Before it settles
Before It Settles
an essay by Chun Hooi, Tan
There is a generation that did not begin in the present.
We remember a time before the internet,
before information was immediate,
before everything could be reached without moving.
Things took time.
Not always by choice, but by condition.
We learnt to wait.
To repeat.
To follow processes we did not fully question.
Then, within a short span,
the world began to shift.
Wires disappeared.
Screens became smaller, then constant.
What once required effort became instant.
What we knew did not vanish,
but it began to change,
no longer operating in the same way.
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We adapted.
Not by instinct,
but by adjustment.
Not with fluency,
but with awareness.
We learnt how to use what is new,
while still remembering what came before.
This creates a condition that has not fully settled.
We are not unfamiliar with change,
but neither are we entirely at ease within it.
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There are moments when this becomes visible.
When speaking to our parents,
we find ourselves explaining something
that feels simple to us,
yet difficult to translate.
Not because it is complex,
but because it belongs to a different way of thinking.
At the same time,
we watch our children move across these conditions
without hesitation.
They do not explain.
They connect.
What we try to bridge,
they simply inhabit.
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In this position,
we are often less immediate.
We pause.
We consider.
We observe.
Not because there is nothing to say,
but because more than one way of understanding exists at once.
What appears as hesitation
is often a form of holding.
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This condition does not always make itself visible.
It does not demand attention.
But it shapes how we see.
It allows us to recognise
that things are rarely singular,
that meanings shift depending on where one stands,
that what appears resolved
may still be in the process of becoming something else.
⸻
To remain in-between
is not to be incomplete.
It is to remain where different conditions meet,
before they settle into one.
⸻
未成之时
我们这一代，并不是从当下开始的。
我们记得没有网络的时候，
记得拨号上网的声音，
记得很多事情，需要时间才能发生。
很多事情，不是选择慢，
而是只能慢。
我们是在这样的节奏里长大的。
⸻
然后，一切在很短的时间里改变了。
信息变得即时，
距离变得不重要，
很多原本需要过程的事情，
变成了结果。
我们原本熟悉的方式没有消失，
但开始变得不再适用。
不是被取代，
而是被改变。
⸻
我们开始适应。
不是自然地进入，
而是一点一点地学。
不是完全理解，
而是逐渐跟上。
我们会用新的东西，
但也记得旧的方式。
这种状态，很难说清楚。
像是在一个还没完全成形的过程里。
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有时候，这种状态会显现出来。
当我们试着向父母解释一些事情时，
会发现并不容易。
不是因为事情复杂，
而是因为它属于另一种逻辑。
但同时，我们也看到下一代，
几乎不需要解释。
他们直接使用，
直接进入。
我们在中间尝试连接的，
他们已经在其中。
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也许正因为这样，
我们并不急着表达。
会停一下，
会多想一点，
会观察。
不是没有想法，
而是意识到不只一种理解方式同时存在。
这种状态，有时看起来像迟疑，
但更像是一种保留。
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它不一定明显，
也不一定被看见。
但它改变了我们看事情的方式。
我们开始意识到，
很多事情并不是单一的，
很多状态，也还没有结束。
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未成，并不是缺乏。
而是一种仍在发生的状态。
是在不同事物之间，
还没有完全落定的时候。