To feel like I wouldn’t be that bothered if the internet disappeared?

Yabu.

You wouldn't be able to moan on the internet about how hard life was because of the internet too.

The isolation it would cause would be a massive shock.

Nevermind how much of a cliff edge to many daily things it would be at this point.

Pandoras box is open. You can wish to return to an era that no longer exists at this point. Why? Because we understand what the internet is and the degree to which it affects our lives.

I've been online and in online communities since 1998. That's nearly 30 years. You can't erase 30 years of lived experience and knowledge and return to an era before that.

We would be living in a post internet era which would be wildly different from the pre internet era - if for no other reason about how much of our economy is based around the internet.

Let's ban TV too. That way people will read books again.

I don't think its a "young" problem at all. Lots of older people want everything "now" too. Some of my more demanding clients who are incapable of waiting for anything are elderly. By contrast, my younger clients are a lot more "chilled".

Who said young people can't read maps? I'm a member of a local motoring group and we have "table top rallies" where small groups are given a random OS map and are given various questions/instructions to plot a route - similar to motoring treasure hunts that were popular in the 70s and 80s but on a table rather than driving in reality. There's no notable difference in scores between the younger and the older teams. Even those never seen a map before soon pick it up after all, there's always a key showing what each line/mark means - it's not rocket science. We have paper maps in all 3 of our cars - we could all use them to navigate if we needed to (incl our young DS), but when there's no need, i.e. we have satnav and google maps, why would you? We only use them when there's severe congestion and we need to plot a different route, which is pretty rare. Most of the time we only use satnav for advance notice of accidents/congestion as we tend to rely on road signs more often than not, and even before Satnav, I rarely used paper maps whilst driving.

I think they could start with cutting ai for anything that isn’t absolutely necessary but we do need the internet now. It is funny because in done ways things are going backwards in a good way but we can’t put everything back. Saying that give me a dumb phone that has WhatsApp and I think that’s all my needs covered- I don’t really need much else in life!

We would also have to face the fact that, if we scrapped the internet, we would also be betraying and removing lifelines and accessibility of employment from a huge number of disabled and vulnerable people.

Imagine being told that you were going to lose your livelihood, self-respect and the knowledge of contributing to society with your valuable skills; and instead you could go on benefits and sit at home all day watching old episodes of Bargain Hunt (on analogue TV, of course), whilst the right-wing media rail at you for being a waste-of-space parasite... all because a bunch of able-bodied healthy people with the fine privilege to be able to decide to do so had ruled that they preferred the old ways and a bit more of a challenge and less convenience in achieving everyday tasks.

I'd really miss the internet, I spend so much time on it. Maybe that isn't a good thing though.

I do my job entirely without the internet so that would be fine.

Yes. Also people with care giving responsibilities for whom WFH has been a lifeline, mostly women.

Did you fervently eschew calculators when they came in, insisting on doing all sums and equations in your head and using pencil and paper, or possibly turning to your abacus for the really tricky ones?!

Do you expect to have running water in your home whenever you turn on the tap, and electricity when you plug in an appliance - because you're just too lazy and impatient to go out to the well with a bucket or to generate your own with an exercise bike with a dynamo? Do you have a washing machine in your home, because you're too lazy and impatient to get out your dolly tub, washboard and mangle and put in the physical effort?

Generations come and go and life moves on; I don't think it's fair to basically blame the young for not having been born before their own time.

My MIL- from a different culture- still washes all her clothes by hand. Though she has a washing machine. Then she complains about being tired.

Reminds me of "Yesteryear".

You might say that, but there are many many people who can't even follow simple routes without a sat nav. I'm legendary at work because I can, because I am old and had to visit clients with a paper map and instructions from a colleague. I've taken younger colleagues places without a sat nav and they couldn't believe I knew where I was going.

Plus we have the problem of people going out into the hills thinking the map on their phone will show them the way....

I actually do work for a local paper (we still exist, and use a lot of software and expensive hardware) and we wouldn't function without internet either. There's no such thing as a company nearby who would print a manually laid-out issue on a printing press, nor would there be any companies who make and maintain the presses. It's all digital and the printers are 150 miles away.

If you never wander out of your village, life pre-internet might sound idyllic
If you travel, have family and friends all over the world, study, can work from home, internet has been life changing in a very positive way.

You can reopen libraries and banks etc, that would be an improvement.
The ability to speak and communicate with anyone anywhere, at all time and no cost... I would be sad to lose that.

The moral support for young mums stuck with a non-sleepy baby at night is also invaluable, as is the support if you are ill, in hospital etc.

"internet" covers so many things, some good some bad, but it's not all a negative.

If people wanted to buy and sell things second hand, sellers would have to fill in a form and post it to your paper @OnlyUsername along with a cheque for the cost at X pence per word or perhaps phone your office and dictate their advert.

Then people who wanted to buy the things would have to buy the paper, look at the adverts and then have to call the sellers to arrange to view. If the item sold quickly, and was in demand, the sellers would face endless calls over the next few days of other people wanting to know if the item was still for sale.

sadly lack of basic knowledge to be polite IS a thing

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/04/24/schools-removing-analogue-clocks-exam-halls-teenagers-unable/

You do know it’s not mandatory to be on the internet? I mean, here you are, in the Internet, telling people you don’t like the Internet.

Having given it a bit more thought, the things I’d miss most would be downloadable music - its fab to have the facility to listen to whatever you want whenever you want although I still have the radio on constantly, I don’t miss vinyl or Cd’s cluttering up the place.
And maps - being able to look up a route and just get in my car and press go and the car knows where I’m heading. Magic! I can read a map fine, but having it on a screen in front of you is great.

Losing access to instant information would be really hard, I literally learn a dozen small new things every day.

But I do think some things would get better, my concentration for example would quickly improve as I would read a book without picking up my phone to look stuff up.

Both my parents worked full-time pre-internet, also pre the days when supermarkets stayed open until 10 at night and weren't open on Sunday. Somehow, the shopping still got done.
Most people who didn't have time off in the week did all that on a Saturday.

Banks were the real pain in the arse, you had to go in your lunch hour, only to find the bank was closed for lunch.

I understand looking back at the before times with rose tinted lenses, but at this point, suddenly losing the internet would be absolutely catastrophic.

This. We can only go forwards. We can't go back.

It's a bit like Reform/ Make America Great Again/ Little Englanders etc. We can't go back to the 1950's now, it no longer exists.

Post internet would not be the same as pre internet.

There is an impact of having had the internet. If it suddenly disappeared, we would struggle massively.

But we couldn't print the paper. The last people who were in jobs using Linotype machines will now be retired or dead. The factories don't exist for them and the parts are not made. Everything moves with the times.

You can still do all of that. Do you @Taq or do you actively choose to use the internet?

Oh don’t be daft. Maybe no one talks to you

But I surely as hell still talk and listen to others talk… a lot!

But, but, people would have to go up to someone's face and tell them why they were a wanker and they hated them. And they wouldn't. So everyone would be politer to each other. It would be AWFUL.

The NHS would fail, schools would have to close and businesses would fold immediately, but yes. Your life would be better