Does anyone really remember what it was like before the internet existed? - General

It wasn't anything like it is now until broadband. I would get on our dial-up and visit a few sites and log off just like sitting down at a specific time for one TV show, but now you can get on for no reason and waste tons of time.

[QUOTE=MazerRackham;40200882]having to remember all your friends phone numbers because mobile phones didn't exist.[/QUOTE] You never wrote it down? It's what I did before having a cell phone.

I was born in 1987 and lived in the middle of no where. I had no cable. We had "Farmer vision" as we called it. An antenna that picked up five or six channels, maybe eight on a good night. You constantly had to go outside and turn the antenna if it became misaligned. If it was windy forget about it. We did not get Primestar until the late 90s. I was exposed to computers around 1998 when we got them in school and established computer labs. They all had Windows 95 and we used Netscape Navigator for the internet. I remember back then kids would try to do research on topics and end up on porn sites nearly constantly. One big one everyone kept accidentally going to was then whitehouse dot com instead of dot gov. We mainly used it for research but we also were taught typing through Mavis Beacon. I remember how much I hated that thing. I always hated the keyboard and demanded to know why it was not in alphabetical order as I did not understand the button placements. We also used some primitive program back then to make art, animations with sound effects and stuff...but the name of the program completely skips my mind sadly. I played baseball until highschool and soccer through elementary. I did a lot of things outside on my spare time. I also read a lot of books. I played video games (NES, SNES, N64) quite a bit but only during weekends. I remember we would usually go to video renting places (There was a Ma and Pa video place nearby, not a name brand. But we did eventually go to Blockbuster) on Friday nights and I could rent out a game to play through the weekend. I would watch TV, play console games, go outside and do stuff, and played baseball during my summer vacations. Would also go spend the night at friend's homes and visit from time to time to play. I also played a lot of Legos, Micromachines, and all sorts of action figures and stuff. I loved Tonka toys when I was little and had pretty much my own construction site outside. ;) My parents both worked. So on days when they could not watch me I usually went to my grandparents house. Which was on a farm and even more disconnected than my own home. But I found things to do. My dad was unemployed for a little while one summer so we did a lot of stuff during that year together. Fishing, going places, etc. I got my first computer in 1999 and internet not long afterwards. I remember through school we would go to SI for Kids and play all the games and get in trouble so I could not wait until I got home to go on the site without interruption from pesky teachers... I had dial up for a long time. Finally got DSL at one point. Those are the more young days I remember up to computers and internet. Those were good times. :)

People were intelligent, civil, and not basement-dwelling virgins.

Anyone else remember [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltaVista]AltaVista[/url]

Well, I woke up in time, went to school in time, actually liked school, played outside till 6/7 pm and not to forget, gamecards and other games. And for the digital part, lime 2/3 hours of tv and super nintendo and n64

The dark days of AOL. That's the farthest back I remember. And it sounded like this: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0[/media] And I wasn't even allowed to use it. :C

I remember when I was sleeping over at a friends house playing with Pokemon cards, not knowing how to play while we watched Ed,Edd and Eddy and Tom & Jerry. And then we played Blinx time-sweeper and Midtown Madness 3 on his Xbox, and I camped at his place, playing the whole campaign of Halo 2 during the Boxing Week. I had internet during that time, but I didn't use it too much before 2007-2008. I was a PS1 and PS2 gamer and I remember beating Crash Bandicoot 1,2 and 3 without any cheat codes or help with my brothers. Such an accomplishment.