What was life like before the internet?

Big Sexy

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Remember payphones? We all carried quarters.
I remember having to use the Yellow pages a lot and I actually read a newspaper.

Life was so different.
 

Holliday

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Remember payphones? We all carried quarters.
I remember having to use the Yellow pages a lot and I actually read a newspaper.

Life was so different.
...and I would agree
much better.

Believe it or not
even NYC was a wonderfully exciting place back then
but even by the 80s Reaganite yuppy types were a growing infection.
By 2000 it had become the necropolis it remains today.

PS: to this day I do not carry one-a-them smartphones.
Not my culture.
 

skinofevil

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I never carried quarters. I had a number memorized: 10-10-80-51. Enter that number into a COCOT (Customer Owned Coin Operated Telephone) followed by the number you wanted to call; that magical 8 digits would "unlock" the payphone so that it would act like a normal non-pay phone and no coin was required. I discovered that test code because an employee threw out the manual for a coffee shop's COCOT and I found it and read it.

The code turned out to be almost universal -- it worked on all COCOTS, but not regular payphones. If a phone had the US West logo on it, that was a "real" payphone and the test code wouldn't work on it. If it didn't have the US West logo, it was a fake -- a COCOT -- and the code would work.

Of course, you had to use it responsibly -- no calling Zimbabwe or some dumb shit like that, because if the business discovered people were "unlocking" their payphone with that test code, they'd have a tech come out and lock out the code.

But to your question: Encyclopedias were still a thing. Printed magazines were still a thing, and printed reading material of all sorts. Terrestrial television was still important; so were movie theaters, way more so than they are now, because there was no Netflix. There was no Amazon, either, so if you wanted to buy a thing, you had to live where there was a store within driving distance that sold that thing, or rely on mail order catalogues, which meant buying a thing long-distance took twice as long, because first your order form + check had to go by mail to the catalogue company, then be processed, and then get shipped out to you.

If you wanted to do something even as simple as order a pizza, you had to actually call the pizza place and talk to a bored, underpaid teenager over the phone to do it -- no ordering it from an app. 'Cause there were no apps. Or phones that had apps.
 

X

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Q

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Life was good before the internet. We had a life before the internet, now all we have is internet and phones and shit like that
 

X

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I hadda' pay like 19.99 for a porn'd CD back in tha' day ..
 

RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©

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EVERYTHING was different.

Like talking to girls. You had to muster the courage and do it in PERSON. Today, you just start talking on social media, so easy.

So many kids playing on the streets, playing soccer, riding their bikes. Today, kids are all depressed, watching garbage like "Gacha" on youtube

People valued things too. Back then, you'd take REALLY GOOD CARE of your toys, videogames, etc. Getting a computer was a helluva privilege. Today? These kids break their stuff and get a new one almost instantly.

The songs. The movies. Everything was more interesting.

Not to mention all the politically correct trash, that ruined everything for good. People used to think for themselves before. Now, they are brainwashed retards who'll repeat what their favorite youtuber says.
 

RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©

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We have a Whatsapp group, all the friends from the "square"

The other day we were reminiscing on those VHS porn tapes

They were ultra-hard to get back in the 80's and early 90's. The rental store would never rent them to minors and people who had an account wouldn't want to rent those if they had other members of the family in the account. Usually it was younger dudes, single, who would rent them. I would envy those shady bastards leaving the tiny room in the store, a couple tapes in the black bag, the clerk looking at them under the counter. God forbid some kid got a good look on one of those covers LOL

But one summer, a friend of ours, Ayrton, went on a mission. To duplicate porn tapes. He had a VCR and when his parents went on a trip with his younger sisters, he called another dude who also had a VCR, older guy who ALSO had access to the tapes.

They rented the best ones from the day. Hyapathia Lee, Jenna Jameson, dang...

Legend says that 10 tapes were made until the video store owner started frowning on mystery renter (we never knew for real who was other guy, Ayrton always kept that info privy)

Ayrton got to keep 4 with the promise that they could be swapped on occasion.

For a few years, only the "inner circle" would have the privilege of taking one of the 4 tapes home

But then, copies of the copies were made and pretty soon, terrible SLPs with 180 minutes of grainy Jeremy Irons were being found forgotten into VCRs of 12 yo parents, for their pure despair.

I had fun with them a few adventurous times, the first weekends alone at home while the parents were at the family farm, I was 13 or so, but the horror stories of shitty BASFs getting stuck inside the cheap Philcos and Panasonics we had made me more attracted to the good old Playboys. The newsstands dudes were cooler and they'd sell them to us. Not the hardcore ones, though. Only Playboys and Ele&Elas. Only softcore nudity. No spreading. Hustlers were also available if the end of the month was close, but Playboys, as expensive as they were, were awesome. The hottest TV girls from the time. Some were memorable for their "30-second fap" impulse, like Luciana Vendramini or Isis de Oliveira. Others, for the horror, like "Marta Do Voley" (she looked like Grace Jones). There was the stigma of lending and borrowing them, we knew that both cock and magazine would he handled together.

It wasn't uncommon to stumble upon discarded boxes of porn on the sidewalk. My borough used to have lots of homes that were like frat houses, but for young men that worked in the steel mill, it employed almost 20k people once. But the older kids always warned them against falling for that temptation, for most would have their pages stuck together and they were forever tainted if you're a straight boy. Only fags would touch them.
 

Jeannie

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Life was good before the internet. We had a life before the internet, now all we have is internet and phones and shit like that
but thats not the webs fault, just unplug and live life. its not like ur chained 2 it
 

Q

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Life was good before the internet. We had a life before the internet, now all we have is internet and phones and shit like that
but thats not the webs fault, just unplug and live life. its not like ur chained 2 it
I cannot do that all by myself, the whole world has to do it and that is not going to happen. The world has changed...
 

Swamp-Duck

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I agree with milko about kids playing out in the street, it’s a rare thing now, I remember being told to come home when the street lights came on, then I would leave it to the very last minute, always out, makes you wonder about kids social skills these days, but it’s a different world now, I’d say on the whole a better one.
 

Q

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I agree with milko about kids playing out in the street, it’s a rare thing now, I remember being told to come home when the street lights came on, then I would leave it to the very last minute, always out, makes you wonder about kids social skills these days, but it’s a different world now, I’d say on the whole a better one.

Tht might be a regional problem, as soon as the school is done for the day, the kids are playing on the streets over here...

Also during schooltime they always have time to play outside. Because it is important
 

Jeannie

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Life was good before the internet. We had a life before the internet, now all we have is internet and phones and shit like that
but thats not the webs fault, just unplug and live life. its not like ur chained 2 it
I cannot do that all by myself, the whole world has to do it and that is not going to happen. The world has changed...
yea i know what u mean but all u need r a few good friends 2 go tubing down a river and FTW
 

Q

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Still, they will bring their phone because their wife needs too be able to reach them... And I cannot even be mad then. They have kids, I also needs to be reachable...

But it did change the world. Al lot. And not to the better
 

Matt Smith

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Summer Camp, Playing outside until the street lights came on, nobody giving a fuck what you ate for dinner.
 

TheHaze

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I don't carry a cell phone - nobody calls anyways.

When I was a kid it was rare to see fat people and even more so with kids,there was public swimming pools and playgrounds everywhere and if I wanted to talk with a friend I would have to walk my ass over there and I didn't know any one that talk back to there parents !
Bus ride - - - -5 cent
Movie House- -10 cent
16oz beer - - - 25 cent
New Car - - $1800.00
wages - - -- $1.00 per hour
Hooker - - - -$5.00
etc-etc-etc -life was good !
 

RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©

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I agree with milko about kids playing out in the street, it’s a rare thing now, I remember being told to come home when the street lights came on, then I would leave it to the very last minute, always out, makes you wonder about kids social skills these days, but it’s a different world now, I’d say on the whole a better one.
It sure is a different world and some of the stuff we have now is way better. Like GPS and maps. I used to absolutely HATE going around asking for directions. That goes double for Brazoo, most assholes here will ignore you, say they don't know when they do or ask for money to take you there. Absolutely ridiculous. But some other things, like having all these kids with their faces buried in screens the whole day, that can't be good for the future. Obesity, depression and other mental problems, all that is too common on kids today. Excess of information is also killing us with stress and anxiety.

Technology is a wonderful thing, but we're a species that evolved way too fast for our own good, in some senses.
 

RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©

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Dance clubs... Today, they're all drug infested dens, full of hookers, women that won't talk to you unless you stick your BMW keys on their faces and pay for their tabs.


Back in the 90's, my city had this place, it was sports club during the day, but the gym would become a dance floor Sunday nights

Everything was so damn simple and awesome, oh man. Ace of Base, Four Non Blondes, Inner Circle. None of that nauseating heavy techno/electronic trance garbage. Girls were so natural, so easy to approach, not because they were easy, but they would at least let you talk a little before saying no.

But very few times I went home without exchanging a little spit. And quite often you'd meet the very same girl next weekend and hook up again. Even when you remembered the numbers the next day, calling the girl was always an adventure. Way too often you'd end up being interviewed by a father or older brother, so usually the dude would give his number and hope the girl calls.

Enough money for the booze and a burger, but just enough to drink 3 vodka lemonades. Extra money meant pals peeking on your wallet and asking and even if I had some to the spare, keeping it home meant it was saved.

I was a bit more privileged the most, so I had access to a car while still in high school. Driving here is for 18 or older, but Brazoo would to be a lot more "loose" back them. I was caught once without a license. The transit police chief used to live on my street and I was friends with his son, Tarso. Tarso died many years ago, bike crash. His father never recovered. Became an alcoholic, passed away a few weeks ago. Not covid. That day, he simply yelled at me when the cop dropped me in his room. After the cop left, he read the cop's report. I wasn't speeding, I stopped immediately, didn't lie and wasn't drunk or high. He gave me the keys back and told me to stay out of the streets until I was 18. He knew my dad wasn't at home, this was during a time my dad was transferred to another mill to train some employees. He would've ground my ass for a while if he knew I was taking the car outside of our borough. Things were corrupted, but it was a sort of "family corruption" back them. Everyone knew everyone and as long as you weren't pushing your luck too much. They used to say there would be no police stops at night on weekends. Driving drunk was normal, people knew when to stop. No breathalyzers. But then, the late 90's came, people started being really stupid in big numbers and everything changed. The year I got my license, they made driving one an arrestable offense.
 

Q

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I don't carry a cell phone - nobody calls anyways.

When I was a kid it was rare to see fat people and even more so with kids,there was public swimming pools and playgrounds everywhere and if I wanted to talk with a friend I would have to walk my ass over there and I didn't know any one that talk back to there parents !
Bus ride - - - -5 cent
Movie House- -10 cent
16oz beer - - - 25 cent
New Car - - $1800.00
wages - - -- $1.00 per hour
Hooker - - - -$5.00
etc-etc-etc -life was good !
If you were that old, you'd be DEAD
 

TheHaze

If my dog doesn't like you, I probably won'teither
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I don't carry a cell phone - nobody calls anyways.

When I was a kid it was rare to see fat people and even more so with kids,there was public swimming pools and playgrounds everywhere and if I wanted to talk with a friend I would have to walk my ass over there and I didn't know any one that talk back to there parents !
Bus ride - - - -5 cent
Movie House- -10 cent
16oz beer - - - 25 cent
New Car - - $1800.00
wages - - -- $1.00 per hour
Hooker - - - -$5.00
etc-etc-etc -life was good !
If you were that old, you'd be DEAD


So how old do you think I am ?

Hint: I am a Great Grandfather
 

Q

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I don't carry a cell phone - nobody calls anyways.

When I was a kid it was rare to see fat people and even more so with kids,there was public swimming pools and playgrounds everywhere and if I wanted to talk with a friend I would have to walk my ass over there and I didn't know any one that talk back to there parents !
Bus ride - - - -5 cent
Movie House- -10 cent
16oz beer - - - 25 cent
New Car - - $1800.00
wages - - -- $1.00 per hour
Hooker - - - -$5.00
etc-etc-etc -life was good !
If you were that old, you'd be DEAD


So how old do you think I am ?

Hint: I am a Great Grandfather
11 years, 2 months and 23 days
 
OP
OP
Big Sexy

Big Sexy

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I got a lot more done.
probably still be married and better shape.
 

Dove

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I drove across the country a few times after printing out Map Quest directions. And I didnt have my own phone.

Today I wont even go to the corner without the fucking thing.

I used to be so wild and reckless. *sigh*
 

Frood

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The most easily accessible source for pictures of scantily-clad women was the Sears catalogue.

And old copies of Nat Geo that the grandparent's had stacked in the basement.

In hindsight, it really turned me off to African funbags later in the teens and beyond.