What did you old people do before the internet?

[Pecos Bill]

I grew up with the internet so ive never been without this wonderful technology, but how was life for you old people when there was no internet?What did you guys do all day?How did you live your lives??It boggles my mind that most of you lived in a time with no internet, how did you guys do it??

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

actually i'm 34 so growing up as a kid in the 80's we usually played outside all day and you have to remember we did have video games like atari and nintendo so i usually played a bunch of video games.we also had cable and VCR's so you always had plenty to watch on television.the only thing was if you got to far from home there were no cell phones so that was an advantage when you didn't feel like being summoned home by your parents.sometime not having technology can have its advantages too.teenagers also had a lot of rock concerts almost every other weekend to choose from too so that was big back then.this was before driveby shootings and stuff so you could walk around in the middle of the night without worrying about someone robbing you.

 

[michael777]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

i went to the track 7 days a week,t-breds in the day,then the trotters at night

 

[Simplythebest]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

actually i'm 34 so growing up as a kid in the 80's we usually played outside all day and you have to remember we did have video games like atari and nintendo so i usually played a bunch of video games.we also had cable and VCR's so you always had plenty to watch on television.the only thing was if you got to far from home there were no cell phones so that was an advantage when you didn't feel like being summoned home by your parents.sometime not having technology can have its advantages too.teenagers also had a lot of rock concerts almost every other weekend to choose from too so that was big back then.this was before driveby shootings and stuff so you could walk around in the middle of the night without worrying about someone robbing you.

34 here too and your dead on. If my mom wanted me home she could yell out the front door for me. That was until I turned 16. I had Nintendo but the wealthier friends had InTelevision. Loved Pitfall on that thing. I went to concerts all the time at Pine Knob in a suburb outside Detroit. Good times. Now I have this fuckin computer to take up my time. Great! Also, back in the day around 94' or so when I started gambling, I'd just call my bookie. Didn't have a computer to get on and place my bets.

 

[beedo]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Porn was printed on paper and was bound together and we called them "magazines". There was also video porn on things called VHS tapes (use a VCR to watch it).

 

[ronangel]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

I grew up with the internet so ive never been without this wonderful technology, but how was life for you old people when there was no internet?What did you guys do all day?How did you live your lives??It boggles my mind that most of you lived in a time with no internet, how did you guys do it??

<style></style>Before the net there were private bbs systems (like this but run on telephone systems from peoples homes) first 300/1200 baud then 1200/1200 then 2400/2400 then finally 33/56k (baud) the fastest that a normal phone could take.(no broadband) there was also prestel which was supplied by uk telephone provider GPO (later BT) it was like teletext viewdata and was used by schools, and travel agents for bookings + racetrack results in real-time for off-track betting on screens in the shops.the private systems were used by people & hackers to transfer files and games
some were public & a lot were who you knew and even used company telephone lines after hours.A friend was an engineer for British rail and had a section on their system for his private stuff which came online in the early hours of the morning or by appointment. Cambridge university had a system in the 70's for their library system which I hacked into (because it was there!) at about 300-1200 baud on a green screen monitor at great risk but nothing but book titles... the challenge was the thing (shows how boring it was...)one look was enough never went back... not a game player but did not get into computers untill the 386's
I am elect eng so understood all the workings even got one of the first IBMs for a friends 10 year old daughter (she is 28 now)
cost ?500 from somebody at the usa embassy London. Her school did not have a computer & the kids were queuing to play games on it at her home. It was a 286 (8Mhz) 640K Ram10GB HD 5.25" floppy 256k new cost ?3000-?5000 came with manuals like a set of telephone books. If you had a problem Ibm would offer to send 2 engineers within 4 hours to where you were!
I connected an earlier computer at a London hotel for some timeshare thing I had no idea how it worked (punch cards to input info & a teleprinter to show results. (small organisers & mobile phones now have more power) It was connected to the mains supply by cables as thick as auto jump start leads to the fuse board that supplied the lifts (it ran on Tubes & had an aircon plant to keep cool!) when I first started it up the lifts in the hotel slowed down & the lights dimmed for about 10 seconds The general manager came running in to ask what happened.
better get some hot chocolate & off to bed now...
second thoughts surf the net for PORN!

 

[unluckysob]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

We met and talked to people face to face. We didnt socialize on a dumb website. Im 62 years old, and I love the internet--especially offshore. In some ways the old days were better.

 

[nedrow]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

before i got cable in the very early 80s or late 70s tv was off the air from about 1am to 6.00 am turn to a channel and all ya heard was eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
53year old

 

[Thor4140]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

We played ball all day. Had to even wait in line for a field a lot of the times. Now the fields are nothing but weed farms. I saw a wiffle ball game the other day and sure enuf it was some sort of keg game with older people. There were a few young guys but they were just standing there. I think they were to fat to play and the older guys were worried they may have a heart attack.:+textinb3

 

[Thor4140]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Anyone have a father where if u walked by the TV set he was watching, u became his personal remote control for 20 minutes?

 

[ronangel]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Anyone have a father where if u walked by the TV set he was watching, u became his personal remote control for 20 minutes?

No,but it reminds me when I was about 15 & my brother 12. my father used to watch kojak on the TV. There was always a shoot out somewhere in the program. my brother and I got a blank firing 38 each. When the baddies started shooting we got behind furniture on each side of our father & fired back! The joke was on us he had been through 2 wars & did not bat an eylide
he just told us to stop firing as he could not hear the soundtrack without even taking his eys of the screen...

 

[Pecos Bill]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

So life pretty much sucked back then....

 

[Cannon]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

sex.......drugs and rock and roll

 

[Munchkin Man]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Greetings:

Before the internet came along, the Munchkin Man used to play Checkers by mail.

Checkers by mail?

Yes, indeed.

Here is how it was done.

The Munchkin Man would play 6 games at one time with one opponent.

The Munchkin Man would write down his moves to each of these 6 games on the back of a post card which was addressed to his opponent on the front.

The Munchkin Man would write down these moves in a numerical system.

Each playable square on a Checkerboard is numbered from 1 to 32.

Suppose the Munchkin Man wanted to move his Checker piece from Square 4 to Square 8 in Game number 5.

Here is what the Munchkin Man would write for Game number 5:

(5)
4-8

The Munchkin Man would follow this procedure for all 6 games.

Then the Munchkin Man would mail the post card.

Playing by the honor system, each player had 3 days to reply.

On the average, depending upon where the Munchkin Man's opponent lived, it would take from 1 to 2 weeks to receive the Munchkin Man's opponent's return post card with his replies.

Then the Munchkin Man would have 3 days to figure out his Checker moves and mail off his next post card.

On the average, a Checker match played by mail would take between 4 and 8 months to complete.

To make it more interesting, the Munchkin Man would often play as many as 20 opponents at the same time.

Therefore, the Munchkin Man would receive post cards from his Checker opponents almost every single day.

That's how it worked.

Life was so much more exciting back then.

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

 

[Thor4140]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Greetings:

Before the internet came along, the Munchkin Man used to play Checkers by mail.

Checkers by mail?

Yes, indeed.

Here is how it was done.

The Munchkin Man would play 6 games at one time with one opponent.

The Munchkin Man would write down his moves to each of these 6 games on the back of a post card which was addressed to his opponent on the front.

The Munchkin Man would write down these moves in a numerical system.

Each playable square on a Checkerboard is numbered from 1 to 32.

Suppose the Munchkin Man wanted to move his Checker piece from Square 4 to Square 8 in Game number 5.

Here is what the Munchkin Man would write for Game number 5:

(5)
4-8

The Munchkin Man would follow this procedure for all 6 games.

Then the Munchkin Man would mail the post card.

Playing by the honor system, each player had 3 days to reply.

On the average, depending upon where the Munchkin Man's opponent lived, it would take from 1 to 2 weeks to receive the Munchkin Man's opponent's return post card with his replies.

Then the Munchkin Man would have 3 days to figure out his Checker moves and mail off his next post card.

On the average, a Checker match played by mail would take between 4 and 8 months to complete.

To make it more interesting, the Munchkin Man would often play as many as 20 opponents at the same time.

Therefore, the Munchkin Man would receive post cards from his Checker opponents almost every single day.

That's how it worked.

Life was so much more exciting back then.

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

:hangt

 

[ronangel]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Greetings:

Before the internet came along, the Munchkin Man used to play Checkers by mail.

Checkers by mail?

Yes, indeed.

Here is how it was done.

The Munchkin Man would play 6 games at one time with one opponent.

The Munchkin Man would write down his moves to each of these 6 games on the back of a post card which was addressed to his opponent on the front.

The Munchkin Man would write down these moves in a numerical system.

Each playable square on a Checkerboard is numbered from 1 to 32.

Suppose the Munchkin Man wanted to move his Checker piece from Square 4 to Square 8 in Game number 5.

Here is what the Munchkin Man would write for Game number 5:

(5)
4-8

The Munchkin Man would follow this procedure for all 6 games.

Then the Munchkin Man would mail the post card.

Playing by the honor system, each player had 3 days to reply.

On the average, depending upon where the Munchkin Man's opponent lived, it would take from 1 to 2 weeks to receive the Munchkin Man's opponent's return post card with his replies.

Then the Munchkin Man would have 3 days to figure out his Checker moves and mail off his next post card.

On the average, a Checker match played by mail would take between 4 and 8 months to complete.

To make it more interesting, the Munchkin Man would often play as many as 20 opponents at the same time.

Therefore, the Munchkin Man would receive post cards from his Checker opponents almost every single day.

That's how it worked.

Life was so much more exciting back then.

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

If you did it now days you would probably get the security services breaking down your front door thinking you were involved in a spy ring!

 

[raiders72001]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Played outside every day. Lots of kids the same age in the neighborhood. Played baseball, football or basketball daily. Kicked the soccer ball around once per year. We didn't consider soccer a sport.

 

[IDENTITY]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

munchkin man - how long would it take for a game to complete by mail?

 

[ArchieBunker]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

ID,

Do you ever read before you post?




On the average, a Checker match played by mail would take between 4 and 8 months to complete.

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

i remember instead of reading the sporting news or sports illustrated online that back in the 80's i had to wait every slow agonizing day for the new issues to hit the mailbox once every few weeks.

 

[Munchkin Man]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

munchkin man - how long would it take for a game to complete by mail?

Greetings IDENTITY:

As the Munchkin Man explained earlier, an entire match would take from an average of 4 to 8 months to complete.

What the Munchkin Man probably didn't explain too well was the fact that all 6 games, which would comprise the entire match, would be played simultaneously on one post card.

In other words, you don't finish one game before starting the next one.

All 6 games would be played at the same time.

Each post card would contain the moves for all 6 games.

The Munchkin Man used to record the numerical move of all 6 games for each of his matches in a series of spiral notebooks.

When the Munchkin Man received a post card from a given opponent, the Munchkin Man would pick out the spiral notebook and the pages that contained that match and run up each of the old moves, plus add the opponent's next move, for the new position for each game.

Then the Munchkin Man would go right to work, figuring out the Munchkin Man's next moves in reply to the moves the Munchkin Man's opponent just sent.

Today's young people have no idea how much fun they missed.

Indeed, those were the good old days!

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

 

[Munchkin Man]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

If you did it now days you would probably get the security services breaking down your front door thinking you were involved in a spy ring!

Greetings Ronangel:

Guess what?

The Munchkin Man's mother used to worry constantly about that very same thing!

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

people had to be more creative a long time ago and look for things to do nowadays there is like a million different little things to do and people have very short attention spans and get bored very easily.me and my friends would get on our bikes and ride five or ten miles exploring the city or build a treehouse in the backyard.maybe get the neighborhood kids together in the street or grass for a touch football game.every friday or saturday night we would all get together and go to the movies for instance on week we might go see rambo and the next week revenge of the nerds or something.

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

34 here too and your dead on. If my mom wanted me home she could yell out the front door for me. That was until I turned 16. I had Nintendo but the wealthier friends had InTelevision. Loved Pitfall on that thing. I went to concerts all the time at Pine Knob in a suburb outside Detroit. Good times. Now I have this fuckin computer to take up my time. Great! Also, back in the day around 94' or so when I started gambling, I'd just call my bookie. Didn't have a computer to get on and place my bets.

same here the computer takes up a lot of my time too where i used to be outdoors more often.i even started doing most of my movie and music buying online without leaving the house.one of my favorites was pitfall also i had it on atari 2600.

 

[PassTheRock]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Before the internet you actually had to drive around the shady parts of town to find a hooker.

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

lol very true pass the rock i met a few here a few years ago online.

 

[shdw01]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

before the internet:

1) played lots of nintendo (i'm 29 now fwiw)

2) used to have to watch CNN for the sports ticker to see how my games went.....pissed me off cause I only want to see college football (on saturday), but they cycle through MLB, golf, division 2 and 3 football.....when they finally get back to college foots, it is so hard to remember and find every game you have going

3) when CNN gives me too much stress, call toll-free score update line (usually a free service done by touts)

4) research was very hard....lots of newspapers, less-informative stats, and recollection of memory

 

[Pecos Bill]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Greetings:

Before the internet came along, the Munchkin Man used to play Checkers by mail.

Checkers by mail?

Yes, indeed.

Here is how it was done.

The Munchkin Man would play 6 games at one time with one opponent.

The Munchkin Man would write down his moves to each of these 6 games on the back of a post card which was addressed to his opponent on the front.

The Munchkin Man would write down these moves in a numerical system.

Each playable square on a Checkerboard is numbered from 1 to 32.

Suppose the Munchkin Man wanted to move his Checker piece from Square 4 to Square 8 in Game number 5.

Here is what the Munchkin Man would write for Game number 5:

(5)
4-8

The Munchkin Man would follow this procedure for all 6 games.

Then the Munchkin Man would mail the post card.

Playing by the honor system, each player had 3 days to reply.

On the average, depending upon where the Munchkin Man's opponent lived, it would take from 1 to 2 weeks to receive the Munchkin Man's opponent's return post card with his replies.

Then the Munchkin Man would have 3 days to figure out his Checker moves and mail off his next post card.

On the average, a Checker match played by mail would take between 4 and 8 months to complete.

To make it more interesting, the Munchkin Man would often play as many as 20 opponents at the same time.

Therefore, the Munchkin Man would receive post cards from his Checker opponents almost every single day.

That's how it worked.

Life was so much more exciting back then.

Best Wishes,

Munchkin Man

hahaha, epic...:LMAO:LMAO

 

[nedrow]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

u shitten me when i was a kid u cut down and acre lot next to the house and playesed base ball there all day every day ,hoop on the garage ,i played little leauge every year age 9-15 ,when your team didnt win it i was a f/n all star who played the team that did win it , i was a pure stick and could field as well ,run ,very well ,ice skate on the pond , golfing at 7 with a driver 7iron and putter

 

[OscarB]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

u shitten me when i was a kid u cut down and acre lot next to the house and playesed base ball there all day every day ,hoop on the garage ,i played little leauge every year age 9-15 ,when your team didnt win it i was a f/n all star who played the team that did win it , i was a pure stick and could field as well ,run ,very well ,ice skate on the pond , golfing at 7 with a driver 7iron and putter

:thumbsup i like you nedrow

As far as the original question, I just whacked off to Playboy - didn't have e-porn...

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

yep before internet porn was sometimes hard to come by unless you had a playboy mag or a porno video.

 

[shdw01]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

when we were in 6th grade....a bunch of us were at a friend's house, he said his mom's bf had a porn stash so he popped a tape in the VCR for us to watch....fucking VCR broke and the tape wouldn't eject....

hahaha....poor guy's last gasp was shoving a scissors in the vcr hoping to "rip off" the label.

 

[beedo]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Before the Net, if you wanted to act like a total jackass/dickhead, you had to do it in person.

 

[ronangel]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

when we were in 6th grade....a bunch of us were at a friend's house, he said his mom's bf had a porn stash so he popped a tape in the VCR for us to watch....fucking VCR broke and the tape wouldn't eject....

hahaha....poor guy's last gasp was shoving a scissors in the vcr hoping to "rip off" the label.

I had been asked many times to get stuck porn tapes out of video recorders.
one time I had to get a tape out that was so valuable the machine was destroyed to get it out without damage. no charge on that repair, just a copy of the tape while I was "testing" it. What the Swedish postman did with the chicken I cant discuss here (even after 20 years) but it looked shocked... :+excited-
and that was before he made his delivery to the local farm.

 

[beedo]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

..and, by the way, it's WAY better in person!

 

[MIKEH75]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

instead of downloading music off the internet you anxiously awaited your favorite music artists next album and then went and spent your ten bucks on an album or cassette then maybe a couple months later you plopped down fifteen or twenty more bucks to see them in concert.

 

[neverwin]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

I worked on the Jersey Boardwalk for many many years, worked till midnight, then ran down to Atlantic City, play till they closed which was at 3am. lol at 3 am.

only way to bet sports was with friends or a local bookmaker, can you imagine calling your bookmaker and getting a busy signal, cell phones were non existant, at best you had 2 different phone numbers in your house.

Everything was ALWAYS -110, puck lines always looked something like DET 1-1.5 NJ, which meant your only optons in betting the game were taking Det laying a goal and a half, or taking NJ with a goal.


I grew up in the 70`s and 80`s 2 great decades to live life and gamble, i remember going to the track, we had to go near the paddocks to smoke a joint, you didnt want to get caught back then. so many tales , life was great pre internet.

 

[Viejo Dinosaur]

Re: What did you old people do before the internet?

Watched more TV

Went to more sporting events

Gambled more

Read more newspapers

Spent money on stamps