As a counter to the author's own romantic example: my wife and I probably would never have gotten together without modern social networking. When my wife and I met, she was living in Oregon and I was living in Chicago. We met while she was in town to interview at the law school I was attending. She was in professional mode and I was a stressed out first year student, and we never would have pursued a relationship in the days before gchat. But instant messaging is a very unique medium. The lack of visual feedback tends to encourage frank conversations, and the "who else is up at this hour?" aspect tends to encourage reaching out to people you wouldn't necessarily call up on the phone. By the time of our "first date" months later, we had met each other exactly twice but already knew a tremendous amount about each other.
Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
11–20 of 45 posts
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#12Whenever I watch a movie or TV show more than a decade old, I can't help but think: that would never happen now, they'd be too busy tweeting/facebooking/instagramming it Like, "Hamsterdam" in "The Wire"...as if a drug free zone could last two minutes before someone uploaded footage to YouTube and Buzzfeed got a hold of it.
I always thought Hamsterdam was too farfetched to start with. I really couldn't see that working for more than 5 minutes with all the parties that were there to observe it.
Look at (online, NOT in person) Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia. It's a tragic real-life Hamsterdam. Police only get involved for violent crimes there.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#13I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles the other day and much of the whole plot would not exist with modern tech.
Also, horror movies have a hard time now as well. For some reason they have to be so far away as to get no reception or in some sort of zone that won't allow it.
I think Under the Dome highlights this a bit as well.
But there are new plot lines and possibilities. At least flip phones have been removed from modern tv and movies, and computers/devices are at least more accurately represented.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#14I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles the other day and much of the whole plot would not exist with modern tech. Also, horror movies have a hard time now as well. For some reason they have to be so far away as to get no reception or in some sort of zone that won't allow it. I think Under the Dome highlights this a bit as well. But there are new plot lines and possibilities. At least flip phones have been remo…
I assumed that flip phones and old laptops were eliminated because companies were stealth-marketing their (new) products by "encouraging" TV shows to have their characters use them. I'm pretty sure I've seen at least a few clear-cut "product demo" moments in some shows, where the camera spent a little longer than was really necessary showing the device and the character's interaction with it. See also the transition from "Action Movie OS" to real life operating systems.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#15Road trips with multiple cars were down right dangerous. Cars weren't as reliable back then, and you could never tell if one car had disappeared from a flat or car trouble. Meeting points, pulling over, middle men for pay phone tag. The CB radio did change things -- watch movies from the CB era and you see the rise of information exchange. Today you can still have a car chase on the I-70 in the middle of Utah and the…
But when we get self-driving cars this avenue will disappear as well. Technology will de-dramatize our lives.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#16Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#17"In my day, we lived and loved with so much more depth of feeling. Not like these kids today with their [x]'s and their [y]'s."
I know what you're talking about but where does it end? Are all comparisons to the past that are anything but glowing about the present invalid?
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#18I was watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles the other day and much of the whole plot would not exist with modern tech. Also, horror movies have a hard time now as well. For some reason they have to be so far away as to get no reception or in some sort of zone that won't allow it. I think Under the Dome highlights this a bit as well. But there are new plot lines and possibilities. At least flip phones have been remo…
I assumed that flip phones and old laptops were eliminated because companies were stealth-marketing their (new) products by "encouraging" TV shows to have their characters use them. I'm pretty sure I've seen at least a few clear-cut "product demo" moments in some shows, where the camera spent a little longer than was really necessary showing the device and the character's interaction with it. See also the transition…
Probably. The old phones before flip, home phones/office phones you could hang up all intensely. The flip phones replaced that with hanging up with the massive flip, but got annoying when everyone is using smartphones. Now when they hang up they can't tap the phone harder to hang up. A tension moment has been taken.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#19Sometimes I think I was lucky to be one of the last people ever to experience "love in the time of snailmail" and one of the first to experience love at the dawn of IM.
I know exactly what its like to write those "long, heartfelt missives" and check a mailbox like a crack addict and I also know the thousand tiny thrills one got from that new "ICQ" client's happy little "uh-oh!".
Which is better? More "real and heartfelt"? I've got only selection bias to offer. I lost "heartfelt missive" and married "uh-oh!". Modern technology rocks like an old man on his porch.
Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent
#20I'll bet life was more romantic before spoken language. People weren't busy talking or thinking in anything but emotion and memories of senses. Let's long for those days.
I don't know if your post is entirely serious, but I like it.