Before the Internet (2017) • Hacker News Board

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#21

Post by ksaj » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 4:23 AM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #19

amarte wrote: post #8

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.

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.

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.

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#22

Post by asark » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 4:29 AM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #18

agumonkey wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

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?

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#23

Post by adrianmonk » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 5:08 AM UTC

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.

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#24

Post by mirimir » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 5:16 AM UTC

asark wrote: post #22

mirimir wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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?

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

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#25

Post by adrianmonk » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 5:18 AM UTC

mirimir wrote: post #18

agumonkey wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

And/or, when you saw a movie, while you were at the theater, you'd just try to memorize the show times of any films you might be interested in seeing next weekend. Or you'd rely on what others told you about when/where they saw a movie.

And if all that failed (or you didn't even try), sometimes you'd just show up at the movie theater around 7pm without having done any research at all and see whatever looked good based on movie posters, titles, and actors you recognized.

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#26

Post by quickthrower2 » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 6:35 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #13

gdubs wrote: post #11

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.

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

There were these social networks called high school.

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#27

Post by quickthrower2 » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 6:38 AM UTC

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)

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#28

Post by emayljames » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 7:41 AM UTC

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.

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#29

Post by jypepin » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 8:29 AM UTC

daviddaviddavid wrote: post #15

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

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!

Re: Before the Internet (2017)

#30

Post by NegatioN » Sun, Mar 17, 2019, 10:12 AM UTC

jeffrallen wrote: post #2

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…

I'm going to assume you're honestly sticking up for the internet.

I don't think this piece is contradicting to the fact the internet has brought lots of good things as well, especially in when it comes to making information accessible and easy to use/copy etc.

But it's pointing out that we also lost something in that process. Which sometimes can be hard to put a finger on, seeing as it's mostly about letting ourselves be bored, letting ourself be inspired from something within.