HISTORY

How Did People Survive Prior to the Internet?

People born in the ‘90s and later would have a tough time adapting

Life before the internet would be a challenge for people 30 and under, just as figuring out technology would be difficult for people my age — born in the stone age. We would, of course, adapt. It’s the nature of humankind.

Rotary Phones

That said, picture giving a teenager a rotary phone. By now, I imagine many of them have seen YouTube videos of other kids trying to use one — and failing badly.

More terrifying is this: talking to people without clutching a cell phone. We are all guilty of that, but if you took me to a restaurant that did not allow cell phones on the property, I wouldn’t be upset. I would look at and talk with my dinner partner(s).

Writing Letters

Email has been around since 1971, when a computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson, sent an email to himself via ARPANET, a network of computers that preceded the internet. Email became widely used in the early 90s after the introduction of the world wide web.

Before that, people had to take the time to sit down to send a handwritten letter — usually in cursive letters, to a friend or family member. When families went on vacation, they often sent a postcard to family and neighbors to tell them where they were vacationing and brag about their trip.

And if you sent a letter to someone, you might get a reply in a week or more.

Nowadays, all it takes is a cell phone photo and a text message to let the world know where you are.

Learning

The information highway in the early 90s (and before) led straight to the library. If you were lucky, your family might have a set of encyclopedias you might find the answer to a question. If lucky, you could visit the library; a librarian would point you in the right direction to find the book that would answer your question.

If they were busy, you had two options: politely wait your turn, or go to the card catalog and pray you could understand the Dewey Decimal System. It was the only way to find a book on your own and it wasn’t easy.

Music

Forget streaming music. That mix tape your parents made usually took HOURS, especially if you had to wait for a song to play on the radio. Even if you owned a record player, playing one record after the other was still time-consuming while holding the microphone for your cassette recorder near the speaker. Whether it was vinyl, an 8-track, or a cassette tape, there was no easy solution. And once you finished making that mix tape, you guarded it with your life.

Today? Open your Pandora, Spotify, or iHeart Radio app, and click on your playlist. And you can play it over and over.

Netflix and Chill

Before the interwebs, you had to satisfy your movie cravings through cable channels HBO, Cinemax, etc. But you were stuck watching whatever was on until the movie you wanted began.

But the most popular option, beginning in 1985, was Blockbuster Video, where you could rent movies from the store’s wall-to-wall VHS and Beta tapes. The first store opened in Dallas, and the franchise grew rapidly.

If you made the mistake of waiting until Friday evening to visit the store, you were probably out of luck finding the latest and greatest releases. I speak from experience.

Today? Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, etc., and chill. If you’re willing to subscribe to any number of streaming services, you’ll find something to watch like this gem on YouTube. ‘’I gha-rawn-tee! ‘’

I enjoyed watching Justin Wilson on weekends on PBS. He was funny, humble, and could cook his ass off. You can find a number of his videos on YouTube.

Video Games

Video games are huge these days, and professional gamers make bank by playing in tournaments. In the 90s, you had to drive or walk to a video arcade. Classic games include Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man. I knew nothing about these games until I was stationed on the island of Okinawa in the early 80s. Many of the bars had tabletop versions of these games. At 25 cents a game, it was cheap to play and easy to get hooked.

Today, you can carry a video game in your pocket on your cell phone. Home gaming systems include PlayStation and X-box. My son-in-law introduced me to Assassin’s Creed this past weekend. I quickly learned how much I suck at it.

Road Trips

If you wanted to drive somewhere, say Niagra Falls, but didn’t know how to get there, you had to buy a paper map that, once unfolded, would never fold properly again. If you were a member of the American Automobile Association, aka Triple AAA, they would generate a trip ticket detailing every road along the way. I used the service, which was a great way to get where you wanted.

Today? Just plug your phone into your car’s entertainment center and say where you want to go. In a matter of seconds, the route is loaded into the map system, and you’re off. You’ll receive audible commands for every turn along the way.

There are countless other advantages we take for granted these days. We no longer need Kodak film kiosks to have camera film developed or White Out to strike errors on a typewriter.

But life before the internet was a lot of fun. You had to meet people to interact with them, and expanding your circle of friends where you lived was easy.

We’ve come a long way from the 90s. Although I view life before the internet as fun, the world evolves, and so do we.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for stopping by.

If you enjoyed this story, please consider buying me a slice of pizza at https://ko-fi.com/bruce35046

More stories from Bruce Coulter.