Remember life before the internet?

[fishbowlhead]

Ok so this is inspired from this article i read earlier on gamesradar http://www.gamesradar.com/f/neuroman...81412140648081 about the book neuromancer, which while ive never read before i had still heard of it and understood how important it was in shaping the whole cyberpunk culture, and its other cultural influences.

Which brought me to thinking about what it was like growing up without it, for anyone under the age 18 on here this is probably a strange thought of the internet not existing at all, however i seemed quite happy growing up without it, exploring the woods, reading books and generally getting into trouble.


Whats are your thoughts on this, did you prefer life before the net? could you live without it?

[Wools]

I was born in 1984 and am old enough to remember watching the ITV News at 10 when Trevor McDonald was announcing the Internet being switched on!

I had no idea what it was back then but a few years later my modest 486 computer was linked up through a modem and it was... Well I just looked at crappy websites. Back in those days the net was just a melting pot of information with no real way to extract anything useful unless you knew what you were doing.

Nowadays I use it as part of my job and for entertainment at home. I think I was born in just the right timeframe, I see no real need myself to use Facebook and any social networking sites and don’t have to be linked up to what my friends are doing every day. I do have a Facebook account and it’s nice to see friends I’ve long since lost on there, but once communication is established, I don’t log on.

For day to day life, I use it to download Podcasts, read during my lunch break and keep up to date with news I’m interested in. Aside from that, I really do not need it.

I do like the Internet immensely but if it went tomorrow, I’m not hooked up to it enough to feel a connection or any sense of loss.

However I do completely agree the Internet is a great invention and a fantastic tool but there’s no need to be hooked up to it all the time or announce what you’re doing to the world on it.

[charlesr]

Similar. I barely use my mobile phone. If the internet died, I'd only have to do something else instead of ntsc-uk. I kinda like going to shops for a treat

[Largo]

I remember dixons freeserve cd's, oh and wireplay direct, that would always rack the phone bill up the backside

[charlesr]

wirepay with dual ISDN lines.... happy days.

[nakamura]

Well ive only had full internet access for around 2 years. So im a newish member so to speak. When i was a lad what you said rang totally true, getting lost in the woods, BMXing at the quarry we had nearby. Playing in the awesome Rambo Bushes!! Football, snes, MD and so on.

I feel my life wouldnt have been enhanced by the net as a child but its a essential tool now im older and married with a kid. I can keep in touch with my best friends with MSN etc.

[Baseley09]

I think I am a better person because of the internet.

[Hohum]

Lack of internet access when I was younger did actually cost me quite dearly. I had a few good friends when I was at school up north (near Durham) back in the early 90s. We all lived locally pretty much, so if we ever wanted to meet up then I could just walk a couple of streets down the road, no need for phones or the like. Anyway, one day I got dragged out of school early by my mother (along with my brother and two sisters), and taken half way across the country to where her parents lived (Shropshire, still live here now).

My parents split up, I never returned to that area. As a result, I've not seen or spoken to the friends I left behind 15 years ago, and I've no idea where they are or what they're doing now. Nowadays this wouldn't happen - what with instant messaging, e-mails, mobile phones, social networking etc, you can always stay in touch with people you know, and it does get taken for granted. Communication is so easy these days.

That said, I do kinda miss the days when there was no internet to speak of really... as the world was a more curious place where you had to get out there and actively learn about it. These days you can look up pretty much everything you need to know online, it's too easy to become disconnected from the outside world. Rambling a bit, please forgive me

[beecee]

gaming was better without it....popping out to the local indy shop on a saturday or on you lunch for some new snes/md games, actually reading mags for info and getting a peep of the latest games.

all thats practically away now, cant pop into the local indy shop as they have all gone, and mags are going the way of the dodo.

no need to pop round to your mates for a gaming sesh, as you can stay at home and play against them.

for me life was better without it.

but now its here it has opened up new channels. here for one.
cheaper shopping (at the expense of shops and jobs though)

[nakamura]

I agree Beecee. I miss the halcon days of gaming.
When we all met up at the indie shops for a chat and to buy the latest titles. A fav of mine was Fzero X on the 64. Local shop had preordered but it didnt arrive on the sat morning so one of the lads drove up to get them and came running into my shop and shouted 'ITS IN!' and ran out. My boss let me go early, 20 mins odd to go and get my copy.
God i was only 16 odd then. Maybe 17. Ok we had internet but not in the way it is now of course.

[NW2013]

The Internet is the best, I would say it's my only 'hobby' and I'd certainly miss it if it was gone.

I remember back in the 90's getting the Internet for the first time (think Virgin was my ISP) and mainly using it to go on chat rooms with my two best mates and chat up girls, I was 35 at the time (not really, just about 13/14).

I feel better informed now that I have net access and there is all sorts of info I can now access in next to no time. I also think it's an amazing tool for not getting ripped off by shops.

[buster_broon]

gaming was better without it....popping out to the local indy shop on a saturday or on you lunch for some new snes/md games, actually reading mags for info and getting a peep of the latest games.

games were generally also cheaper

Metal Slugs changing hands for ?200 each, maybe even Kizuna's

[charlesr]

mainly using it to go on chat rooms with my two best mates and chat up boys pretending to be girls

fixed.

You probably chatted me up....

[sj33]

We first got the internet with the Dreamcast in '99, then a PC the following year.

Before then, I actually played games, thanks to the lack of other distractions.

[Dogg Thang]

Before the internet, I had to pay crazy prices for import games. I wouldn't want those days back.

But I must admit, I loved the early days of the internet. I was 18 or 19 in college, around '93 and I got my first email address.

There wasn't a huge amount on the internet then (or at least that I knew of) so all my time was spent on news groups. We debated Street Fighter 2 on alt.games.sf2. Super Street Fighter 2 had been announced and news was coming in that the characters had all sorts of crazy colours. And that rumoured Dhalsim teleport was going to be a reality. Debated Star Trek: The Next Generation, like any self-respecting geek. Downloaded screencaps of Jennifer Connelly in whatever film she was in where she was naked on a beach.

They were good times.

And because there weren't the unwashed masses on the 'net, people would be pretty free with their mail addresses. I exchanged mail with Douglas Adams on the Hitchhikers movie that he was pretty sure was going to move into production any day now.

They were mostly just newsgroups and I was just a college geek but there was actually something kind of special about it.