How did people spend their time pre-internet?

[Xand&Roby]

Are we poorer than 40 years ago? I’m not talking personal but generally? I think (current cost of living crises apart), people are generally better off now than in the 70’s and 80’s. Talking financially, not in quality of life. I’d say the opposite is true there.

This depends on where you live or where you born.

In the place where I’m born, salaries have not been growing for over 30 years, on the contrary they are decreasing.
Baby boomers took dominance and burned Generation Y, Generation Z, Alpha generation, Generation X was partly saved just because certain boomers' customs and traditions were still in place when generation X became adult.
In the place where I’m born millions of Gen Y, Z and surely the Alphas are expatriates and have sought a life, affective and labour, elsewhere, so as not to be enslaved by the Boomers who still claim to have slaves today.
In the place where I’m born, the birth rate has collapsed because young people have emigrated and those who remain, while working, are poor, and have no way of planning a personal future or a family.
In the place where I’m born, finally, even the Boomers, at least a small part, are beginning to realise that without the slaves of the following generations they will not survive, and they are beginning to try to deceive those generations again by saying that they have changed, that if they repatriate the situations will be different.
The place where I’m born has no future in 10 years, but they delude themselves that they have one in 25 years.
What does it have to do with digital and the Internet? It has to do with it because the pattern of how false promises works is the same, even if it is not just Boomers who make them.
The place where I’m born is a place that tourists know nothing about, but where from all over the world they would like to live, precisely because they don't know anything about it.
Was it a better place before the Internet? No, some situations were easier, others more difficult, but there was hope, after all the Internet was too. Today there is no hope, and the Internet, rightly, is not.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This depends on where you live or where you born.

In the place where I’m born, salaries have not been growing for over 30 years, on the contrary they are decreasing.
Baby boomers took dominance and burned Generation Y, Generation Z, Alpha generation, Generation X was partly saved just because certain boomers' customs and traditions were still in place when generation X became adult.
In the place where I’m born millions of Gen Y, Z and surely the Alphas are expatriates and have sought a life, affective and labour, elsewhere, so as not to be enslaved by the Boomers who still claim to have slaves today.
In the place where I’m born, the birth rate has collapsed because young people have emigrated and those who remain, while working, are poor, and have no way of planning a personal future or a family.
In the place where I’m born, finally, even the Boomers, at least a small part, are beginning to realise that without the slaves of the following generations they will not survive, and they are beginning to try to deceive those generations again by saying that they have changed, that if they repatriate the situations will be different.
The place where I’m born has no future in 10 years, but they delude themselves that they have one in 25 years.
What does it have to do with digital and the Internet? It has to do with it because the pattern of how false promises works is the same, even if it is not just Boomers who make them.
The place where I’m born is a place that tourists know nothing about, but where from all over the world they would like to live, precisely because they don't know anything about it.
Was it a better place before the Internet? No, some situations were easier, others more difficult, but there was hope, after all the Internet was too. Today there is no hope, and the Internet, rightly, is not.

With respect, economics are not the only reason that "birth rates collapse".

When women have choices - choices as to how many children - if any - they choose to have, choices as to when to have children, the ability to space children, a choice also to choose not to have children - in other words, when women have access to education, and thus, have autonomy or enjoy economic independence in their lives and also have access to safe, reliable, and affordable birth control, - birth rates will also "collapse".

 

[heretiq]

Great question @MacBH928! Just a few pre-Internet activities:

1. Read whole books
2. Build stuff (custom bicycles and motorcycles from stuff recovered from the dump, furniture, kits from Radio Shack and magazines like Popular Electronics, Popular Mechanics, etc.)
3. DJing / house parties
4. Make mix tapes
5. Bicycling / skateboarding
6. Hiking/hanging out in the woods
7. Fishing
8. Pickup basketball / baseball / football / soccer
9. CB and Ham Radio
10. Building Fidonet with dialup modems and accessing BBSs and Newsgroups

After typing that list, I‘m overcome with the feeling that the Internet largely displaced or altered much of those activities — and we are worse off for it.

 

[eyoungren]

After typing that list, I‘m overcome with the feeling that the Internet largely displaced or altered much of those activities — and we are worse off for it.

Not me.

I got connected via BBS in 1984 and the internet has enabled me to stay connected. I can do stuff now that I could not do without a car and/or money that I didn't have then. And if I want off the internet, I can simply just walk away from the computer. My monitors will switch off in 30 minutes.

The internet has done nothing but make my life better.

 

[smoking monkey]

I would imagine it would be very horrific to be lonely at that time period.

Interestingly I think people are more lonely now. Being connected online isn’t real human interactions. It’s not healthy for us if we do it too much. I’m fact, I think giving a voice to everybody has been worse than it has been helpful.

But when we didn’t have the net, you invested yourself more in the things you liked. Music is a perfect example, with Spotify and Apple Music there is no real need to buy music. Following a band just isn’t the same. It’s both good and bad. I feel that less is actually more even though I love the access to information and ability to contact loved ones so easily now.

 

[heretiq]

Not me.

I got connected via BBS in 1984 and the internet has enabled me to stay connected. I can do stuff now that I could not do without a car and/or money that I didn't have then. And if I want off the internet, I can simply just walk away from the computer. My monitors will switch off in 30 minutes.

The internet has done nothing but make my life better.

I completely understand that. The internet is arguably the greatest catalyst for human connection in history .. and possibly the greatest source of division in history largely due to social media. It’s like making a stitch with one hand while the other takes it apart (ode to Matisyahu).

 

[heretiq]

As @maflynn, @BigMcGuire, @mollyc and I (among others) have all stressed, we weren't bored, or lonely, and neither was it the Dark Ages.

There were some differences between then and now: One was that kids had lives that were less controlled and less structured - and they were out and about a lot more, especially in summer.

We were encouraged to use our imaginations and to actually do things, (rather than "consume" material).

The other was our relationship to time. Time was also a lot less structured (outside of school, chores, homework, family meals, etc), especially in summer.

The OP asks about how we lived pre-internet; I would argue that mobile phones were at least as transformational (as the internet) in having an influence on how people lived their lives, and in how people relate to time.

Pre-mobile phones, you weren't on call, publicly or privately 24/7. Everyone understood that you were out of reach; if you needed to contact someone by phone, you used the landline, at home, and, outside, you used public phones, that is, public payphones, (a staple of many a movie) sometimes, waiting in a queue to be able to use the phone. Friends used public pay phones to contact you (not all student houses - or, houses rented by students - had landlines, or were connected to their own independent phone lines).

So, you made arrangements to see people in advance; you planned things. Thus, time was organised differently.

Of course, once phone cards (rather than money) could be used in public payphones, my father (bless him) always ensured that I had a decent supply of them, so that I could phone home, contact home, if in need of something, or to let them know I was travelling home for a week-end or, if I expected to be out late; but, that was student days. Prior to that, one lived "off-grid" from adult supervision for hours and hours and hours on end each day, and this was not a cause of concern for anyone.

Now, while the internet can be an incredible source of amazing information, - the expectation that one should be contactable 24/7 is something that I, personally, dislike (yes, I suffer it, endure it, barely tolerate it, at times, in a professional context, but I loathe it).

This. Great insight @Scepticalscribe: Time is the connective thread between each of us and everything else. Mobile phones started the process of materially ceding control of our time to others .. and the internet accelerated the transfer and extended the levers of control to everyone and anyone.

 

[eyoungren]

Interestingly I think people are more lonely now. Being connected online isn’t real human interactions. It’s not healthy for us if we do it too much. I’m fact, I think giving a voice to everybody has been a worse than it has been helpful.

But when we didn’t have the net, you invested yourself more in the things you liked. Music is a perfect example, with Spotify and Apple Music there is no real need to buy music. Following a band just isn’t the same. It’s both good and bad. I feel that less is actually more even though I love the access to information and ability to contact loved ones so easily now.

I've been working from home for two and a half years now. It's permanent, something I never even conceptualized before the pandemic. I have full contact with the people in my life that actually matter. The rest, I don't care to have real human interaction with. I use the internet to keep them at arms distance. It's better this way.

 

[eyoungren]

This. Great insight @Scepticalscribe: Time is the connective thread between each of us and everything else. Mobile phones started the process of materially ceding control of our time to others .. and the internet accelerated the transfer and extended the levers of control to everyone and anyone.

Again, not me

I was a latchkey kid who occupied my time alone. I am quite capable of tuning out and ignoring things when I don't wish to be bothered. And every single boss I've had over the years has soon realized that they only have me during working hours.

 

[smoking monkey]

I've been working from home for two and a half years now. It's permanent, something I never even conceptualized before the pandemic. I have full contact with the people in my life that actually matter. The rest, I don't care to have real human interaction with. I use the internet to keep them at arms distance. It's better this way.

That's fine and in the modern day perhaps it's better! But this is why the storytellers aren't as good as they once were, why all the arts are suffering in comparison to previous generations. People are having far fewer interactions with real people, both good and bad, and have less opportunity to have experiences. We place ourselves in bubbles and I think on a large scale we've seen what that has done to the west, in particular, the UK and the USA.

 

[eyoungren]

That's fine and in the modern day perhaps it's better! But this is why the storytellers aren't as good as they once were, why all the arts are suffering in comparison to previous generations. People are having far fewer interactions with real people, both good and bad, and have less opportunity to have experiences. We place ourselves in bubbles and I think on a large scale we've seen what that has done to the west, in particular, the UK and the USA.

I suppose it just comes down (again) to me. I have always placed myself in a bubble, internet or no - just to protect myself.

I grew up as the nerd kid in a rural town and I attended school 30 minutes away. So all my 'friends' were not where my house was. I was never interested in parties, partying, sports or socializing - all things that made me a social pariah and a target for bullies. My defense was being 'smarter' than everyone else by paying attention and learning stuff nobody else cared about. I'm not smarter, far from it - but a certain type of person (partying, sports-oriented bullies who can't think beyond themselves) believes I am - just because I took the time to memorize something they didn't.

Most of the people I encounter outside of my home are those who are still stuck in highschool. They may have gone on to good jobs and own lots of stuff, but their personal development is stuck at that level. My daughter now attends highschool with their children - and this arrested development is being passed on.

No, I don't need interactions with them.

But the people I would like to have interactions with, those who I do get along with, are few and far between. Which is why I come here.

 

[heretiq]

Again, not me

I was a latchkey kid who occupied my time alone. I am quite capable of tuning out and ignoring things when I don't wish to be bothered. And every single boss I've had over the years has soon realized that they only have me during working hours.

@eyoungren I think you may be among those exceptional individuals with the perspective and discipline to avoid succumbing to internet addiction in a material way; but as we know, there are multitudes of dopamine addicted individuals who have unknowingly surrendered their attention to social media delivered industrial scale targeting and a/b tested appeals masqueraded as personalized content (ref: The Social Dilemma).

 

[KaliYoni]

TheNewModeBunnymenOrderCureDepeche&TheEcho

ShakeYourSilentNeverLipsFaceDogShakeLetMeDownLikeSugar

 

[eyoungren]

@eyoungren I think you may be among those exceptional individuals with the perspective and discipline to avoid succumbing to internet addiction in a material way; but as we know, there are multitudes of dopamine addicted individuals who have unknowingly surrendered their attention to social media delivered industrial scale targeting and a/b tested appeals masqueraded as personalized content (ref: The Social Dilemma).

I may be, but that's a learned process based on top of a personality trait.

I'm not special, I've had my share of obsessions over the years with my wife having to smack me upside the head. Before that was my dad and he wasn't as kind as my wife. When I see something I like, I tend to go all in.

But at the same time, and this is where my seventh generation Swedish heritage comes in, I won't be told what to do. And I won't be controlled. That especially applies to my own tech trying to control me. People have this relationship all wrong. We control the devices, the computers, the TVs, etc. This stuff is supposed to do what we tell it to do, not the other way around. So I can ignore my phone, I can ignore my computers.

And my time is my own. I work because I need to pay bills and I want to eat, not because I love my job so much I want to be 'fulfilled' by it. So, when I'm on the clock I am on the clock. Because I am being paid to do work, I have given my bosses the right to tell me what to do. That's the agreement. I'm a team player on the clock. But when I'm off, that's MY time. Sometimes, I may jump back in to help, because I want to help. But I clock back in - I'm not doing it for free.

I also love my tech, I sit in front of a computer with six screens basically from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. But I control this thing and I'm not leashed to it.

I was doing malicious compliance at home decades before it became a term. Maybe that does make me exceptional, I don't know.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

........

But at the same time, and this is where my seventh generation Swedish heritage comes in, I won't be told what to do. And I won't be controlled. That especially applies to my own tech trying to control me. People have this relationship all wrong. We control the devices, the computers, the TVs, etc. This stuff is supposed to do what we tell it to do, not the other way around. So I can ignore my phone, I can ignore my computers.

And my time is my own. I work because I need to pay bills and I want to eat, not because I love my job so much I want to be 'fulfilled' by it. So, when I'm on the clock I am on the clock. Because I am being paid to do work, I have given my bosses the right to tell me what to do. That's the agreement. I'm a team player on the clock. But when I'm off, that's MY time. Sometimes, I may jump back in to help, because I want to help. But I clock back in - I'm not doing it for free.

I also love my tech, I sit in front of a computer with six screens basically from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. But I control this thing and I'm not leashed to it.

I was doing malicious compliance at home decades before it became a term. Maybe that does make me exceptional, I don't know.

Well said and very well expressed.

Tech is a poor master but a very useful servant.

And you are absolutely right is drawing a clear distinction between personal time and the time devoted to professional matters and insisting that one does not seep into the other.

 

[MacBH928]

That's taking the elephant out of the room. Cost of living is the reason Millennials are far poorer than Boomers at the same stage of life. I don't know many Millennials homeowners, but most Boomer I know were a homeowners by 30. Sure kids have Internet and 1000's if channels on TV, but are struggling otherwise. We have better bread and circuses.

Compensation hasn't match production ever since the 80's. The deviation began in the 70's. If we use the 60's pay to production scale, minimum wage would be $40-50 an hour today.

I think we are locking the "economic situation" to USA only. If you look at it world wide 3rd world countries has vastly developed and surely a lot richer. Look at place like China, India, and probably a lot of Africa.

Quite simply, around the world in general there are more of us now than there were back in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's and onward..... This has had an impact in many ways, including housing, education, jobs...... Technology having moved -- actually rather surged -- forward throughout those years and continuing to do so now represents another huge impact.

Costs of living have increased significantly but so has the demand for various goods and services, some of which never even existed back in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. We also address food sources and supplies, purchasing and preparation, not to mention actual intake and types of meals consumed where and usually differently these days than back in the post-WW II years and a decade or two beyond.

We're all paying for the convenience of going to the grocery store and being able to in addition to a few staples or the makings of a proper home-cooked meal reach into the freezer or refrigeration case for a few already "prepared" meals that we can throw into the microwave to heat up quickly or the convenience of ordering delivery from a nearby pizza or other fast-food or even proper restaurant so that a meal can be on the table quickly for whichever family members happen to be home at the time.

Of course there are those who still take pleasure in preparing and cooking meals, but there are an awful lot of people for whom something to eat is often grabbed on the run from here to there and somewhere else..... And that convenience does not come cheaply.

Home food is one thing that is missing from the current era. The stereotypical image of the 40s and 50s woman was a house wife cooking. Not only is a home cooked meal is of higher grade quality, but the experience of sitting down with the family and appreciating this home cooked meal was a social event of itself that I believe improves one mental health and social life.

I've heard of that and I will say this. I am glad I was not born in that era.

When I was younger and lived with my parents, we often left the door unlocked - but this was because we were rural. It wasn't an invitation for the people in the next house over to just come in and make themselves at home. When we went out, we locked the doors.

Once I moved out with my wife I learned to lock doors and car doors. Our first night in our new place we were robbed. I've made sure doors are locked ever since, no matter where I've lived.

With the rise of carjackings in the 90s in California (where I lived then), car doors always got locked when driving. But that was done even before then as a safety precaution. You don't want a door popping open in an accident.

I have bad news for you. Those door locks AFAIK are easily broken in like less than a minute. I know a guy who can unlock them in around 60s or less. Its not a secret you can look it up.

Pretty much. Home was just where we slept, grabbed a bite and kept our gear for our hobbies. Time not at work was spent either building/doing work on the house or going out riding bicycles, swimming, windsurfing, canoeing, climbing, going to events where those things were happening, do a bit of photography in scenic places & picnic in the parks where everyone else was. Hit up a record store & listen to some tunes for a hour or so & buy a new record. You’d meet other people into those things, talk, eat, dance, make love, go to see new places, learn things. Go places, do things, say stuff. Sometimes, on Rainy Days & Monday’s, you could enjoy a little quiet time with a book, paper or magazine, make stuff in the workshop, or just sit & listen to records & get lost in album artwork.

As anyone in marketing around 2001 can tell you, 9/11 was the turning point when Americans quit traveling (& led to all the travel shows being replaced with home & garden shows on tv), quit going outside (outdoor sports were reduced 10x and some entire sports just disappeared completely), people stayed indoors (parks went unused & sat empty) & raised their kids indoors glued to screens (with spiking childhood obesity, anxiety, depression, & stunting emotional & social development). Now you binge watch seasons of shows, vidya, to do photography is to sit indoors staring at the screen, buying music means just paying the screen your subscription fee please, public listening is illegal, & don’t worry about the artists not getting paid. Just stay indoors, out of sight, out of the way of authorities, hidden away from risk, slowly rotting.

I believe the human is a social animal. Without socialising with others of his kind it will negatively reflect on his physical and mental health. This going out thing and the socialising daily aspect of pre-internet life I feel like hitting everyone subconsciously and its getting worse every day. Every one is dealing with a screen for work, life, socialising, shopping...etc.

I feel like we are living in the matrix (the movie). We exist, just as a potatoe on a chair interacting with things virtually.

I’m a millennial (born 1982) and most of my friends put off buying homes by moving to London where rent was three times the cost of a mortgage in other parts of the country. I had a good job and bought my first house by 25 and my friends had good jobs and were poor in London lol. They’ve since moved to places like Swindon, Bristol and the Midlands to buy homes. Our generation are poorer due to the 2008 banking crisis where wages stagnated for the next 13 years, mortgages were harder to get, pensions are dreadful compared to the final salary pensions our parents had etc. My parents are millionaires on paper through property and investments that are just unreachable to us.

Maybe they need to go to London because there is where they found a job? there is a reason london is more expensive. Probably everyone wants to be there because their livelihood is there?

I moved to London and bought my first house there when I was around 25. When I moved to the Midlands a few years later we had made more than £100k in that time. More than I earned in that time. But I had to sacrifice a lot to save up a deposit whilst renting. I don’t see many younger people sacrificing half as much. Just because there are more things to waste your money on these days doesn’t mean you have to.
That’s one of the things the internet definitely gives us. 24/7 shopping. When I was young you would have been lucky to find any shop open on a Sunday.

Another difference I noticed is that families were more like wild animals. They are out there to survive and secure themselves. People invested in their homes, lives, families, and savings. Today people are more about spending their money in entertainment and products. Up until early 2000s I used to keep my cellphone up to 3-4 years (and it was much cheaper than an iphone) today people are on a yearly update cycle of $1000 phones! And we are still talking about just phones! They bought much less and appreciated their purchases much more.

 

[eyoungren]

I have bad news for you. Those door locks AFAIK are easily broken in like less than a minute. I know a guy who can unlock them in around 60s or less. Its not a secret you can look it up.

If you're doing that, you aren't my neighbor. You're a thief intent on stealing something inside my house or doing damage to my house.

Either way, you're now trespassing.

Which is not the same thing as leaving your door unlocked with the understanding that your neighbors can come in and make themselves at home.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Another difference I noticed is that families were more like wild animals. They are out there to survive and secure themselves. People invested in their homes, lives, families, and savings. Today people are more about spending their money in entertainment and products. Up until early 2000s I used to keep my cellphone up to 3-4 years (and it was much cheaper than an iphone) today people are on a yearly update cycle of $1000 phones! And we are still talking about just phones! They bought much less and appreciated their purchases much more.

Everything is designed for an annual update these days unfortunately. Back in the day you would keep your Nokia 3310 for years. If it was a bit beat up or the battery was getting on, it was an easy swap out. No tools required.

These days the software is only supported for a few years. They design obsolescence. It's in their internet.

That said when I bought my first house we went without a lot saving for the deposit (whilst renting in London). There was no electrical goods in the house other than a microwave (we had no oven in our rental), a kettle and a hifi someone was throwing away.

 

[eyoungren]

Everything is designed for an annual update these days unfortunately. Back in the day you would keep your Nokia 3310 for years. If it was a bit beat up or the battery was getting on, it was an easy swap out. No tools required.

These days the software is only supported for a few years. They design obsolescence. It's in their internet.

I think perhaps the truth is a little bit of what one makes it to be.

I use a lot of stuff for modern/current things that Apple (or some people) says is obsolete. I do not have the money to accept 'planned obsolescence' and keep constantly upgrading. So, I just make my current stuff work.

 

[MacBH928]

I think my generation has a hard time putting value on their time and enjoyment. If somebody told me I could have saved $300 cash but I’d have to work my fingers to the bone and buy all of the tools necessary to detail my car for the whole day, I’d laugh.

While I do agree with you, some of the "professional" services have eye watering prices. Sometimes the fix is simple.

Even worse, some charge you the "pro" price and their job is sloppy. So yeah, you have to pay the higher price AND do your research.

This is something that has changed too from pre-internet days. Somehow in older times those who were experts in a field were real experts. Today many of them (Albeit not all) seem more on the "I had a course on the topic" side of things.

You buy a fixer upper and do what nephew and new wife did, they did one room at a time with a buject they had set doing it themselves! They went to spray insulation not from for crushed things that was cheaper and almost as good and better than traction pink! Like I said they would go to each room at a time! The only time they did once a season and were done in 12 years with new siding and making her dream kitchen for their kid!

It had 12 rooms?!

I’m a long suffering West Ham fan. Tough year.

My condolenses . I am not British but I side on Liverpool

I graduated high school 1980, here’s a snippet from my 30th reunion post (2010)
This is mid 1970’s stuff

Truly one can say that they "grew up in Warren, Michigan" if they played along the Red Run storm river, ever, this includes:
-going there after a big rain to see if it was "gushing and overflowing the banks:
-went exploring the various "Time Tunnels" to see how many manholes back you could ride. Yes, we put those 6v square battery lights taped to handle bars and went miles deep
-in winter time, chipped off ice floes 15 feet wide and 25 feet long, and drifted down the river till they broke up

I love how people pre-internet got creative to entertain themselves. Gives the sense of adventures!

 

[heretiq]

I graduated high school 1980, here’s a snippet from my 30th reunion post (2010)
This is mid 1970’s stuff

Truly one can say that they "grew up in Warren, Michigan" if they played along the Red Run storm river, ever, this includes:
-going there after a big rain to see if it was "gushing and overflowing the banks:
-went exploring the various "Time Tunnels" to see how many manholes back you could ride. Yes, we put those 6v square battery lights taped to handle bars and went miles deep
-in winter time, chipped off ice floes 15 feet wide and 25 feet long, and drifted down the river till they broke up

@mtbdudex, I didn’t grow up in Warren Michigan, but graduated HS in 81 and I went to school in Flint, Michigan (GMI/Kettering). Your post resonated for three reasons: it reminded me of my good college friends from Warren, MI, the thrill of exploring storm drainage tunnels, and some the great (and dangerous in hindsight) winter activities that are now unthinkable today. Salut! 🙏🏽

 

[MacBH928]

It is not just "get together and socialise" (though that does matter), it is also that this is a very good time to chat things through - your day at school, stuff that came up both academically or otherwise, raise stuff that may have been puzzling you, bothering you, or worrying you, talk about and ask about and discuss what is happening in the world, what someone said (in class), what someone did - and thrash things out.

Some of the best, and most serious, discussions at home occurred during - or, towards the end of - dinner, especially if the dinner was somewaht relaxed.

The rule of no TV - and no phones - at meal times is one that I adhere to myself.

If you must take a call, excuse yourself and leave the table and leave the room; as for a TV programme, yes, people could watch them, but they had to eat with family first, and excuse themselves, and - if necessary - return later to do whatever chores (washing up etc) still needed to be done.

With the family, if I cooked, or prepared the meal, someone else did the clearing and washing up (usually my father or brothers); this was yet another valuable lesson I had learned from my mother.

well I consider that socialising . We both agree. But still, eating while watching something is a guilty pleasure of mine but I am not saying its best that everyone is isolated watching a screen while having their dinner or lunch. I do not think that is what is best for society.

Interestingly I think people are more lonely now. Being connected online isn’t real human interactions. It’s not healthy for us if we do it too much. I’m fact, I think giving a voice to everybody has been worse than it has been helpful.

But when we didn’t have the net, you invested yourself more in the things you liked. Music is a perfect example, with Spotify and Apple Music there is no real need to buy music. Following a band just isn’t the same. It’s both good and bad. I feel that less is actually more even though I love the access to information and ability to contact loved ones so easily now.

I completely understand that. The internet is arguably the greatest catalyst for human connection in history .. and possibly the greatest source of division in history largely due to social media. It’s like making a stitch with one hand while the other takes it apart (ode to Matisyahu).

That's fine and in the modern day perhaps it's better! But this is why the storytellers aren't as good as they once were, why all the arts are suffering in comparison to previous generations. People are having far fewer interactions with real people, both good and bad, and have less opportunity to have experiences. We place ourselves in bubbles and I think on a large scale we've seen what that has done to the west, in particular, the UK and the USA.

Thats all part of this thread, to compare and contrast.

@smoking monkey , another thing people forget about is that pre-internet there was a sense of amazement and wonder. I remember looking up stuff like "The tallest man in the world" and think wooooww. You didn't know what was out there. Today i probably can find out Sylvester Stallone's underwear size and brand via online resources.

Even early internet left something for the imagination with text interaction. Today its all recorded , images, audio, video, and live feed.

Well said and very well expressed.

Tech is a poor master but a very useful servant.

And you are absolutely right is drawing a clear distinction between personal time and the time devoted to professional matters and insisting that one does not seep into the other.

Not me.

I got connected via BBS in 1984 and the internet has enabled me to stay connected. I can do stuff now that I could not do without a car and/or money that I didn't have then. And if I want off the internet, I can simply just walk away from the computer. My monitors will switch off in 30 minutes.

The internet has done nothing but make my life better.

@Scepticalscribe well said

@eyoungren , You probably escaped the trapped and made tech your servant (good for you) but if you look at the rest of society they are screen zombies now and we live in that society.

That being said, I had greatly benefited from the internet in many aspects of my life but I still have to say going to the video store and picking a movie from their collection had a different feeling and taste than streaming any film made in human history in few seconds. Doing things the "harder" way had a very different charm to it and I believe it did affect us in many aspects even though the internet is the easier, better, more economical option.

 

[monstermash]

If you are old enough and remember I would like to hear your memories. I remember as far back as the early 1990s. I was thinking all forms of entertainment today is connected to the internet. I would imagine it would be very horrific to be lonely at that time period.

I know people who would go to work have something to be busy with but those who are retired, between jobs, what did they do all day long? What I remember was people almost never stayed home. Every day for them was go out and socialise day.

Sitting around, waiting for the internet.

 

[eyoungren]

@eyoungren , You probably escaped the trapped and made tech your servant (good for you) but if you look at the rest of society they are screen zombies now and we live in that society.

That being said, I had greatly benefited from the internet in many aspects of my life but I still have to say going to the video store and picking a movie from their collection had a different feeling and taste than streaming any film made in human history in few seconds. Doing things the "harder" way had a very different charm to it and I believe it did affect us in many aspects even though the internet is the easier, better, more economical option.

You sound like my wife. When I first met her she had that mentality. If it's not 'hard', it isn't worth doing. Only later on did she see that whether you do something the hard way or the easy way, it's the result that counts. If you arrive at the same place with the same result, does it matter how you got there? Note, I'm not talking about stuff that needs to be done the 'right way.'

If the process matters to you, even when hard or easy or right doesn't matter, then I can't help you. I have always sought the easy way, or more correctly, the optimized way over the 'hard way'.

Sometimes the hard way, especially when there is no reason for it, is just an exercise in stupidity or self-flagellation. More so when it doesn't matter. People often keep doing things the same way because that's how they've always done it. F-that. I'm going to find an easier way to do it (if I can) that gives the same result. I have no sentimentality in that for old ways or the way things used to be done. A stupid drawn out process is stupid and drawn out no matter what era it was devised in.

I never needed the internet for that, although it sure as heck makes it much easier now.

 

[Mousse]

Back in the day you would keep your Nokia 3310 for years. If it was a bit beat up or the battery was getting on, it was an easy swap out. No tools required.

Nonsense. The Nokia 3310 is indestructable and the battery lasts forever.😉