To wonder how our parents survived without the internet.

[ICanSeeTheSun]

I tend use the internet a lot, from paying bills to clothes shopping.

I also use it to gets medical advice, nothing major but things like normal temperature to treating bites from bugs.

Also I have used the internet to research autism, due to my DS having ASD.

To applying for school places and follow DC schools on twitter/Facebook to get latest updates

I do wonder how my parent managed to bring up 7 kids without the internet.

Here is Mosaic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_(web_browser)
I think I used the Lycos search engine.

I don't think my Mum ever read a parenting book (though she could have done with one). She did used to talk a lot with the neighbors though.

I am 59 and I brought up 3 DC without the internet and instead had help from friends, family, neighbours, baby groups, etc. I read a parenting book which seemed to be aimed at a mystery child that didn't correspond with any children belonging to me or my friends.

I try not to do everything on-line because I worry about the breakdown of contact with people. There seems to be such a reluctance for some people to engage with others viz all the 'a woman looked at my baby' stories that seem to be rife on here. Anyone who looked at my baby was a lifesaver, someone to chat with and get through a few minutes of a day.

Thank god for the internet for its infinite time-saving properties, which means I can hold down a full time job, keep a fairly decent household AND maintain my sanity! Kudos to anyone who managed all three in days gone by!

The relied more on friends and neighbours for advice, or just instinct; didn't overanalyse everything because they had too much information at their fingertips; and made do with what was available in the local shops (while meeting and chatting to people while they were out and about every day).

Yes, there are huge advantages to having the internet. But there are also disadvantages eg people who spend more time chatting to 'virtual' friends than real ones or go to family gatherings and spend the whole time on facebook in case they're missing anything.

As an undergraduate I wrote a letter home every week and wrote a letter to my sister and two best friends from school as well. And got letters back. There was a single phone for my entire floor in my halls of residence and that could only receive calls, if you wanted to make a call you had to have a new fangled phone card and go to a payphone. There were phonecard with money on them but I also had one that essentially reversed the charges (only) if I called my parents, so I had no excuse not to call them because they were paying for it!

I did a sandwich year as part of my undergraduate degree at ICI Pharmaceuticals and only the managers had computers, the rest of us had to use the computer room which had a lock on it. No web at this point.

When I started my PhD in the first term we were taught how to use a new fangled piece of 'browser' software called Mosaic. There was hardly any tinterweb back in 1994, the BBC was experimenting fairly early but it was mostly amateurs with their own fairly eccentric sites. DH (BF at this point) went to America during his PhD so we 'talked' on the computer late at night, I took my parents into the computer room and showed them this and they thought it was amazing. The connection was really slow and so it took about 5 minutes to stop a conversation. I didn't have a landline in my room until my forth year and knew 1 person with a mobile phone (who had worked out it was cheaper than paying college for a landline).

My entire working life has been post-internet. I couldn't do my job without it. We have customers all over the world and are in regular contact with them. I can't imagine how slow international business was before you could send quick emails back and forth. We have regular telecons but they require early starts or staying at work late depending where on earth the customers are whereas emails are sitting waiting for you whenever you can pick it up.

Somewhat similarly to the SIDs thing mentioned, though not specifically related to parenting - for myself and other LGBT people the internet has been a real lifesaver. I would never have survived my teens without it. For me and other people in particular groups, online communities have been wonderful. I imagine if you're a gay kid growing up in the arse end of nowhere, the internet is an amazing thing.

I'm only 34 and I didn't have the internet until DS was 6.

I still don't use it for shopping or any of the things you said.

I had books for advice/medical info.

Their schools still communicate via paper in bag.

The net causes as many problems as it solves IMO.

I can't even remember the last time I bought a actual book. If I fancy a new book in the evening I tap on either iBook app or kindle app on my pad.

I am in my 50s and I don't feel any more informed than I did when I had my first child- if anything I think the internet leads to a lot of confusion, worry over nothing.

I did a lot of research when I had my first, though books, libraries etc. information still existed but people made more use of books.

I work using the internet now, and make full use of it. But don't imagine that in pre -internet days we were all in loincloths "ploughing up the earth with the aresebone of a giraffe"!

I would have had more time to chat to people in RL and felt less isolated as a new parent - except I didn't know that many people in RL. Or did I know so few people in RL because I was on mumsnet the internet the whole time???

I just recently returned to work after a 10 year "maternity leave" and noticed how secretaries have basically become redundant. Shorthand, dictation, anyone?

I am in my 50s and I don't feel any more informed than I did when I had my first child- if anything I think the internet leads to a lot of confusion, worry over nothing.

I did a lot of research when I had my first, though books, libraries etc. information still existed but people made more use of books.

I work using the internet now, and make full use of it. But don't imagine that in pre -internet days we were all in loincloths "ploughing up the earth with the aresebone of a giraffe"!

One of the things that surprised me when I first came online was how people debate about things like babyfed weaning, should a 4 year old be in a buggy, are reins bad ,etc,. I honestly never gave things like this a second thought.

I think the internet has speeded things up, but I don't think anything has radically changed.

When I had DC1 there was no internet, and unlike others, I did not live close to family. But I just went out and found other mothers to talk to, especially at the park. And as they had no mobiles with them, they were always happy to talk

We managed just fine I love the internet but I'm not convinced about its time saving properties, not if I add up all the hours I've frittered away on aimless googling or putting stuff in shopping baskets then taking it all out again. I wouldn't be without it but is my quality of life really any better? Not sure.

As a parent it was much better without-it wastes such a lot of time!

I just recently returned to work after a 10 year "maternity leave" and noticed how secretaries have basically become redundant. Shorthand, dictation, anyone?

Or even the Typing Pool? You sent them handwritten copy with a covering form in triplicate. It took 2 days to get a letter back typed, and 2 more days if corrections were needed.

I still think of myself as young, at 35, but I suppose I'm not really, as I can remember the internet being invented and a time before the web when I looked things up in books and you had to send a letter or make a call from a landline to get your message to someone. But there must be 20 year olds using mumsnet now who have never known a time without mobile phones and the web - which makes me feel ancient.

I remember such olden times like listening to DLT on the radio during Sunday lunch when you had to guess the link between the 3 obscure songs he played... and then when you worked it out phone him up and not get through as they only had one phone line... now you would be able to look it all up on the web and email the answer... just not the same!

'People back in the day lived much closer lives.'

Erm, I'm 51 and left home after uni aged 22 - never went back. What do you mean by 'back in the day?' I had DS1 in 1995 and the internet had only just arrived in work.
Most of my friends were living away from their families as well. We relied on books like Penelope Leach's/Miriam Stoppard's, or none at all; our often useless mothers were at the end of the phone, and Yellow Pages and the local paper were well-thumbed.
I used to keep copies of local listings mags and scour them for activities; you'd arrange things in advance and turn up.

I bought a lot of magazines and read them while bf; also watched some --crap daytime tv.

I think the internet has been detrimental to me, all in all. Okay, I can order something and it arrives next day, but I spend literally hours looking at shite and can barely concentrate on the written word if it isn't on a screen.

I'm just as diffident online as irl, so no facebook or meetups - hasn't improved my social life at all.

I'm 26, have 3 kids and only got internet when my eldest was 4. Despite being young, I grew up in a household with no internet access so didn't ever miss it. I used the internet at the library for things like school admissions but did everything else the old fashioned way - paid bills at the bank, went to actual shops with actual people in them.

I couldn't live without it now. When the internet dies I'm the first one on the phone demanding to know where it's gone, and just what are you going to do about it I'm a loyal customer paying for a service thank you very much.

To think I used to research my GCSE coursework with the 1987 set of Encyclopedia Brittanica...

I've been thinking about this a lot today, funnily enough.

I'm using the internet a lot at the moment. And I'm not sure it's particularly helpful. It's too much really. Masses and masses of information presented as fact, generally without any reliable primary source.

I feel a bit adrift sometimes, with all this stuff swimming around in my head, trying to remember what my own perspective and beliefs are amongst it all.

I'm just having an off-day but I do need to stop staring at the internet as much. It's no good for real life social relationships either, on the whole.

but I also had one that essentially reversed the charges (only) if I called my parents, so I had no excuse not to call them because they were paying

I had one of those. It still works today and i can still remember the number !

It's made work a lot more pressured, I think. Twenty-odd years ago, you had to wait for typing or for something to arrive in the post or you'd travel to a face to face meeting. Now all those things can be done pretty well instantly and so a piece of work can be turned around much more quickly. That's great in some ways but the end result is that we work all the time to ridiculous deadlines. The internet has been brilliant for corporate business but I'm not sure whether workers have shared the benefits.