clip. It's actually about dealing with criticism and social pressure, going forward no matter what and trusting yourself. "You Never know it could be great!", "Life is short you're capable!" What fab mantras! I'm going to print the lyrics and put them all over my apartment. 

4) Those good old MSN flirting days. My first breakup was actually on MSN. My real-life boyfriend dumped me at the end of the summer holidays. He had promised to love me forever on MSN. But never in real life! I had never thought how our relationship was both real and virtual, kissing in the schoolyard, but saying I love you online.

5) As a fellow English major I can't help but relate with Emma's struggle to find a job after she graduated. But Emma reminded me that since we study literature out of interest or passion rather than greed, it's important to listen to and follow that passion, even if it does not pay the bills straight away. So follow your passion. Take that crappy job if you need to, but don’t quit your dream!

6) I always thought a memoir was something you wrote when you were eighty years old and you had witnessed both World Wars. How cool is it that Emma is in her twenties. It's so inspiring to think that your experience is worth sharing even if you haven't lived that long and even if you haven't done extraordinary things or broken a world record! We all live things that might seem banal, but if you look at them with the right perspective, these experiences become interesting and worthy of being told.



This read got me very interested in internet related memoirs so here are two books that I've added to my reading list:

Felicia Day's Your Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and Dawn O'Porter's Diaries of an Internet Lover.