How did people spend their time pre-internet?

[laptech]

oh and a common feature of TV pre-internet which was intended to get the family together was movie for children usually between 4pm and 6pm and then somewhere between 7pm and 9pm was the evening movie geared towards adults. This being a feature of both Saturday and Sunday.

 

[laptech]

One of the key differences that the under-40s are going to have difficulty in grasping is that fact that if they turn off your computer and phone, they can't mimic the experience of 'pre internet' because too much has changed.

For a start, the high street. I've tried to explain to my own 20-something children about shopping centres and department stores, but it's difficult for them to understand. Even small UK towns like where I lived, they had at least one huge department store selling everything from clothes to furniture to records and tapes, hifis, organs, cameras, all that kind of tech you have to go online for now mostly (well, accepting that some of that is obsolete now anyway). In the States, you had massive shopping malls with cornerstone retailers like Sears.

Mostly all of that's gone, so young people cannot mimic our experience just by turning off their tech.

Do you remember the days when the likes of British Home Stores (BHS), Littlewoods and Debenhams used to have stores with multiple floors (3 to 4) that sold everything. Then when the internet came a long and with on line ordering, suddenly these stores downsized to just one level.

 

[MajorFubar]

Do you remember the days when the likes of British Home Stores (BHS), Littlewoods and Debenhams used to have stores with multiple floors (3 to 4) that sold everything. Then when the internet came a long and with on line ordering, suddenly these stores downsized to just one level.

Yep. The biggest town closest to the village where I currently live had all of those except Debenhams. But it had Hills (which later became Binns), Lewis's, a massive Co-Op (no kids, it didn't just sell food back then), M&S, C&A, and a five-storey Woolworths with a 700-seat cafeteria on the top floor.

 

[rm5]

oh and a common feature of TV pre-internet which was intended to get the family together was movie for children usually between 4pm and 6pm and then somewhere between 7pm and 9pm was the evening movie geared towards adults. This being a feature of both Saturday and Sunday.

That's what I always hear about happening 40-50 years ago (or maybe more recently, I don't know), and seems like it would have been nice be able to gather round the TV at dinner time or whatever and watch whatever was on.

Having a regular program that you could actually rely on - not that you can't right now, but I think you get my point - was probably nice.

But anyway, I guess what you're saying is really not a concept that people my age understand.

 

[MrCheeto]

I think possibly too, we have a difference in what shows we like to watch.

My point is more about the detachment actors have with the roles their given now. Believe me, as somebody who has worked intimately with broadcast, it's a big narcissistic nepotistic sex cult now. That is in no-way an understatement from what I've seen personally.

Having a regular program that you could actually rely on

That also meant just accepting whatever was on. You had six or maybe a dozen channels to flip through and some nights the best you had was Cagney and Lacey or Night Court. That may have been better than doing chores. I recently tried to watch Welcome Back, Kotter and it just isn't the same with how many better options there are. Shows like Sanford and Son, Three's Company, and certainly legends like ST: The Next Generation deserve a second watch. Something on the level of Quantum Leap... yeah I'd just rather play Xbox or watch YouTube now.

 

[rm5]

That also meant just accepting whatever was on. You had six or maybe a dozen channels to flip through and some nights the best you had was Cagney and Lacey or Night Court. That may have been better than doing chores. I recently tried to watch Welcome Back, Kotter and it just isn't the same with how many better options there are. Shows like Sanford and Son, Three's Company, and certainly legends like ST: The Next Generation deserve a second watch. Something on the level of Quantum Leap... yeah I'd just rather play Xbox or watch YouTube now.

Fair... and yeah, stuff is probably infinitely better now, but I've gotta be honest, sometimes having a limited set of options makes your life easier 🙂

 

[mollyc]

My point is more about the detachment actors have with the roles their given now. Believe me, as somebody who has worked intimately with broadcast, it's a big narcissistic nepotistic sex cult now. That is in no-way an understatement from what I've seen personally.



That also meant just accepting whatever was on. You had six or maybe a dozen channels to flip through and some nights the best you had was Cagney and Lacey or Night Court. That may have been better than doing chores. I recently tried to watch Welcome Back, Kotter and it just isn't the same with how many better options there are. Shows like Sanford and Son, Three's Company, and certainly legends like ST: The Next Generation deserve a second watch. Something on the level of Quantum Leap... yeah I'd just rather play Xbox or watch YouTube now.

a dozen channels. 😂 we got abc, cbs, nbc, pbs and *maybe* fox every fifth night if the weather cooperated.

 

[Clix Pix]

That's what I always hear about happening 40-50 years ago (or maybe more recently, I don't know), and seems like it would have been nice be able to gather round the TV at dinner time or whatever and watch whatever was on.

Having a regular program that you could actually rely on - not that you can't right now, but I think you get my point - was probably nice.

But anyway, I guess what you're saying is really not a concept that people my age understand.

In the 1950's families gathered around the dining table or the kitchen table at dinner time and conversed about their day as they ate the home-cooked meal. After dinner, someone, usually the woman of the household, maybe with assistance from a child or two, rinsed, washed and dried the dishes before putting them back in the cabinet. Even when television became more prevalent, many families did not have it on during dinner -- the TV set was in the living room or family room, not the kitchen or dining room anyway -- and instead, it came back on only after dinner, when usually the news and weather broadcast was shown before primetime shows.

 

[rm5]

and instead, it came back on only after dinner, when usually the news and weather broadcast was shown before primetime shows.

Ah, I see. Again, I'm not super familiar with the concept, so thanks for the explanation! Although at the same time, I totally understand. I wonder if/when that ever "changed."

 

[compwiz1202]

That's what I always hear about happening 40-50 years ago (or maybe more recently, I don't know), and seems like it would have been nice be able to gather round the TV at dinner time or whatever and watch whatever was on.

Having a regular program that you could actually rely on - not that you can't right now, but I think you get my point - was probably nice.

But anyway, I guess what you're saying is really not a concept that people my age understand.

Yea before any recording devices, you had to get together at a certain time or you missed it. Plus with everyone watching at the same time, then you would talk about it at work without any spoiling anything.

 

[Clix Pix]

Ah, I see. Again, I'm not super familiar with the concept, so thanks for the explanation! Although at the same time, I

totally understand. I wonder if/when that ever "changed."

People had favorite shows that they watched and those shows were always on the same channel at the same time on the same night of the week, so we all planned accordingly. Often the whole family liked a particular show, but sometimes only one or two people did, and so the other members of the family did something else and let the viewer(s) enjoy the program.

Of course things changed as more people bought television sets and technology improved, more families eventually found a reason to have a second TV set somewhere in the home, sometimes keeping an older set when buying a new one. Eventually along came recording devices such as VCRs so that one could set the VCR to record a program when no one was home to actually watch it, etc.

Families also became busier and fast food became more and more prevalent in the home, too, especially when everyone had different schedules and no time for anyone to cook a meal at home.

 

[Mousse]

You could interact with others on those games? I thought it was just a text game where you chose a pre-set paths

The big draw of MUD was the social aspect. Hail, we even had non-combat, pure social variants called MUSH (Multi-User Shared Habitat). Even single player text games were not pre-set. A lot of Infocom games granted a lot of freedom. Unfortunately, a lot of the wrong choices lead to an untimely demise.😁

Anyways... Before my time, but there was a fad of phone booth stuffing. I guess it beats watching paint dry or grass grow for entertainment.😅

 

[ducknalddon]

In the 1950's families gathered around the dining table or the kitchen table at dinner time and conversed about their day as they ate the home-cooked meal.

We still do that.

 

[MrCheeto]

You old f***s remember all the call-in radio quizzes?

This was when radio had a real DJ that sat in a real broadcast studio and had a real phone line. You could call in, tell the DJ what to play, respond to on-air prompts like “what was the worst way somebody broke up with you?”, chit-chat, maybe even get played on the air. The quizzes were a major pull for listenership. I remember people letting these things get in the way of their employment, hanging by the radio holding up a whole phone line when they should be minding work. (There was a movie called Nervous Ticks with Bill Pullman. I don’t recommend it. The guy goes nuts trying to get a chance to call in to such a game.)

I actually won tickets to see Behind Enemy Lines by answering a quiz. The movie was not worth going to the radio station, waiting, signing a paper and then planning time for the theater but now I’ll never forget…dang, what was that old contemporary pop station 🤔

It was sad to see these wither away. Firstly, people would answer and I’d hear them on-air and say to myself, “oh, come on, they used a computer to look on Google!”. Then the DJ’s caught on and would disqualify people if they heard key presses on a keyboard. Finally, they wouldn’t ask the question until a caller was on the line and they had something like five-seconds to answer to reduce the chance of finding the answer online.

Next thing I know, the radio personalities are gone and now it’s just the same three songs repeated by a pre-programmed computer. If I can recall, the modern American music broadcast system basically is a time-share. Each music production studio gets a certain amount of air-time and they tell the radios who to feature and how often. Therefore, you will never hear any song broadcast on a contemporary station unless it has been manufactured and vetted by some nepotistic multi-billionaires.

 

[millerj123]

I am wise enough to say I do not know when I do not k now.

No, you make statements that are not true, and won't read when presented with history.

I rather not be the idiot who acts he knows it all and blabbers misinformation.

Point out anything I have posted that is not true. Please. Also, I don't tend to take words and give them new meanings, so hmmm.

How phone works? I do not know. Just like I do not know how solar panel works, or how air conditioner works, or how a CPU works.

When I was younger, when we had block wide electricity blackout but the phone kept working, and unlike all other electric device that connected to the electric socket (this one did not), I assumed it worked in some other method.

All this I believe.

Yes really, I never heard of p2p gameplay over the internet until at least like 1996


You must be really old because I do not remember of a time or someone who talked to me about how they drew cash out before cards. I had to look it up and found out that the magnetic stripe (swipe) was around since the 60s so if you remember a time before that you must be really old. [link] [link] [swipe available since the 80s]

I am old, but not that old. There were "knuckle-busters" in stores in case of power outages so the merchant could still process the credit card transaction. I have no idea when they were finally phased out. I'm sure you could google it, I won't do it for you. I am down to one or two cards that still have embossed numbers on them. The rest are swipe, insert or tap only.

The last time I was at the local Renaissance festival, their wifi was so overloaded that merchants had to write down card numbers to make sales, and would push the transactions through later. I'm still not sure how happy I am about that.

If you are from the USA maybe that is the problem. US stick to the old technology much longer. We had the cards with chips for years meanwhile USA being still reliant on the swipe and sign method.

I'm sure that's a problem, and not the only one.

 

[millerj123]

You old f***s remember all the call-in radio quizzes?

This was when radio had a real DJ that sat in a real broadcast studio and had a real phone line. You could call in, tell the DJ what to play, respond to on-air prompts like “what was the worst way somebody broke up with you?”, chit-chat, maybe even get played on the air. The quizzes were a major pull for listenership. I remember people letting these things get in the way of their employment, hanging by the radio holding up a whole phone line when they should be minding work. (There was a movie called Nervous Ticks with Bill Pullman. I don’t recommend it. The guy goes nuts trying to get a chance to call in to such a game.)

I actually won tickets to see Behind Enemy Lines by answering a quiz. The movie was not worth going to the radio station, waiting, signing a paper and then planning time for the theater but now I’ll never forget…dang, what was that old contemporary pop station 🤔

It was sad to see these wither away. Firstly, people would answer and I’d hear them on-air and say to myself, “oh, come on, they used a computer to look on Google!”. Then the DJ’s caught on and would disqualify people if they heard key presses on a keyboard. Finally, they wouldn’t ask the question until a caller was on the line and they had something like five-seconds to answer to reduce the chance of finding the answer online.

Next thing I know, the radio personalities are gone and now it’s just the same three songs repeated by a pre-programmed computer. If I can recall, the modern American music broadcast system basically is a time-share. Each music production studio gets a certain amount of air-time and they tell the radios who to feature and how often. Therefore, you will never hear any song broadcast on a contemporary station unless it has been manufactured and vetted by some nepotistic multi-billionaires.

How about "be the 14th caller to win the..."? I hated waiting to hear about stations above 100. "This is FM 106.3, be the 106th caller..."

My dad did a stint as a DJ for a podunk town radio station. His story is that they had a contest where there was a small shoebox partially filled with entries, but they found sound effects and played it out like they had to lower a guy into a giant vat with a crane to find the winning entry.

 

[millerj123]

That also meant just accepting whatever was on. You had six or maybe a dozen channels to flip through and some nights the best you had was Cagney and Lacey or Night Court. That may have been better than doing chores. I recently tried to watch Welcome Back, Kotter and it just isn't the same with how many better options there are. Shows like Sanford and Son, Three's Company, and certainly legends like ST: The Next Generation deserve a second watch. Something on the level of Quantum Leap... yeah I'd just rather play Xbox or watch YouTube now.

Hm. I watched Quantum Leap if it was on, and if I was available. I haven't gone back to see how well it holds up. For that matter, I haven't watched Three's Company in a good, long time.

I saw recently where Jennifer Aniston was saying that Friends wouldn't be able to be made today, which is probably true. We were fans for probably the first half of it's run.

That's also funny, we liked both Cagney and Lacey and Night Court.

 

[MrCheeto]

Hey now I’m not a fan of either show, it’s just what happened to be on 😅

US stick to the old technology much longer.

How are those F4 Phantom sloppy seconds treating you? 🤣 Ungrateful.

 

[MacBH928]

@millerj123 You seem more concerned to pick an argument than join the discussion

So, since we can't go back and re-examine life on the internet (which you are an aficionado of),

If the topic does not interest you, you do not have to participate in it.

So, you don't understand, but claim to and add a bunch of new questions.

I have basic understanding of it but I don't details like live chat or which software used to connect to them hence I asked people here who used them IRL.

I was a bit miffed because the links I gave you answered some of these, so it seems you didn't bother reading, so I continued with this:

Actually you didn't. I asked about Usenet, AOL, and when the internet was made public. The link you provided were BBS and WWW articles. See the difference?

Technically, no, you didn't. Do you need to see the exact quote again?

I fixed it for you. I hope it pleases you now.

I consider BBS a webpage. Instead of connecting to a "server" you just connected to a guy's computer. The BBS was basically a website. Did it have live chat? Did it charge by time on phone or data transferred?

 

[millerj123]

@millerj123 You seem more concerned to pick an argument than join the discussion

No, but any time I try to help, you don't understand.

If the topic does not interest you, you do not have to participate in it.

True.

I have basic understanding of it but I don't details like live chat or which software used to connect to them hence I asked people here who used them IRL.

Uh, okay.

Actually you didn't. I asked about Usenet, AOL, and when the internet was made public. The link you provided were BBS and WWW articles. See the difference?

No, you didn't, but now it's been modified, so all my quotes of you have also been modified. I responded to your specific post, which is now gone. I can't begin to tell you what a cluster that is. You were wrong, and I attempted to help you. You don't want to learn. That is sad. As I recall, what you said is that you consider BBSs the WWW. That is simply not true. BBSs existed before the WWW and were not part of the internet. That is true.

Now, had you said the WWW incorporated most of the functionality of BBSs, I would just shrug. That is true. Do you understand the difference?

I fixed it for you. I hope it pleases you now.

Jesus. No. You post things that are wrong. I try to help. You change them. You ignore. This is stupid.

 

[Apple fanboy]

picture

You old f***s remember all the call-in radio quizzes?

This was when radio had a real DJ that sat in a real broadcast studio and had a real phone line. You could call in, tell the DJ what to play, respond to on-air prompts like “what was the worst way somebody broke up with you?”, chit-chat, maybe even get played on the air. The quizzes were a major pull for listenership. I remember people letting these things get in the way of their employment, hanging by the radio holding up a whole phone line when they should be minding work. (There was a movie called Nervous Ticks with Bill Pullman. I don’t recommend it. The guy goes nuts trying to get a chance to call in to such a game.)

I actually won tickets to see Behind Enemy Lines by answering a quiz. The movie was not worth going to the radio station, waiting, signing a paper and then planning time for the theater but now I’ll never forget…dang, what was that old contemporary pop station 🤔

It was sad to see these wither away. Firstly, people would answer and I’d hear them on-air and say to myself, “oh, come on, they used a computer to look on Google!”. Then the DJ’s caught on and would disqualify people if they heard key presses on a keyboard. Finally, they wouldn’t ask the question until a caller was on the line and they had something like five-seconds to answer to reduce the chance of finding the answer online.

Next thing I know, the radio personalities are gone and now it’s just the same three songs repeated by a pre-programmed computer. If I can recall, the modern American music broadcast system basically is a time-share. Each music production studio gets a certain amount of air-time and they tell the radios who to feature and how often. Therefore, you will never hear any song broadcast on a contemporary station unless it has been manufactured and vetted by some nepotistic multi-billionaires.

That might be the case where you live, but they still have a lot of those sort radio shows here in the UK. I often have the radio on as I drive to and from work.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

That might be the case where you live, but they still have a lot of those sort radio shows here in the UK. I often have the radio on as I drive to and from work.

Me too and I often have it on in my office as background noise. I listen to more radio than I watch TV.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Me too and I often have it on in my office as background noise. I listen to more radio than I watch TV.

Generally Absolute Radio for me. Or Radio 5 if there is football on.

 

[Xand&Roby]

Better than now.
Technology has promised us to make us free from daily fatigue and happy, today we work to make technology free and happy, we are tracked online and offline, we are poorer and more unhappy than 40 years ago. But in many parts of the world it is considerably better, not thanks to the technology but to the money that it has generated, of course they are worse in terms of health and the environment.

 

[laptech]

Better than now.
Technology has promised us to make us free from daily fatigue and happy, today we work to make technology free and happy, we are tracked online and offline, we are poorer and more unhappy than 40 years ago. But in many parts of the world it is considerably better, not thanks to the technology but to the money that it has generated, of course they are worse in terms of health and the environment.

The internet is a very good thing BUT it has allowed people to become very impatient and those in power have not put in proper protections to protect others from peoples impatience. Employers can now keep in contact with their employee's 24/7. People not happy with appointments or delays can now instantly message those concerned to air their grievance and to keep on airing their grievance until something is done there and then. Basically the internet has allowed people to feel they are number one, top priority and that everything must stop so they can seen too. The real world does no function like that but the internet has allowed people to believe it does.