17 People Share What They Miss Most About Pre-Internet Life

From Redditor /u/SnooDoughnuts321

You played outside; the only curfew was when it got dark.

From Redditor /u/LilacEtoile

I watched the Saturday morning cartoons and sitcoms.

From Redditor /u/Drumwife91

News plays only at 6pm. That ends there. Now, six hours of local news and twenty-four hours of cable news follow. People do not get bombarded all day with "news." Seeing "Breaking News" on screen meant serious trouble happened.

From Redditor /u/twomorelambbhunas

I miss having an attention span longer than three seconds.

From a Redditor

Leaving home for the day meant no cell phones. Cameras were different; people used them to take pictures of things.pictures of thingsPeople took pictures of you, or you had people take pictures. Social media did not fill my mind. I just did things. Who I was with defined the moment.

From Redditor /u/CatapultemHabeo

The Sears catalog showed me all the cool new toys.cool new toys.

From Redditor /u/zazzlekdazzle

Reading the newspaper and magazines was one of my favorite things.

Cluttering the house with paper seems pointless now; I access everything online. I pick just a few articles; I don't browse like before, seeing far fewer new things.

Getting the Sunday New York TimesGoing out for brunch and reading it with friends or dates felt like a treat.

I got excited when my favorite magazines arrived. I would immediately sit down, flip through them, and see what needed reading now and what could wait.

From Redditor /u/jrhawk42

Bailing on plans used to require calling someone at home and telling them, or at least leaving a message if you risked trouble. Usually, you gave at least twenty-four hours' notice to bail. Now, people tell you they are leaving last second since you are always reachable.

From Redditor /u/SuperNobody-MWO

Instant win bottle caps, candy, or chocolate bar wrappers let you trade them for a free item at the store. Now, they code you to register on their site for your info; I do not bother.

From Redditor /u/LewisEFurr

Buying new music meant hoping it was good. A single might be popular, but without someone owning it, you just bought it and hoped.

From Redditor /u/mattcruise

Not being overwhelmed by choice.

Having all media downloadable is great. Back then, I rented a video game and played it as much as I could.

Now, I have less than two seconds to pick one of the twenty thousand games I can access.

New game plus felt cool. Now, I just like beating the game.

From Redditor /u/AUSavage77

I am not available to my boss fourteen hours a day.

From Redditor /u/akamikedavid

Planning meetings was an adventure, especially if your friends used public transit. Check the newspaper for movie times (or call oviefone later). Set a meeting time, telling the friend who is always late an earlier slot. Walk to your house and check the bus schedule. That timetable is rarely right. You hoped nothing went wrong on the ride since you had no way to alert friends if you were late.

Redditor /u/MacarioTala

There were zero push notifications.

Life simply waited for you, like a good person.

Redditor /u/APotatoPancake

RSVPing mattered. If you said you were coming, you showed up. Facebook invites fail often without social consequences. If you said you would go and did not, you were the jerk, and everyone knew it.

Redditor /u/jimbowolf

I miss my video game magazinesI liked getting video game magazines in the mail. I often had several subscriptions. Reading them gave me info on what was next, game strategies, and fun articles about related stuff were some favorite memories.

Redditor /u/TheRealOcsiban

You needed to call someone's home phone number and speak with their parents before you could talk to your friend.

Video game cheat codes spread through gaming magazines or by word of mouth.