
Before the Internet (2017) - eodafbaloo
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/26/before-the-internet
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gdubs
It still blows my mind that I used to make plans with friends to go see a
movie a week in advance and everyone would just show up.

~~~
agumonkey
I struggle to remember precisely how we did .. I know we did.. I know it
involved theater programs and phoning .. but the concrete memory is gone as if
it was fantasy

~~~
mirimir
There were these things called newspapers. They ran theater ads, at least a
week in advance.

~~~
asark
Remember calling the theater's recorded schedule line? Then if someone bugged
you at the wrong moment you'd miss the times for the one you needed and have
to listen to the whole damn thing again?

~~~
mirimir
Yes, I do indeed. That was an intermediate technology level. And in some ways,
not so much worse than the Internet.

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quickthrower2
Did anyone use Teletext? I booked a holiday from an advert on there once. Of
course you had to just phone them when you wanted to book. It was also good
for a laugh playing Bamboozle [1]. It was like a mini internet.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboozle_(quiz)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboozle_\(quiz\))

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daviddaviddavid
Slightly off topic, but I've had a print subscription to The New Yorker for
many years and I always read the Shouts & Murmurs satire pieces and the
absolute most riotously funny one I've read is "Sunday Routine" by Jen Spyra:

[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/07/sunday-
routine](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/07/sunday-routine)

~~~
jypepin
Same, TNY is the only publication we are still subscribed too and it's always
a pleasure to read. Coming in weekly we are always behind, so they are all
scattered around the house and actually pushes us to read more.

The shouts and murmurs is definitely a great section!

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amarte
I loved reading this!

'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.

~~~
mirimir
Here's one from the "damn, that sucked" side: literature research. I spent
days in libraries, digging through various indexes (that is, lots of large and
heavy books) and taking notes. Then finding journals, and making copies on
temperamental photocopy machines. Or "printing" from microfilm. And requesting
stuff through inter-library loan.

~~~
ksaj
I actually enjoyed all of that, and still occasionally spend time pouring
through the stacks. Right up until the "making copies" part. It goes very
quickly (instantly?) downhill from there.

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.

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adrianmonk
Before the internet, high school reunions had a lot of suspense to them,
because you didn't have Facebook and already know nearly everything about
people you hadn't seen in N number of decades.

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emayljames
Catalogues. Toy shops. Newspapers. Libraries. The visual and structural
meaning of these would be highly more enveloping of the imagination and the
only source for curiosity. Definitely different times.

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HocusLocus
_And there would be no way to look it up, no way to prove who was right,
except if someone had a little booklet. “Anyone got a little booklet?” you’d
ask, looking around. “Is there a booklet on this shit?”_

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...](https://www.amazon.com/Rocks-Minerals-Golden-Nature-
Guides/dp/B0006AUWR0/)

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iliaznk
What a lovely piece!

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jeffrallen
Before the internet, parents of children with rare diseases watched them die
without a doctor ever believing them.

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.

~~~
greenyoda
> Before the internet, if your county library didn't have it, it didn't exist.

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.

~~~
agumonkey
I wonder how book search systems were used, surely large library indexes
existed but how efficient and how often they'd be used..

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.

~~~
asark
Without the Internet: between rentals, purchases, and the library, more than
enough media to keep me 100% happy and occupied my entire life for very little
money.

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.

~~~
agumonkey
paradox of choice

