WAIT! So you're saying that there weren't smartphones OR internet when you were a kid????

puppet wrote:

As kids we were outside in the neighborhood. That is where I learned how to play sports and compete. You never saw an empty park or ball field.

As for TV, everyone watched the same programming so we had a natural common viewing experience which created community...and it was FREE!

We all bought our encyclopedia sets from door to door salesman. That was our internet. If you can believe it hitch hiking was a normal way to get around.

If someone broke down on the road people would stop and help. We were more together. Our technology screwed all that up. Before cell phones you would get more booty shots too.

Sounds like a horrible time.

puppet wrote:

As kids we were outside in the neighborhood. That is where I learned how to play sports and compete. You never saw an empty park or ball field.

As for TV, everyone watched the same programming so we had a natural common viewing experience which created community...and it was FREE!

We all bought our encyclopedia sets from door to door salesman. That was our internet. If you can believe it hitch hiking was a normal way to get around.

If someone broke down on the road people would stop and help. We were more together. Our technology screwed all that up. Before cell phones you would get more booty shots too.

Sounds like a horrible time.

Denite wrote:

Communicator wrote:

What's amazing is that we've traded depth for frequency. Now instead of having one or two meaningful interactions in a day you can write 500 little bullsh*t quips that will be read, maybe, and then instantly forgotten. Not a positive change.

You can have depth and frequency. They are not mutually exclusive.

Pre-internet, it would be impossible to have this very conversation between diverse individuals who live thousands of miles from one another. It would either be a two-sided conversation or one between individuals with similar backgrounds and opinions.

Hundreds of thousands discussions like this happen every day throughout the world. And they are not at the expense of traditional pre-internet discussions either.

Actually they are.

And pointing out that "this very conversation" could not take place without the Internet is lame at best - more realistically, entirely irrelevant..

I used to write in the dirt with a stick.

The internet has been around for quite a while just not in its modern format nor as easily accessed. I had a prof in the early 80s who worked on a DOD project and would share files (.txt files I suspect) over the ARPAnet (although I am not sure it was still called that then). The first shared packets were in 1969 I believe.

I encourage all to watch Two Lane Blacktop. It's a cool movie for many reasons, but in this context it will show you how the world was for many who we'd today call Gen-X in the 70s. The nation was just a free-for-all, really. Not that a flick about street racers nails the entire nation setting, but this is a genuine view of the world as it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPbqV9CgV9s&list=PLw5olJkUIne2VrMeQOsZOyMPHuynrOYOr

Actually not at all if you have an imagery soul mate--wink.

Internet?

We did not have Zip Codes until I turned 17.

Floodwatcher44 wrote:

I encourage all to watch Two Lane Blacktop. It's a cool movie for many reasons, but in this context it will show you how the world was for many who we'd today call Gen-X in the 70s. The nation was just a free-for-all, really. Not that a flick about street racers nails the entire nation setting, but this is a genuine view of the world as it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPbqV9CgV9s&list=PLw5olJkUIne2VrMeQOsZOyMPHuynrOYOr

I street raced in the 70's and drag raced (at the track as it should be) the entire decade of the 80's. My world was nothing like that.

Thank the Rand Corp, Santa Monica and UCLA for The Internet.

luv2run wrote:

The internet has been around for quite a while just not in its modern format nor as easily accessed. I had a prof in the early 80s who worked on a DOD project and would share files (.txt files I suspect) over the ARPAnet (although I am not sure it was still called that then). The first shared packets were in 1969 I believe.

Cool story, bro.

Irrelevant wrote:

luv2run wrote:

The internet has been around for quite a while just not in its modern format nor as easily accessed. I had a prof in the early 80s who worked on a DOD project and would share files (.txt files I suspect) over the ARPAnet (although I am not sure it was still called that then). The first shared packets were in 1969 I believe.

Cool story, bro.

I'm laughing effin hard !!!!!

luv2run wrote:

The internet has been around for quite a while just not in its modern format nor as easily accessed. I had a prof in the early 80s who worked on a DOD project and would share files (.txt files I suspect) over the ARPAnet (although I am not sure it was still called that then). The first shared packets were in 1969 I believe.

Got any more awesome stories like that old timer?

Just think. Today you could just FaceTime. How great would that be?

Imagine someone invented a tiny, unobtrusive device that you could wear that would continuously feed you the perfect nutritional balance AND provide your tastebuds with the best taste of your choice at all times.

Do you think that folks would sign up for this? You bet they would.

Do you think that folks would be happier with this? Not a chance in Hell.

Wait Not, Want Not wrote:

Wait. What? wrote:

Just think. Today you could just FaceTime. How great would that be?

Imagine someone invented a tiny, unobtrusive device that you could wear that would continuously feed you the perfect nutritional balance AND provide your tastebuds with the best taste of your choice at all times.

Do you think that folks would sign up for this? You bet they would.

Do you think that folks would be happier with this? Not a chance in Hell.

Perhaps the worst analogy of the post-internet era.

Analogy Grader wrote:

Wait Not, Want Not wrote:

Imagine someone invented a tiny, unobtrusive device that you could wear that would continuously feed you the perfect nutritional balance AND provide your tastebuds with the best taste of your choice at all times.

Do you think that folks would sign up for this? You bet they would.

Do you think that folks would be happier with this? Not a chance in Hell.

Perhaps the worst analogy of the post-internet era.

LOL

Yeah I didn't quite follow that either.

No doubt life is better with recent technology. Only Luddites would think otherwise.

Flagpole wrote:

I used to write in the dirt with a stick.

Imagine the puzzlement of the neighborhood kids when they came across "So, you want to bring up the real man thing again?" scrawled in the dirt at the local park.

PaulPP wrote:

Analogy Grader wrote:

Perhaps the worst analogy of the post-internet era.

LOL

Yeah I didn't quite follow that either.

No doubt life is better with recent technology. Only Luddites would think otherwise.

Wow, the lack of mental capabilities of folks on this site is truly astounding.

You didn't follow that? Holy smokes!

Here, allow me to spell it out for your pea-like brain.

Humans are animals. They evolved within an environment in which it was challenging to obtain many things that are critical to survival. Having essentially infinite supplies of a resource that previously was challenging to obtain is not a situation that humans in general adapt to very well.

Here is an example for your small brain:

Sugar. While people were evolving this was not easily obtained and when it was obtained it was found primarily in fruits - an excellent source of energy and nutrients at a time when these were in short supply. Hence humans evolved to have a sweet tooth. Now sugar is in essentially infinite supply. We see the effects all around us. Runners are often so proud of how wonderful they are and how disgusting all the fatties are so you might be aware of these effects, even with that tiny brain of yours.

But then, only Luddites would think that we would all be better off without an essentially infinite supply of sugar available at all times.