Was life better before the internet?

As a teenager i remembered about 30 landline phone numbers of friends and family that i rang often. I just knew them. I knew address too and yeah, we'd make an arrangement to meet at 7.30 pm a week next friday and all turn up on time without reminders! Lol

And....yes......it was better... far less drama!

I will not say it was better, but we had nothing to compare it to. We had address books, and regular telephones. I remembered all of my friends’ numbers. Of course, I only had a handful of friends, which made that easy. But in terms of dating, you ever hear jokes about someone’s "little black book"? That’s what that was about. 😄

I remember having a little address book in which I had written people's names, phone numbers, and addresses (for snail mail, believe it or not!)

As for making plans, we would make a phone call days in advance to arrange a time to meet. So, I might talk to someone on Tuesday about what we were going to do on Saturday. It was considered rude to call too close to the time of the activity.

In many ways it was better..
The pressure to feel connected is ridiculous…
A phone call with a message still works.

I didn’t have the internet until high school and even then it couldn’t do nearly as much as it does now so we didn’t use it that often. I got my first flip phone during high school as well but we rarely used them. As a kid we’d make plans to hang out at school. For me it wasn’t the internet that changed the world. It was smart phones.

Stationary personal phone and address books. Or really old rolodex cards. That last was for home or office.

Business cards where huge as well. Had my own as well as had others.

Heck had a little wallet business card holder. Just for business numbers.

And our shop had card holder album. Like a photo album for cards.

Very.. ppl used to congregate and talk to each other

You memorized phone numbers.
I knew dozens.
Now I can remember 2!
You read adverts in the paper to learn of concerts..queued up or phoned for tickets...
And you watched tv shows when they were on....
Had loads of paper timetables and paper maps...
Had to go and get your shopping..
Much worse😅

I like having the internet...a LOT. I can look up anything I want, any time. When I was in elementary school I used to have to get a ride to the library, had to have a written list of every thing I wanted to look up, and get my answers from reading bits of books.

You made and played mixed tapes of music from records or other tapes. You used the yellow pages to find businesses and the white pages or directory assistance for people. For business info you used the Thomas register. Forms were paper. Prints were hand drawn with mechanical pencils on velum. Calculations were done on paper, a slide rule, or a calculator. Games were in a box. TVs had one channel if the weather was good. Radios used tubes and had to be plugged in until transistors came about. Cars had lights and a radio. The rest of the power went to the spark plugs. Movies were film and sometimes they stuck and burned through.

I used to have a memory. We had to trade our memory for network speed and it's pretty fair tbh. My knowledge base is largely centered on how to access the correct information quickly and picking good sources.

lol, I was just thinking about life before the internet. I'M NOT KIDDING. like just a second before I read this post. ARE YOU READING MY MIND. hahaha, seriously, though. I've lived in both worlds. I can say without a doubt that life without the internet was NOT better. Everything that was available back then is still available now. The difference is that NOW, in the internet age, I can interact with YOU, and many others that I would have never known in the pre-internet days. Plus, access to information is exponentially greater.

I never used the internet as a kid. It was pretty good then... that's sort of a difference in the usual perspective here I guess

More peaceful? Maybe… I mean, sometimes not being aware of what’s happening in the world and being disconnected can be a blessing

It was different, that's for sure. Less conveniences, which might actually be a good thing...🤔

We had a rotary phone back in the 80's and 90's, and then had wireless handsets. But we just used our brains more back then, than we do now. I had several phone numbers of friends memorized. To make plans I would just call up a buddy of mine and ask to hang out, then I'd find myself walking to their place a few blocks away, then we'd hang out for the day or for a few hours or something.

But, I couldn't imagine driving to places without google gps or some kind of gps.

I used a paper calendar that fit in my backpocket...

By the end of the year it typically just fell apart

It was different and, in many ways, simpler. "Better" is subjective though.

there was more connectivity,irl. i am jealous of how my grandmother spend her youth ,in that they had their circle of feiends they could just walk into their homes at any time and go for a walk,to the movies ,etc. I think relationships were easier to maintain and people were not as disposable because you couldnt just replace one with another by a swipe or entering an email and some special characters

Life without trolls...what a dream.

Had a little book with the names and phone numbers in it lol

I don't have a cellphone....that's how nobody gets to bother me.
Oh, and yes...I remember people's numbers and email addresses.
When I die, all my secrets will die with me.
By the way, my coworkers treat my recollective abilities as if I am a savant.
I'm, not...I just pay attention to things.
Too many people lack the concentration and ability to absorb their environment.

I hear older people say that people used to be less shallow, better drivers, and more accountable. And having studied psychology independently for 14 years now, I can easily see how convenient technology can make a person expect everything to be done for them and become mentally lazy. AKA stupid.

It is so hard to remember how I drove any place without my Google maps.
I am horrible with directions but somehow I drove all over the place and made it to my destinations without it.
So apparently there was life before internet it's just really hard to remember.
I guess it was loin cloths and flint and steel.

Lots of phone calls to make plans

Two cans and a string.

Not better but different. Actually some of the hard wired answering machines allowed one to store numbers for quick dialing, and the phone company would allow that also thru their service for a ridiculously high price. We had address books and such.

Probably. There were house phones you could talk on and I remember we all wrote notes in school and passed em or slid them in the locker slots

Before social media became political platforms

I wouldn't generalize blaming the internet as a whole.

Even before I was introduced to the internet, my life was pretty colorful.

I remember we passed by each other homes and ring the doorbell 😊

In most ways yes. But the internet and social media has its uses.

Idk, never been without it...

We wrote stuff down

It was actually