What was your life like before you discovered the Internet?

[Gopi Passiflora]

I'll admit I learned a lot of stuff through the Internet. It improved me in some ways but hindered me in others. My life before the Internet was less stimulating but I suppose I had more of an imagination back then.

[LittleMe Jewell]

I read a whole lot more books and watched a lot more TV.

Work was more difficult though because I had to dig through physical book after book looking for solutions to things - not to mention actually having to have all those books to being with.

I communicated with people less because I am not a letter writer and I've never been a phone-call person.

And, ugh, I actually had to go to stores to buy things.

[Love Zhaoying]

This is an interesting question! I was lucky to be in college (1984-1989) when "BitNet" was first available. This was a network to connect college mainframes - after ARPANet but before the Internet.

Those of us with access were able to get in chatrooms that connected us to other college students, participate in forums, etc. (I suppose this was in BBS days, but this was much more interactive.)

Anyway - this was very addictive! I and many others spent wayyyy too much time chatting in these online groups, participating in "flame wars" in the forums, etc. I know some people whose grades suffered greatly, just as happens today with people who become "addicted" to SL, internet, and other electronic media.

Little did we know, that was just the beginning - literally!

But to answer the question: I was more lonely, and felt less connected to other people before the advent of this BitNet (see above) and the Internet which came after it.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Love Zhaoying

[Tari Landar]

I was a little kid, so, life was all about being a little kid, doing kid things, the internet became popular, or rather, more mainstream, when I was just a kid.

 

[Akasha Sternberg]

I went rollerskating, rollerblading later, rode my bicycle, sat on my computer to write cheesy little girl´s romantic stories, played Formula 1 on it ... yeah ^^ that´s pretty much it

[Jeny Howlett]

I am a 90s kid. Spent most of my childhood outside playing with other kids from sunrise till sunset. Best times 

Edited August 28, 2017 by Jeny Howlett

[Rhonda Huntress]

Before the Internet I played MUDS and trolled peeps on arapanet.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

Is this question directed at Al Gore? 

[ChinRey]

Was there life before internet?

[Lucia Nightfire]

Surprised no one hasn't chimed in and said, "Before I discovered the internet, every Wednesday and Saturday was 'brown bag video night'. After I discovered the internet, I threw away the trenchcoat and free XXX rental after 20 points card and haven't looked back since.".

[Sciuriadi]

I used to spend my weekends jumping around like a demented chimpanzee to acid techno in filthy old warehouses... Now I sit in a comfy chair watching my avatar dance and typing rather than trying to yell over the music. Hey... at least in the virtual world you can simply block creepers and oddballs and a mesh spliff won't get you arrested!

[Bree Giffen]

Instead of wikipedia, I had encyclopedias. Instead of netflix, I had vhs tapes. Instead of music on youtube, I had MTV. Instead of multiplayer games, I had arcade games. Instead of amazon, I had the mall. 

[Syo Emerald]

Well, I was born at the beginning of the 90s, so most of my non-internet experiance is filled with stuff kids do. Playing with toys, playing outside with friends and watching TV. We didn't get good, fast internet until I was 15.

[Phil Deakins]

I discovered the internet around 1990, but it wasn't mainstream back then, and I didn't get into the web until 1998, so I'll say what my life was like before I got into the web (the internet and the web are not the same things).

My life was mostly happy, as it is now. On the whole, I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, and nothing has changed in that regard. Immediately before I got into the web, I made my living as a singer/instrumentalist, and I spent a heck of a lot of time programming as a hobby, but the singing was just another period of my life doing what I wanted to do. The only real differences between before and after are, (1) information is now available in seconds, whereas it wasn't readily available before, (2) I can socialise with people from any part of the world, albeit remotely, (3) it provided the easiest way of making a good living - even easier than singing, and (4) it was the means of gaining financial security.

On the whole, the web has made my life easier, although it was easy enough before, and because of the financial security gained through the web, I'm no doubt a bit happier in life than I was before, although I really was happy before.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Phil Deakins

[Amanda Crisp]

That's actually a bittersweet topic for me. Prior to the Interwebs I had left active duty and was in the reserves while chasing an advanced degree. 

I was either in school, running, or at my day job - with reserve duty once a month and eating up a couple of weeks every summer...... so no time for things like "social life" or "family".

I got absorbed into the Internet Collective -after- going back on extended active duty to make use of my shiny new skill set and have some really sleep-disturbing experiences. When I was finished finding out that humans can be really awful to each other, I went back to the civilian world full time. It was then that I discovered the Internet as sort of a sideline to my program of avoiding other human-beings and self-medicating for my newfound personality quirks.

It sort of helped me, it let me keep something between me and other people until I was ready to venture out there again. If I got annoyed, I logged off of EarthLink and the annoying people miraculously went away......

Edited August 29, 2017 by AmandaKeen

[Rhonda Huntress]

Before the internet, I lived a self-destructive life style.  Not that the lack of internet had anything to do with it; it was just my life back then.

I have been staring at those two sentences for like 15 minutes now so I think it's time to move on.

[Madelaine McMasters]

13 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

I think it's time to move on.

I'm glad you did... and that the move brought you here.

[Ceka Cianci]

Before the internet,life was a heck of a lot more private..

hehehe

[Chaser Zaks]

I've been on the internet since I was like 6-8 or something.

The EARLIEST I remember of life before discovering the internet was still computers, stuff like DOOM, Cap'n Crunch's Cruchling Adventure, Myst, MGS, etc. I also had a PS1 which had quite a few games I cannot remember the names of.

[Rhonda Huntress]

9 minutes ago, Chaser Zaks said:

I've been on the internet since I was like 6-8 or something.

I watched the first moon landing live on a black and white TV when I was 8.  I remember Buzz tweeted about Neil being a poser that only went first because he was the most expendable.  Something like that.  My memory is a little fuzzy.  It was so funny Walter Cronkite had tears running down his face from laughter.

[Donovan Michalski]

Basically, it was a lot of time spent with this.

[Ceka Cianci]

10 minutes ago, Donovan Michalski said:

Basically, it was a lot of time spent with this.

We have one of those up in our attic at my fathers house..He has all kinds of old game consoles.. A couple old Sega's and  Nintendo's..

We never got to touch any of those things..

I wanted to play with those really bad when I was little ..hehehehe

[Donovan Michalski]

I actually still have mine with all my games, but it's in storage.

Since they released a portable 2600 last year, I can basically carry everything around with me.  

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

.. on a black and white TV ..

Wasn't our TV exciting back then?

 

59 minutes ago, Donovan Michalski said:

Basically, it was a lot of time spent with this.

This didn't even exist until I was in college.  

Geez, I really feel old now.

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 hours ago, Chaser Zaks said:

The EARLIEST I remember of life before discovering the internet was still computers, stuff like DOOM, Cap'n Crunch's Cruchling Adventure, Myst, MGS, etc. I also had a PS1 which had quite a few games I cannot remember the names of.

One of the first computer games I ever played was Leisure Suit Larry - that was a riot