Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent • Hacker News Board

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#31

Post by hipsters_unite » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 9:48 AM UTC

> "The outside world fell away, and it became just us slowly unlocking each other’s secrets, dreams and opinions, which in those days were not posted on “walls” for anybody to casually scroll through. We felt we were the only two people in the world."

My partner and didn't put our relationship on fb for maybe six months or so... but even if we did, how would that have made it any less meaningful? I like the general 'what if' vibe of this, I'm (just) old enough to have some missed connections, but the superior tone is just a bit comical.

I think what they've forgotten is that the biggest reason things don't come together is the personalities of the people involved, or not even speaking out at all - which will happen regardless of the comms tech available.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#32

Post by icebraining » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 10:41 AM UTC

mynameishere wrote: post #23

drawkbox wrote: post #13

I 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…

"No signal" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0 ...I actually wonder why they don't just pretend cell phones don't exist. I mean, if you can imagine ghosts and zombies, etc, do exist, why not?

...I actually wonder why they don't just pretend cell phones don't exist.

Because it feels forced. Ghosts and zombies are the premise of the stories, a thought experiment around which the plot unfolds. Pretending cellphones just don't exist feels like a contrived fix to the writer's inability to write a good plot. It's equivalent to a deus ex machina. Unless, of course, you can write a plot that hinges on the lack of cellphones - that could be interesting.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#33

Post by icebraining » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 10:50 AM UTC

rcthompson wrote: post #14

drawkbox wrote: post #13

I 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…

Some of them are pretty blatant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzMVMPd_4Y

"Don't believe me? Bing it!"

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#34

Post by qq66 » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 11:57 AM UTC

jamesaguilar wrote: post #26

dmm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They're not invalid, but lacking backing data they may have a high probability of being wrong.

This article is just one guys opinion. Why does it need backing data? He's not making policy recommendations.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#35

Post by kabdib » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 1:39 PM UTC

Ha. Same deal, except we were using usenet, in the 80s.

I got an email from a sysadmin saying, "Hey, you've got all this mail queued up for her and she left this job a couple of months ago, should I just delete it?"

Didn't marry her, that one didn't have a happy ending. :-/

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#36

Post by jotm » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 2:19 PM UTC

nullymcnull wrote: post #10

"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."

"Kids these days and their video games. When I was young I used to shoot real people in real jungles." :)

But seriously, it is much easier to create just about anything these days, which is arguably more important and fulfilling than travel and drama.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#37

Post by sneak » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 4:19 PM UTC

Now it becomes possible to have meaningful transcontinental relationships, with cheap passenger jet flights and instant free pocket to pocket messaging and video calls.

Let us not romanticize the past. Nightly facetime calls are much less drama-inducing than last minute emergency one-way flights.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#38

Post by jamesaguilar » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 5:01 PM UTC

qq66 wrote: post #34

jamesaguilar wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not invalid, but lacking backing data they may have a high probability of being wrong.

This article is just one guys opinion. Why does it need backing data? He's not making policy recommendations.

Opinions can also be wrong, depending on what they're about. As far as I can tell from the article, this is not one of those cases. He is simply relaying a story about one supposed advantage of the radio communication dark ages. But if you go from there to "Things (universal qualifier) were better before cell phones," then you have a problem. That often does happen in articles like this, although not this one.

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#39

Post by tsahyt » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 5:03 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #37

Now it becomes possible to have meaningful transcontinental relationships, with cheap passenger jet flights and instant free pocket to pocket messaging and video calls. Let us not romanticize the past. Nightly facetime calls are much less drama-inducing than last minute emergency one-way flights.

But, wasn't the drama exactly the point of the article?

Re: Before the Web, Hearts Grew Silent

#40

Post by socrates1998 » Mon, Dec 16, 2013, 5:14 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #19

Sometimes 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 hear…

I too, enjoy the position in history I was raised in.

Old enough to remember memorizing phone numbers and having a list in my teenage wallet of all the girls (and friends) I knew.

Remembering how things were before cell phones and facebook is going to be something I will grow old with and enjoy reminiscing about with a few friends.

I do like old technology or watching movies that take a snapshot of a specific place in technology history.

Like the movie Anchorman, it takes place before the rise of cable TV (and the web) when network TV's prominence was at it's highest.

In the late 70's and early 80's, local newsmen were borderline rock stars, everyone knew their name and they were considered an important part of a community.

But, this was only true for a few years. After the introduction of TV's in every home (60's and early 70's), but before cable TV spread and diluted the power of the Network stations.