Life before the Internet

[Naimfan]

First time I used computers they were mainframes and I accessed them remotely over teletype lines, that was in the 70s.

First personal computer I owned was in the 80s. Somewhere in the back room in a drawer there's a 300baud modem that was my window to the bbs world. Talk about text messaging. And flames. People who put a sig longer than 25 characters and used it more than twice were practically charbroiled for it.

Ditto! It is nothing short of astonishing to me. I remember touring Bell Labs in Murray Hill and seeing the first ever 5ESS. You went into a room with a 1A--electronic switch, but tons of relays, fans, etc.--very noisy!, and then went through an airlock (seriously) to a room where there were just a few cabinets of electronics doing everything the 1A did. In about a tenth of the space. And the most remarkable thing? All you could hear were the fans......

And I remember when the IBM 370 was the very pinnacle of computing power......

 

[bartelby]

Browsing the World Wide Web when images were a rarity was fun, until you loaded a page with an image ans had to wait 10 minutes for a 200x200 pixel thing to download.

Hours sat there moving the mouse when using Fetch, so the dog looked like he was running across the screen.

Ah, those were the days...

 

[FJ218700]

I used the internet for the first time when I went to college. I had dial-up all 4 years on my 3400c and thought everything worked great. Now, during the holidays, I usually go visit my grandmother. I put her on an original eMac, with dial-up, since all she does in email. Trying to get any work done on her system tests the upper limit of my patience. Several times that eMac has almost been out the window with its stupid phone cord ripped out of the modem. I wonder how I ever got anything done in college that required online resources.

 

[LizKat]

now i'm really reaching back...

I used the internet for the first time when I went to college. I had dial-up all 4 years on my 3400c and thought everything worked great. Now, during the holidays, I usually go visit my grandmother. I put her on an original eMac, with dial-up, since all she does in email. Trying to get any work done on her system tests the upper limit of my patience. Several times that eMac has almost been out the window with its stupid phone cord ripped out of the modem. I wonder how I ever got anything done in college that required online resources.

When I was in my sophomore year in college, I wrote an economic statistics paper with the assistance of, are you ready... a Frieden calculator, a thing with 12 x 12 hardware buttons on it and a lever to pull when you finally got all the flippin' numbers punched in. I *think* it was electric... maybe!

No wonder I spent so much time in the music studios during college. I mean if your equipment is still premised on ideas of preceding centuries, then a cello or piano has to be a far more satisfying instrument than a computing device.

 

[Xfujinon]

While I had played with the internet in school and at the homes of friends, I did not get my OWN full internet connection until I arrived at college.

What a mind-blowing experience.

However, I must agree with many previous posters that the frequency of annoyances due to communication networks is getting ridiculous. I almost never answer my cell phone; I only keep it for emergencies and to keep track of my wife.

I tried the "use only a payphone, never use your cellphone" deal for about two weeks, although I seldom used payphones and more frequently used office phones after hours. It was interesting, to say the least. One thing I have noticed is that I can't seem to remember anyone's numbers, whether it be business or personal, despite the fact that today's society (and social networks) expect me to be able to recall dozens of numbers. Crap, when I was in high school, I had about five memorized (including my own!).

Without the internet, my ability to explore my hobbies would be severely limited. My product research power would be drastically reduced. Access to long-lost colleagues or friends would disintegrate.

Yet I still prefer mailing letters, going to libraries, and checking out library books. I don't think I'll ever get used to the increasing tide of digitization, despite the fact that I am only 24. Perhaps I am becoming an old man ahead of schedule. I DO eat oatmeal every morning and drink Ensure shakes...

 

[LizKat]

Back to the ocean...

One thing I have noticed is that I can't seem to remember anyone's numbers, whether it be business or personal...

Yah I think constant reliance on electronics is causing us to evolve backwards.

At first I discounted my own experience of not remembering phone numbers (and other data, I originally assumed) just because I am getting older. But then I realized it's very specific and it's about phone numbers. I still know pins even after i change them and same for most of the pws I use to log into stuff on the net on a regular basis.

But phone numbers.. my brain, which is really only interested in surviving, has figured out that phone numbers are something my cellphone takes care of, and it just balks at bothering to retain them.

I wonder what else it doesn't bother keeping track of any more thanks to my increased use of electronics over the years. So far I still usually know when it's time to get something to eat or go to sleep! But I have read that some "surfing addicts" manage to override even those pretty basic messages from body to brain, because they have become so enmeshed in their internet-based activity.

One evening not long ago when I sensed that it was getting chilly in the room, I was reading a long piece in the LA Times and every time I sort of shivered, I told myself OK OK that I'd go close the windows in a minute. Then I realized how stupid that was and even went for a sweater after I closed the windows. It can't be right to ignore clear signals from your body about what it needs. I think it confuses the brain and lessens its ability to help us survive.

 

[0098386]

I'm only 21 and I remember "before the internet" we didn't get it till about 1998.

Not much changed until we got broadband. email really took over then, IM, we made websites etc. Got me and my games noticed. Yea. Those dark pre-internet days.

 

[jaydub]

All I know is that I had a hotbot site... and then a geocities account.

 

[Unspeaked]

I don't know how much just the internet has contributed to the feeling in the OP's post.

It's hard to quanitfy since so much other stuff has changed, as well!

Mobile phones is a HUGE one, as others have mentioned. In fact, as far as privacy goes, I think they've made a bigger difference than the internet.

TV is so different, as well. From 8 or 9 channels to 30 channels on cable to hundreds of channels and digital on-demand programs.

Video game culture, DVD libraries, iPods and other digital music, on-line banking, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube - it's all made a huge difference.

Remember when you'd go off to college and never see your old school mates again? Now, between your email address, mobile and MySpace account, the same kid who you'd have lost track of when you were 18 will be able to stalk you for the rest of your life!

Things are sooo different now...

 

[shu82]

I can't wait until I am an old man.

"Back in my day you spent 3000 bucks and got a 33mhz processor and 4 megs of ram. I spent hours with my 14.4 modem trying to download a sound clip from the simpsons that was 3 seconds long. You were rich if you could play cds on your computer, heck if you weren't using cassettes for music you were rolling in it anyway! AOL was cool back then, believe it or not. We downloaded pics the way god intended, line by beautiful line. Thats the way it was and we liked it that way!"

 

[SkyBell]

I'm 14, but we didn't get internet until 2001 when I was in 3rd grade, and then it was dial-up. We got low-end DSL in 2005, and have been there ever since.

I remember life before internet. A lot more TV. A lot more video games.

 

[mduser63]

I'm 14, but we didn't get internet until 2001 when I was in 3rd grade, and then it was dial-up. We got low-end DSL in 2005, and have been there ever since.

I remember life before internet. A lot more TV. A lot more video games.

We didn't have a video game console until we got a Playstation when I was 13. We didn't have a VCR (or cable) until fairly late in the game either. I guess I spent a lot of time on the computer(s) and a lot more time playing with real stuff (lego, electronics, etc) and outside.

 

[Spanners]

Don't even get me started on Video Games.

I remember when the Atari 2600 was cool and the ZX Spectrum was cutting edge. Ah the screach of those tapes!

I used to have lunch whilst the old tape loaded (if it loaded) and now I can load up the Wii in 5 seconds and be playing baseball in 10 by swinging my controller around like a mad man.

 

[ErikCLDR]

I got internet in what ever year AOL 3.1 was out. We had dial up until 2000 I think and then we switched to cable.

Dial Up- good times. I can't wait to tell my grand children.

I miss that "bleep beep beep beep beep beep.. bleep beep.. bleeeeeeeeeeeeee bleeeep bleeeeep bleeeep bleeeeeep bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tong tong blee blee beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep... Welcome, You've Got Mail!"

 

[Sdashiki]

Intellivision
Apple //e
...2400 dialup
...ARCHIE
...GOPHER
...Usenet
LC///
...AOL 2.1
...14.4 dialup
Performa 650
...AOL 3.0 (with a browser for "the web" whatever the hell that was)
...56k (ok really 53, damn you FCC!)
G3 B/W
...DSL the second it was available

and then it just went on from there.

I recall using "the internet" with 100% UNIX type interfaces. Searching for complete books to download over the period of a few minutes. I read Alice in Wonderland from some college in the midwest, that was neat.

My school district was the first "connected" one in the state, where all the computers in one school were connected to the next, and you could even dial into the server to connect from home. This basically led to the district computer person getting hired by Apple.