Ask Lemmy

Honestly, I think that would suck quite a bit. I would have the intelligence and experience of an adult trapped in the body of an 8 year old and dependent on my parents. I wouldn't be able to live independently for years. It would also be difficult to speak and act like an 8 year old. I have a university degree and an 8 year old with university level education would probably make me some weird child prodigy. Not only would I be dependent on my parents, but everyone would be pushing for me to be some genius by the time I'm an adult. I'd eventually grow up to be a huge disappointment. So really I'd kind of just be reliving the past!

The only saving grace is that I might be able to make some money off investing in tech companies and crypto before their drastic increase in value. At least I wouldn't need to work my entire life.

1985.
It's 4 years before my first D&D game.
3 years before I pick up a guitar.
10 years before I start snowboarding.
20 years before I convince my republican parents there's a better way. 
Suddenly I am fluent in several languages, as if by magic.
I have a grasp on global politics and the knowledge of what's to come.
What do I do?
Play.
All day.
I swim. I run. I bike. I draw. I skate. I be. 

And I plot. 

I'd go insane

First, I would convince some of those old crazy ass mercenaries that my uncle used to hang out with that Donald Trump touched me. This would be in 1992. Then I'd work my ass off mowing lawns and doing chores and saving every bit of money I could, invest in apple and other big stocks that I could get as they came out before they hit big, id sell them and invest in Tesla before Elon could get in on it, and Bitcoin. Id use my wealth to invest in solar so that it takes off earlier. Create a Superfund to counter lobbyists like the dark roofing lobby. What a completely asinine thing. Just switch to making white roofing materials? Use my wealth and power to become president, reverse citizens United and bring back a 90% tax on the wealthiest people. (Yes, Including myself.) Boom. World saved.

Am I eight years old now in 2025, or eight years old way back then?

I'd spend a lot of its mourning that I'd never be able to replicate my daughter as she is now. I could time it right to get the right egg, but how many wanks, exactly, and when did I have? How could I possibly even guarantee the right sperm even if I manage to secure the same payload?

Probably instead just ride the bitcoin wave hard as hell and start my own game dev company.

Also I'd be better equipped towards mad anxiety disorder. That shit absolutely ruined my life and it took about 3 years before I realised something was actually wrong.

I'd have a serious conversation with my parents about the less obvious symptoms of ADD. (It didn't have an H back then)

Besides that, I often wonder what I would do when I meet my ex wife. Avoiding her would save me trouble down the road, but then my three amazing kids would never exist and if the reset happened tomorrow, I'd have so many unanswered questions of whatever happened to them in that other timeline.

In 1976 give mom and dad a list of large corporations to buy stock in for for my Christmas and birthday gifts. Well into adulthood, buy Bitcoin. Tell my grandmother to go to her doctor and start cancer treatments.

Go see Star Wars in the theater again. :)

Immediately begin my global takeover. 1983 would never know what was about to happen. By 1990, the world would be mine.

Convince my parents to put all their money in some fruit company about apples.

Just kill myself and prevent the worst of it.

Hug my mom

After that I'd probably start the process of establishing that I'm trans, and I'd actually study and put effort into applying to good schools as time goes on.

Why 8? I'd be really dependent on my parents again, and it would be impossible to explain my sudden precociousness and knowledge of the future.

Anyway, I'd try to work out and get stronger, and stand up to my bullies. I'd have some choice words for their sorry asses.

Talk my mom into putting us into a better school. Cry because I have to be a kid again. Be an academic hyperachiever, then get ridiculously early onset Alzheimer's at like 30 years old.

Be kinder to my younger brother.

Does my depression also go back in time?

I could probably honestly convince at least one of my parents of the situation, they were both big woo woo sci-fi nerds.

After that, I have a pretty good memory and could take advantage of strategic stock purchases and entering technologies.

Go to the library a lot. Learn and master the art of lock picking. Make more friends at school (networking). Wear crocs way before they’re cool.

I would wanna see what all this IRC stuff is all about

I would change the professional path, and I would stay most probably single to avoid all the energy lost in that "game".

Gosh, I don't even know. To be back in that traumatizing household?

I wouldn't make it very long, I don't think.

Maybe I'd steal some money and run away to a different country before 9/11 makes everything harder.

The real question, I guess, would be how to strike out on my own as a literal child. School was repetitive the first time, and my home life was pretty mid as well.

Funny story, I think I actually had enough savings at that point to live on for a month or two. I was a weird kid.

I'd predict 9/11 five years early. Nobody would believe me. How would a kid this young even know these words I'm saying? What can an 8 year old possibly know about Al Queda and the Taliban? How did he even hear about these organizations in the first place, they'd ask. His parents must leave the TV tuned to the news all day, they'd say. What an active imagination this young man has.

I think I'd end up creating my own 11.22.63 scenario.

Hold on! Can I still do some research before this happens?

One thing I'd do for sure is, transfer to a different primary school. A better one. I just don't know which one, not even now.

Anyway, a 166 MHz Celeron CPU and 32 MB of RAM aren't very performant, most likely I won't do anything insane with it. I won't be able to write Rust applications, as a Rust compiler wouldn't exist yet. Also, my HTML5 knowledge wouldn't be usable either. I'd have to descend to XHTML strict standard, and CSS will be a pain in the ass once again.

I'm just realizing, I wouldn't be able to do much with my current knowledge.

Education and hard work, these are the two things I'd pursue at all costs. One of the biggest fuck-up of my life was at age 6, but it could be still corrected at age 8.

Let's see so it's '02, which means I'm powerless to try to stop 9/11. That's pretty much my only time travel plan, it's my "kill baby Hitler", so that sucks.

Estrogen. If that plan fails (and it probably would) then DIY orchiectomy. And if that plan fails (and it might) or is otherwise counteracted then I would die by my own hand.

The situation of my eight-year-old self is antithetical to the being of my current mind. My knowledge and understanding would force me to take certain paths and many of them lead to situations beyond my make-it-stop threshold. Is it better to walk to one's doom unknowingly, or to be dragged beaten ragged and screaming into the confinement of hell?

Definitely get into programming at an earlier age. My mom’s work gave her one of those green monitor computers when I was around this age, but I didn’t know how to work it so it was useless. I bet I could find some books about how to use it at the library or something.

Write more, including the sci-fi ideas I have in my head now so it’s kinda future-predicting.

Don’t take my high school sweetheart back when they break up and want to get back together (or break up with them earlier than I did).

Start using my study skills I know now in Jr High so I can actually kill it in high school like I thought I would.

Get diagnosed for narcolepsy in high school so I can further my potential.

Oh, and not eat all that McDonalds and other fast food as a kid/teenager!!

probably planning to rectify academic track record first, assuming the future remains the same you left it? you would make different choices so you have better outcome in adulthood, careerwise, or relationship wise.(because you know which stem fields you suck and want to pursue and you are failing class, probably changing that, or choose a different major)