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Do You Remember Life before the Internet?

posted 7 years ago by actionkamen (23176)
96 replies | jump to latest

Sometimes I wonder what am I doing right now if there were no Internet.

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[–] MissMargoChanning (6630) 7 years ago

I remember it well. While I haven't used them in years, I still can't part with my Encyclopedia Britannica though...
The volumes only get taken down these days just to dust them, but they just look so great on the shelves. They also make my little library look as though smart people live in our house! LOL! Or STUPID for keeping them!

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 7 years ago

I'll print some dummy book covers titled Wikipedia to be put on my bookshelf. That way guests will percieve me as a really smart man.

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[–] MissMargoChanning (6630) 7 years ago

LOL!You could always just keep your computer up on a shelf!
I am still laughing out loud!

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[–] Utpe (658) 7 years ago

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[–] Daisy (3024) 7 years ago

We had those encyclopedias when I was younger and also The Book of Knowledge or something like that. It was volumes filled with random things like how to build a bird house, a history lesson and then a fairy tale. I would love to still have those. I think its very cool you still have your encyclopedia.

I remember once I had a project due and forgot to photocopy the photos I needed so I cut up the encyclopedia. I remember thinking I would be killed. Now its too easy just to print a picture off the internet. Funny memories though.

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[–] brux (14724) 7 years ago

Anybody who would cut pictures out of a book deserves to be killed. To bad you weren't.

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[–] AS117 (246) 7 years ago

I'm the same way. have a set of World Book encyclopedias that I won't get rid of.

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[–] brux (14724) 7 years ago

Keep them, I bet in 20 years you will be able to look at the news and history and find out that it is changing. At least the EB is written on paper and doesn't change. We had the cheaper encyclopedias ... now I even forget what they were called but I had a lot of fun paging through them and finding stuff out. World Book Encyclopedia maybe?

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[–] croft_alice (12180) 7 years ago

I do...only two years ago i found out by the net...believe it or not.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

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[–] Daisy (3024) 7 years ago

Well tv was different then too. You had to be home on time to watch something or you would just miss it and have to pray for a re run. If someone called during my fave show.. be so upset! haha
I also used to read soo much more, and do the magazine and newspaper thing like you mentioned. I actually started realizing how much I miss reading so I started reading again more the past few months. The song lyrics I remember rewinding and rewinding until I figured it out and being so pissed if the jacket to the album didn't have the lyrics printed. haha.

I even used to tape songs from the radio. Imagine. LOL

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[–] AS117 (246) 7 years ago

Trying to program the VCR to record something later in the day and demanding no one touch anything so it wouldn't get messed up. Oh the old days.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

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[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 7 years ago

Barely. I was born at the end of 1989, and I think my family got our first computer when I was 6 or 7. That was also around the time I started using computers in school (I still remember the teacher telling us about this new thing called Google in the late 90s, heh.) (Also, Oregon Trail!). I have some memories of before that time, but not many. But I didn't start really getting into the internet until 2003 when I got my first email address and used it to email with my first girlfriend.

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[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

Of course. Played Nintendo a lot, watched a lot more tv and movies.

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

Yes I do remember life before the Internet. I first got the internet back in 2001, and it was dial up with AOL as my internet provider. It was interesting because it was so new to me, and chat rooms were still a big thing back in those days. I use to go on yahoo chat all the time. Also I use to use MSN messenger to keep in touch with friends.

Before that if I wanted to know about movies, or comics. I'd have to buy magazines related to that subject, but soon after the internet that dwindled down.

On thing I'll say is that the downside of the internet is that social media has become really toxic the last few years. Along with constant news feeds delivering terrible news. The toxic social media didn't exist, and the news was easy to avoid.

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[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

No MSN messenger is gone now. So is Yahoo messenger, and all of the Yahoo chat rooms. The last time I used MSN messenger was 2010.

I remember the first one of my friends that had the internet was back in 97-98. She use to go into ICQ chat rooms all the time. I use to be at her house, and she would show me all the different chat rooms. One room she use to regularly visit was called "The Pub" in ICQ chat. Also her internet browser, and search engine she used at the time was called Netscape Navigator.

Social media has gotten really bad now. I've deleted my facebook, instagram, and twitter accounts about 2 months ago. I haven't missed ether.

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[–] Utpe (658) 7 years ago

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

I'm surprised to hear that AOL instant messenger hasn't already been done away with years ago. I used it early on when I first got my internet, but didn't stick with it. I used Yahoo mostly to meet new people, because they had a chat room just for the city I lived close by. So I could connect with girls living in my area. LOL

What do you think killed off the chat rooms?

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[–] Utpe (658) 7 years ago

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

Yeah, I would say those are good points, and contributed to the downfall of chat rooms. Also just from my own personal experience, and from some friends of mine. What caused us to stop using chat rooms was free dating sites like POF, and other ones.

A lot of people used chat rooms as a way of meeting, and dating the opposite sex. Once free dating sites started popping up. They all migrated over to that.

I had a friend of mine that dated a guy from the USA that she met in a chat room. She took a greyhound from Canada (we both live in Canada) to the States, and spent two weeks with him. I also dated a girl I met in a yahoo chat room.

However once there were all these free dating sites we just used those to meet people. So that combined with what you pointed out I would say all contributed to their down fall.

The last few times I was in a yahoo chat room I noticed it was sam bots, and no real people.

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[–] Utpe (658) 7 years ago

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

Yeah that was a the gamble back in those days because you often times couldn't get to see a picture. That wasn't really a problem when I started using the internet back in 2001, because a lot of people had webcams.

I've heard that Twitter has been losing revenue, but as to why I'm not sure. Also Facebook is on a slow decline. I know a lot of young people won't use Facebook, because they think its for "old people".

I remember when Yahoo, and MSN were so confident about the popularity of their messenger services they wanted to start charging users a monthly fee. I don't know if that is true, but that rumor was going around. Which is laughable to me now.

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

How many more years of life do you think things like Twitter, and Facebook have before they die off?

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[–] Daisy (3024) 7 years ago

I sound like your friend. So long since i heard Netscape Navigator mentioned!

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[–] century_hades (67) 7 years ago

Yeah, Netscape goes back along way. LOL

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[–] Daisy (3024) 7 years ago

so many old search engines I can't even remember how many i've tried

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[–] Hans-Wilhelm (1355) 7 years ago

Sure I remember it. I remember not having a phone, having to use a land line or phone booth.

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[–] Daisy (3024) 7 years ago

I am so surprised when I see a phone booth now.

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[–] Barclays (960) 7 years ago

Yeah I remember life was better before the internet.

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[–] mplo (2356) 7 years ago

There wasn't such a small world as there is now.

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