If you could flip this switch would you?

[CloudsInMyFrap]

If you could flip a switch and everything in the world was the same except the internet didn’t exist, would you?

Don’t bother saying “my job wouldn’t exist then so blablabla” - you’d obviously have a different job.

So. No email. No smartphones, just mobile phones. No google, no Wikipedia, everything done by telephone and post and catalogue.

I think I would! Can’t even justify it, but I feel I would welcome a simpler way of living.

Yes, I think I would. I love using the internet, but I sometimes think the bad parts of it outweigh the good - and if we had never had it we wouldn't miss it. (can we keep online shopping though?😄)

yes definitely.
It's no doubt rose tinted glasses but when I look back to my childhood and teens in the 50s, 60s - a lot of awful things did go on, and were covered up, but for the majority I think life was simpler and pleasanter.

Yes - absolutely

No way. I'm autistic and streaming shit day time tv is my lifeline.

No. Having grown up pre-internet I far prefer having it to not. It's made my life so much easier for things like researching and shopping. But part of me would like to get rid of social media as it causes a lot of harm to many, especially the young, although I personally like it in small doses (I only follow decent people/stuff so my feeds aren't toxic).

I agree with you.

God no you are taking away years of opportunity and development not just for generations but also life saving technologies

No. Instead, I would like it to be less wild west. If we each had a single internet identity, not hiding behind our usernames, we'd be much more careful about what we said and shared and much more conscious that there is a real person on the receiving end. And I think the internet needs to be policed morally just as society does on the street - so Google for example, needs to take responsibility for allowing illegal images to exist in its search engine.

Definitely not.
I’m old enough to have grown up and got married before the internet and smart phones.

They are extremely useful and have improved far more aspects than they have destroyed. However, I will say that I do not (and have never) have Facebook, Instagram, all these shitty things. I just use WhatsApp and only for people I speak to often IRL. So perhaps rather than switching off the internet, people should have a serious cull of social media. In my day, having a page about yourself and posting photos and thoughts would have been narcissism off the scale. Now it has been normalised (Facebook and the like).

Yes. Yes. A thousand times.

Not a chance.

Life is just better with the internet.

So long as I don't have to flip the switch before Thursday. I'm preparing for a professional exam on Wednesday and all my materials are online. After that, the internet can sod off.

Never. Half the family lives on the other side of the world. No video calls? Impossible! Especially during corona when we couldnt visit.

Yes, definitely.

Not sure if this is sarcasm?

If not, then you are wildly out of touch. Massive drug & alcohol issues in many areas, including Ireland, where I am, at that time.

MH issues have always existed. Just not talked about - and of course, pre-Internet, no online support.

Again, my teenagers socialise loads without internet & I don't think they are unusual? They meet up & go places, play sports & do lots in person.

What's brilliant is that they can more easily make arrangements & I can keep in touch easily.

I remember convoluted arrangements when I was a teen & if something went wrong, I often had no easy way to get help.

I would, and I'd take the world back to the 90's. 95-99 to be precise. Best years ever.

Yes I would, and my whole working life is online, but I can remember when it wasn't and it was much better.
Online competitiveness has been terrible for my daughter.

Definitely

I say using mumsnet on the internet...

I know @EarringsandLipstick I laughed at that comment. The whole rave scene started in the 90's. Leah Betts died in 1995, because she took ecstacy. Trainspotting is a 1996 film based on a 1993 book.

Rose tinted glasses work best when focussing on the past!

I love the internet though so it's a no from me. I like that I can catch up with friends easily who don't live nearby. Plus, I just like chilling watching YouTube videos, what's wrong with that? I definitely enjoyed my teenage years and am glad we didn't have phones but I like having one now 😆

Yes I think I would. But then I'd break out in a cold sweat and realise that I would not be able to ogle my celeb crush so easily. So hmmmm.

Hell, no.

Going on holiday this summer, driving to France. Need a congestion charge vignette. Ordered on line from the French Government. Delivered this morning. Cost less than €5. Planning the route including overnight stops, hotels researched and booked on line.

We used to do this before the internet and what a pain it was!

Need a recipe? Go on line. You have a choice.

No need to wait for the library to open. You can look things up any time of day.

100% I would without any hesitation.