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People that grew up before the internet age, how was life different? (1 Viewer)

bosoxs45

Footballguy
How was life different before the internet? Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? How did you find out where to meet people? What did you do at night without a TV to watch? How did you get around the city in which you lived? What kinds of clothes did they wear? What kind of food did they eat? Basically, how did you live?

 
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Calling the movie theater on a Friday night to get movie times only to have to hang up and redial like 30 times to get in was the stuff of :hot:

That is if you did not take the newspaper and get the movie times in that, of course.

 
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Oh my God. It's been a silent revolution. I'll focus on information. Information was a commodity hard to come by. Now, especially in areas of art and history, it's very easy. It used to be access to information was difficult because of gatekeeping and "ordering the chaos." Now it's a touch away. It's personalized, for good or ill. 

But if you believe that knowledge is power, then it's been nothing short of an upheaval and democratization of everything.  

 
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How was life different before the internet? Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? How did you find out where to meet people?
Every group had a block or area in the park where they hung out. You would just go there and someone was bound to be around. If some people went somewhere like a movie or arcade and you didn't know about it in advance, there was usually someone you could ask, parent or other neighbors that would tell you were everyone went. Everyone knew each other in the neighborhood so it wasn't hard to keep in contact.

 
The internet and cell phones just became popular when I was in high school.  Most of my friends didn't get a cell phone until college though, including me.  I had to memorize numbers or use the phone book to call friends, and it was the house phone.  I lived outside of town in the country so I spent a lot of time playing outside by myself or playing video games.  We used TV guide for knowing what was on until we got satellite TV and had the on screen guide.  We looked up movie theater times in the newspaper.

 
As I recall, during the school year, plans were made during the school day, maybe finalized over the phone in the evening.  But basically, plans started whenever your ride showed up at the house.

As far as what you did without a TV to watch, I feel like friends interacted a lot more with each other than they do now.  I have a 16 year old who now has a car at his disposal so he hangs out with friends a lot more. I feel like they are still with each other in person as much as when I was in high school, but they are looking at their screen more often than actually interacting with each other.  I'm not sure if that is something I need to worry about (people in the future not having actual interpersonal skills) or if it is a get off my lawn moment and people will just adapt to a new normal.

 
Life for youngsters was more active.  We got outside and played ball depending on what season it currently was.  Video games were played in an arcade with friends.  

Best thing about the Internet, imo, is instant access to information.  You can learn to do just about anything... no more trips to the library, etc.  And shopping has been revolutionized. 

Bad thing, imo, is social media.  Perhaps if the Internet was around when I was a teen or early 20s, I'd have a different opinion.  But the pressure social media creates with kids/teens is a real thing.  Bullying used to be at school in the hallways/playground/lunchroom... Sometimes simply standing up to a bully would fix the problem.  Now you can't get away from it.  Even if you get off social media, your "friends" are still reading.  

Seems like childhood obesity is more relevant now than then, but I don't have stats to prove it.  But the world changes and will continue to change.  

 
It was a savage time and life was cheap when the rotary dial phone ruled communications.  We roamed the night in packs to protect ourselves from the atomic mutants.  Our cars were personalized assault vehicles/shag wagons.  Our clothes from J.C. Penny's and Chest King.  We smoked and had unprotected sex, often at the same time, sometimes this even involved a partner..

 
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It was a savage time and life was cheap when the rotary dial phone ruled communications.  We roamed the night in packs to protect ourselves from the atomic mutants.  Our cars were personalized assault vehicles/shag wagons.  Our clothes from J.C. Penny's and Chest King.  We smoked and had unprotected sex, often at the same time.
Yes, the good old days when you could put an ashtray on a woman's belly without her complaining, since she used it too.

 
I'd hang out in ye olde village square waiting for the wanton harlots to be released from the stock and pillory if i wanted a sure thing. I'd invite them to my shoppe where i made the candles by which the good folks of Salem would find the channel dials on their Dumonts, and oft would i dip my wick in their tallow while on horizontal hold and wait on nigh for it to harden, which would further redden their scarlet letters

 
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I had the internet in late elementary/middle school, but I do vaguely remember having to check the newspaper for movie times and then you'd have to call your friends house number using the school phone book to coordinate meeting up.

Then it was all about instant messaging chicks on AOL hoping to get them to meet up with you at the mall on a Friday night for some hand-holding action. :flex: 

 
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I remember driving to Daytona Beach when I was in college with a couple of friends.  My dad gave me a couple of index cards with directions. We actually had to plan our route and write down the address of the hotel we were staying at. Then we had to coordinate with other friends who were going there. Like meet at the pier at noon on Sunday.

 When I left we never spoke again until I returned 8 days later. 

My mom and dad had no idea if I ever made it there or what.  Now my daughters each text me 10 times a day.

Yesterday I was out with my daughters for Fathers day..we were sitting having a beer at this popular pub and my youngest daughter said "Look around us..every single person head is buried in their phones. Then she said to me "I bet it was better before cell phones when people actually talked to each other"

 
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how did you guys stay in touch? 
Plans were made sometime between the end of the previous day and the school bus ride home/being picked up.  Summer time was more of a word of mouth thing.  You'd be with crowd A, run into crowd B who heard from crowd F we're going to J's that night.  The transition back from vacation was always a rough one because you fell out of the loop.

How did you find out where to meet people? 
When returning from vacation or growing tired of a particular group you recently were making the rounds with, get on the phone.  

What did you do at night without a TV to watch? 
I had a tv (I'm not that much older than millenials), but we played outside anyway.  If the weather was junk we'd usually play video games or fire up a movie.  The only shows I was really into from 4th grade'ish to high school were Fresh Prince, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons.

 How did you get around the city in which you lived? 
I grew up in a small'ish town (25-30K) with nothing else of substance within 10-15 miles, so a bike was sufficient.  I'm kinda disappointed I don't see more of them in my current burb.  We've been pushing our kids to ride in hopes it'll be different for them.

What kinds of clothes did they wear?
Horrible ones.

 
It seems people could easily make stuff up and act like they were smart. Now, you can prove them wrong via Google in 3 seconds. 

As has been mentioned, we always hung out outside and would simply bike/walk to someone's house to see if they wanted to play baseball or whatever. It was very common to leave the house at 9am and not come back until dinner time in the summer. 

 
How was life different before the internet? More of a mystery. Now you can know pretty much everything, even the internal personal thoughts of people you may or may not know.  Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? I am also a millennial but I am older so I didn't get the internet until high school.  How did you find out where to meet people? Called them on the phone they had at their house, dropped by their house, talked in school or there were regular places (parks, coffee shops, parking lots) where everyone knew to go if they were looking for other people. Making plans ahead of time was obviously more important.  What did you do at night without a TV to watch? I never lived in a world without TVs- I doubt many of them here. How did you get around the city in which you lived? Same way I do now. Walked, rode bike, drove. What kinds of clothes did they wear? We were all nude. What kind of food did they eat? Whatever you could grow or kill. Basically, how did you live? Watch the first 20 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey to get a good idea.  

 
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How was life different before the internet? Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? How did you find out where to meet people? What did you do at night without a TV to watch? How did you get around the city in which you lived? What kinds of clothes did they wear? What kind of food did they eat? Basically, how did you 
What is stay in touch? We went and visited distance relatives every year or every other year. We had pen pals when friends moved away. 

We found out where to meet people because we would schedule it and you didn't cancel because something better came up. People were more reliable because it was difficult to schedule and reschedule. 

How far are we going back here? There has been television since the 50's. Radio, reading family time and cards would be my guess. 

You knew your way around, you didn't need a navigation and if you went some where new every one and every where had a map. 

The same clothes as you do now. They just look different. 

Same as food now, I would bet more people cooked and ate a home more. 

 
How was life different before the internet? Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? How did you find out where to meet people? What did you do at night without a TV to watch? How did you get around the city in which you lived? What kinds of clothes did they wear? What kind of food did they eat? Basically, how did you live?
TV before cable consisted of running up an antenna to get a signal, particularly if in cases like mine where you were far away from a major market.

Heck, when I was small, our home phone was a party line - separate numbers, but ONE connection point. If you picked up the phone to make a call and heard someone talking, you weren't making a call. Similarly, if someone called you at that time, they got a busy signal.

There were four networks - ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. And, the TV stations went off around 1 AM and didn't come back on until 6 or 7 AM.

Everywhere I went as a kid, I rode my bike. Across town to the pool or grandmas, into town to the store, etc. We had one car and dad used it to go to work.

 
How was life different before the internet?
We had weird EMO kids and heavy set girls with very bad hair cuts that nobody really bothered, but didn't get a whole lot of attention. When they heard something that they found offense to it went mostly unnoticed. Back then they didn't have a global megaphone to muster the other 3% of the population that felt the same way they did to make a very loud stink about something that mostly nobody cared about. Back then a very small minority couldn't dictate what was "right" or "correct" based almost completely on the amount of free time they had to invest in social media each and every day, if not every hour.

Not sure if that means that it was better back then or that it's better now, but it certainly was different.

 
I remember having to go to the local record store to see if any good concerts were coming to town.  You wouldn't know until someone put up a flyer.  

Then you'd have to call ticketmaster to order by phone.  
Or go to a local ticketmaster location and get in line to buy tickets.  People used to cap outside Dayton's over night to get a prime spot in line.

 
How was life different before the internet? Im a “ millennial “ and am curious how did you guys stay in touch? How did you find out where to meet people? What did you do at night without a TV to watch? How did you get around the city in which you lived? What kinds of clothes did they wear? What kind of food did they eat? Basically, how did you live?
Just watch the Goldberg's show.  Seems pretty accurate from the episodes I have seen.

 
Life was better. Use to figure out what to do at school. If you wanted to know something you went to library.  Played outside way more. Had limits set by parents how long you could talk on home phone. 

You would actually have to go up to up to the door of your girlfriends house and knock to let her know you were there. This usually meant meeting her dad. 

Social media consisted of writing on the bathroom walls.  

 
Or go to a local ticketmaster location and get in line to buy tickets.  People used to cap outside Dayton's over night to get a prime spot in line.
My girlfriend would be sitting there, managing the line to the best of her ability, talking about how the system is going slow that morning all while she is going down the list getting our tickets first.  

 

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