Before the Internet (2017)(newyorker.com) |
Before the Internet (2017)(newyorker.com) |
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/07/sunday-routine
The shouts and murmurs is definitely a great section!
'Before the internet' pretty much coincides with 'when I was a kid' for me. I would love to hear 'before the internet' memories from people who were adults before the internet too.
I definitely get more out of physical paper where I can book mark, dog ear, underline, highlight and write in the margins than I've ever gotten from a digital copy. Except for the searching.
I don't think we'll ever have a great hybrid, but pairing the two together is the way to go.
Inter-branch loans haven't changed. I'm on 3 months now still waiting for one.
That's gone now. I totally can't imagine how it is for kids now. I mean, I would be in such deep shit by my mid 20s.
Wow! I actually had 'the booklet' when I was a kid. Carried it around with me. If you want to brighten a youngster's day, get it,
https://www.amazon.com/Rocks-Minerals-Golden-Nature-Guides/d...
Before the internet, gay kids committed suicide, never even knowing how they felt was normal for some other people far away from their small town.
Before the internet, if your county library didn't have it, it didn't exist.
Before the internet, you had 3 TV channels, and you watched what the advertisers would pay for, not what you were curious about.
I don't think this piece is contradicting to the fact the internet has brought lots of good things as well, especially in when it comes to making information accessible and easy to use/copy etc.
But it's pointing out that we also lost something in that process. Which sometimes can be hard to put a finger on, seeing as it's mostly about letting ourselves be bored, letting ourself be inspired from something within.
Inter-library loans existed long before the internet.
> Before the internet, you had 3 TV channels, and you watched what the advertisers would pay for, not what you were curious about.
Cable TV with lots of channels existed long before streaming video was available on the web. Also, you could rent videos at Blockbuster (or borrow them for free at the local library). And you had ad-free public TV stations.
Cable and video rentals weren't available till I was in college.
You're right that some of these things became available in limited quantities, or were available with a lot of effort, but overall the gist of what OP said captures the idea. Things are very different from when I grew up in the 70s/early 80s.
In a way, book searching is probably the only cool thing about internet IMO. The rest was already nice enough as it was. You don't need ultra high bandwidth and ultra low latency to find a VHS for a night with friends... it won't make the memories better.
And used bookstores. I loved those. You could find anything.
With the Internet: Same but now I have way more than I need rather than just more than I need, to the point that picking something to enjoy is kinda hard because there's so much and it's all about equally hard to get—i.e. not hard—all the time. Total expense kinda high, actually, since you can't reduce the base cost of Internet access by checking more movies out from the library, even if you manage to replace Netflix and friends—to use it at all, there's a high monthly price, so if you occasionally need it for work or whatever you're just stuck.
Also, for those who didn't grow up without the Internet, here's a fun one: passing thoughts about trivia didn't used to bug us. In fact they'd often not even reach the level of conscious thought. It was difficult enough to find out the answers to "when was that actor born?" or "who produced [album you don't have on hand]?" that we just... didn't even think about it, most of the time. If we did and no-one within yelling distance knew the answer and there wasn't a relevant coffee table book around to consult, that was it, rarely did anyone go to the effort to find out or feel any kind of nagging sensation that they really ought to go look that up. In short, it was wonderful.
For those who didn't grow up without smartphones (they're old enough to be on here now!): we used to often do one thing at a time, not one thing plus being on our phones. Oh and kids—even ones old enough that they all have their own cell phones now, like 8 or 9 years old—used to just have to find something to do if they got dragged somewhere by their parents and got bored. Usually games with other kids around, if there were any. The games would be imagination-based or use improvised playing equipment—cup ball, for instance, which was like baseball but with a wadded up cardboard concession cup for a ball, and makeshift bases. Seriously.
And if all that failed (or you didn't even try), sometimes you'd just show up at the movie theater around 7pm without having done any research at all and see whatever looked good based on movie posters, titles, and actors you recognized.
And, of course, you had to allocate 2-3 hours for the adventure, and traveling there and back again.
When I was ~13, discovering New York City, I found a copy of Fortunes in Formulas for Home, Farm, and Workshop. And an ad in a comic book for a chemical company in Texas that sold fireworks supplies. Years of fun followed.