Do you remember life before the internet? – Good question for us old farts.
Yes, I do, and it was wonderful. It was far more friendly. We would play outside all day till dark. We were always doing some physical activities. Riding bikes, playing sports or games and building forts. My skateboard was a flat piece of wood with steel wheels.
I remember working many years without the internet. I remember having a BBS (Bulletin Board System) before we had the internet. We thought that was the greatest thing. It certainly lit the bulb of things to come.
I remember having maps in a glove box in the car. Remembering hundreds of phone numbers and knowing people’s addresses.
Having to figure out things on our own by trial and error because instructions didn’t come with troubleshooting or vendor support.
The thing I liked the most was there was more person to person contact and communication.
The internet provides many wonderful things. And some are not so wonderful.
Do you remember life before the internet? – Good question from the Daily Writing prompt.
I certainly remember life before the internet because I am past my mid-60s now. I grew up without it and it was great. It helps me keep a healthy balance to this day. It also helps me keep online stuff in perspective.
As with most advances in life, there are good and bad aspects. As normal, human beings can certainly find the bad parts and exploit them as well as the good ones.
I remember having to figure out things ourselves. Trial and error. No YouTube videos to help us fix something. No online manuals or step-by-step photos.
You listened to the radio or got up to put a new album on the record player. Hell, I remember having to get up to change the channel and the TV went off after Johnny Carson’s late show at midnight.
You didn’t count your friends on Facebook, they were knocking on your door at sunrise to come out and play. You knew your friends well.
There were things called bulletin boards (a corkboard on a wall) where communications to all were posted. The education you got was at school, the job, and by doing things.
It felt good to get a paycheck in hand, go to the bank, smile at the pretty teller, deposit some, and get some CASH so you could live.
We went out and built forts in the woods instead of some game, building towns. We played games on boards with pieces that we moved around. People took pictures with a camera and film and it wasn’t cheap so you didn’t take 6 gazillion photos of yourself. You took shots of other people because you knew what you looked like.
You developed a memory on your own and didn’t need a smartphone to remember 50-100 different telephone numbers. You remembered how to get from place to place. You wrote (with your hands and a pen) so maybe you chose your words more carefully and then took it to the mailbox (in your front yard) and sent it.
If you needed knowledge of something there was the Encyclopedia Britannica or the library.
One could argue it changed things for the better or worse. Because it’s been both. My personal opinion is that life was better for humans before it on a personal level. Oddly enough the internet in some ways has led us to be less social and I believe less healthy.
I could go on about this and I might write a longer post on it in the future because of my experiences which I believe might help someone else. But I have company coming and I must prepare the homestead.
Wire bundles from one of the network closets at the job. Photo by Mike Hartley
