To ask if life was simpler before the internet?

[moutonfou]

I was a child before the internet, but had it from being a late teen/adult. I've always looked back on my childhood and felt that life was simpler, but always presumed that was just because I was a kid with no responsibilities.

However I went to an interesting talk on stress recently which talked about how each of the interactions we have in a day places a microstress on us - we have to weigh up what it is, whether it poses a threat to us, what to do with the information, etc.

They said before the internet, these interactions would almost exclusively be with people in your immediate environment, save for say, reading the paper or watching the TV news.

However the internet has multiplied our interactions exponentially, meaning we're spending all day processing information, weighing up threats, placing microstress after microstress on us which builds up. These 'threats' can be as small as say, a bad news story, someone showing off on Facebook, an email with an unclear tone, etc.

This resonated with me massively. Thinking back to even the 1990s, there seemed to be a simplicity and degree of solitude which has gone now.

What are your thoughts?

I certainly read a lot more before the Internet, but it would have been so much easier to study and do research for school and uni if it had existed back then. Also, I can keep in touch with friends and family on the other side of the planet without having to pay a fortune in phone bills. I miss receiving hand-written letters and even writing them, though

I agree with these two posters' comments. I love having all this information at my fingertips.

I've never had any issues with social media, but I'm glad it wasn't around in my early teenage years. In my later teens when my family moved overseas, it would've been great to have social media then though, to keep in contact with my family and friends left behind. Once Facebook arrived, it was great reconnecting with old school friends from my birth country.

I think I am far more 'educated' since the Internet. I don't mean schooling/exams. I am the sort of person that is always thinking "I wonder why..." Prior to the Internet I would think it, then move on to the next thing. Now I think it, reasearch it, learn about it and sometimes get involved in it (politics etc). News stories as they happen, background information on important events, even the ability to google people and see what makes them 'tick'. Life probably was simpler, but it was far more ignorant.

I love the internet.

It's full of things that are interesting and useful.

One small example - magazines.
My teen years would have been so much nicer if I'd had access to something like The Pool or Standard Issue rather than having to pay for magazines. I could only afford one or two a month, so trying something new was a risk, and the selection in my local newsagent or supermarket was not great.

I think I am far more 'educated' since the Internet.

I absolutely agree with this.

The barrier to entry is so much lower.

If I think I might be interested in something, I can have a look at it and decide.

I don't have to spend money on a book, or wait to order a book to my local library, to do the first bit of research.

"internet is a utility, I'd no sooner go without it than I'd go without running water or electricity, both of which can be put to harmful or beneficent ends"

Bit simplistic

YANBU OP, I feel lucky to have experienced both pre-internet and Internet eras
Life wasn't that different back then... and yet it was wildly different at the same time

There is no 'switch off' anymore. We're always contactable by email or text. In the old days once you walked out the door at work you were uncontactable until you walked back in the next day.

I have also experienced both pre-internet (pre computer!) and internet eras. I feel the ubiquitous nature of the mobile phone has been more of a problem.

And I feel that having come through from pre-internet days it is easy to pick up and drop internet stuff all the time. A bit of mumsnet, some banking, watching "how to replace a dishwasher filter", a recipe for dinner. Very useful.

Sitting on a phone (even when surrounded by friends) doing snapchat/email/youtube vlogs - much, much less so.

I think the Internet is great for all the reasons above, but you have to put boundaries in place. Don't let people use it to get to you, use it to get to what you want.

I only look at my 'focused' emails.

I don't use FB the way I used to, to connect emotionally with friends. It's just a photo brag site now. I keep it because there is a great local page which keeps my small community informed. I use it more like a newsletter now. It's replaced the Christmas round robin letters.

I can get instruction manuals for old appliances when the clocks change. Recipes. Shop obscure items. Learn about people and events I haven't come across.

I really think we have a choice though.
It saddens me to see couples out for dinner, not talking, constantly on their phones. What's the point of that? I keep my phone on constantly on Saturday & Sundays for rugby & football scores but, back in the day would get Ceefax updates, so no real change there.
Then you have the inane bunch of cocks who update Facebook at least 5 times a day. What's that all about?? The old motto of less is more has never been more pertinent. Don't understand the constant texting when out with friends either, that's a bit crack as well.
Think the positives though, are the being able to stay in touch in an emergency remotely & email and technology has certainly sorted out the wheat from the chaff in the work place. The last & the workshy, get found out now, rather than hiding behind the postal delay excuses etc. That can only be a good thing

Social media is the annoying side of the internet if you let it in but the internet has made banking and shopping around so much easier and it saves so much time and aggro. I would also have found it a lifeline when I was young SAHM with an offshore partner as I was so lonely and would have adored a mumsnet then. I think it has killed creativity as people don't get bored enough to actually do anything these days. My young students never seem to have hobbies or interests these days just mucking about on their phones.

I was talking about this with my stepdad recently. Three days later I received a letter from him, written in his wonderful, educated handwriting, asking me if I'd like to meet for lunch.

I wouldn't go back to the pre digital days but receiving hand written letters is a joy we have lost. My own son won't even know what it's like.

I miss talking.
People used to talk. Now people sit on their phones.
And I miss watching TV. Now everybody half watches things because they're internetting things at the same time

I used to wonder about things a lot. Now I just Google them.

I was musing about this idea that we are less "ignorant".
I think it is much easier to find out about things on a superficial level. Do I learn as much about other countries from the internet as I do from reading Robert Byron, Bruce Chatwin, Graham Robb - to name but a few? Not sure I do, apart from reading direct, personal testimony (but then I often don't know the provenance of the source).

It was simpler but it was more isolating in a lot of ways. What dates me is that there are adults now who don't remember life with no internet.

I read far far more post Internet

1. it's much easier to discover and research books that I'm interested in
2. There are multitudes of free things to be read online
3. Reading on a tablet is more enjoyable than paper, I can follow links, look up things that interest me, go down rabbit holes that I never knew existed

I wonder about things, then Google them, then wonder about what I find out from go ogling, I can answer my own questions and then explore multiple new questions
The collective works of mankind are at our fingertips now

I suppose people have always thought that they are the generation that knows so much more than the last, from travel in various forms, painting, literature, photography, film, television, as each new technology has arrived. I suppose virtual reality is next.
Do we really "know" more? What have we forgotten to make way for the new information?

If each interaction is seen primarily as a stress, then surely the answer would be to shut ourselves up in caves and not interact at all? (And certainly never live in a small village community where you are expected to interact all the time.)

Imo the truth is something far more complex. For some, the internet gives more pressure, for some it provides support or much-needed stimulation, for most it probably does different things at different times. Different people have different needs of interaction and non-interaction.

For me, the internet has made my working life less stressful and more achievable in ways I could never have dreamed of. It has also meant that I can do exciting research that simply could not have been done 40 years ago. I can call up not only websites but facsimile copies of 500 year-old books and have them instantly accessible. Otoh I have to watch myself so I don't get distracted by MN.

For dd, the internet has meant that she had support during times of illness when she was unable to leave the house. It has meant that she and her friends can support each other through tough times, it has meant she can have more control over her career plans and more knowledge about her medical condition. Otoh it does mean that when something blows up, re friends or boyfriends or whatever, it is very difficult to get away from it. You need discipline to switch that screen of.

I often think about this. It's a double edged sword, isn't it?

I wouldn't want to go back to the days of snail mail and no email.

I certainly wouldn't want to go back to the days of buying a house or booking a holiday pre-internet - what a total lottery that was, like pin the tail not the donkey in comparison to now. And I like that we can get honest reviews for things and that companies can't pull the wool over our eyes as easily as they used to, although even that is being adulterated now and you can't always trust what you read.

And I'd rather google a question about geography, history, or human biology and have a thousand returned results to choose from for a really thorough and speedy answer, than trudge to the library or flick through an encyclodaedia for a one paragraph answer.

I'd rather have a mobile phone than be in some of the precarious positions I've been in late at night, broken down car, cancelled trip, separated from friends, no taxis nearby, no money for a phone box or whatever.

If I were disabled and housebound I'd rather have the company of folk on forums where I am an equal and no-one makes assumptions about me by seeing my disability, than be stuck in the house lonely and isolated.

I'd rather be a child at boarding school who can Skype or FaceTime their expat parents a couple of times a week rather than not see their faces for a whole term at a time.

I'd rather be a parent whose child emigrated to New Zealand and never came back now rather than in 1970. That would have been awful - almost like a bereavement. you'd get the odd hand written letter and a phone call at Christmas if you were lucky.

But I think that social media is turning into a force for evil. It's a monster that is out of control. Young people are suffering an absolute epidemic of mental health problems, anxiety, poor self esteem, body image issues, addictions to porn, addictions to gaming, addictions to their phones and social media, suicidal tendencies, a desensitisation to gratuitous violence etc.

And it is having a terrible impact on our ability to concentrate for longer than a few minutes on anything that isn't screen related. We are losing the ability to problem solve by ourselves and we expect answers and solutions to everything instantly, including the things that google can't help us with.

We are impatient and irritable and increasingly dissatisfied with the most ENORMOUS choice of everything at our fingertips and it's clouding our ability to make swift decisions and judgements. And we are increasingly dissatisfied with what we have materially, thinking everyone else is living a richer, happier more beautiful life filled with more expensive stuff.

I worked for quite a few years before computers were routine. I used to have to write letters and give them to the secretary to type up. The major difference was that because typing up and circulating papers took more time, people only gave you what you really needed. They did not email you reports thinking you might be interested, or cc lots of people in. Also people did not expect quick turn arounds. You would get a letter and write back the same day or next day. Nobody expected you to answer in 10 minutes like they do with email.

Ha ha last week my 18 year old dds were trolling through out wedding album and came across hand written letter from a lady thanking us for our honeymoon booking and telling us where the key was.

Dd looked at me and asked 'why did she write?' This was 1988!!

She then asked how did we find out about the cottage and if it was good? I gently described we sent off for a brochure and hoped for the best as no trip adviser.

I also told her about the time we ran out of cash as the village had no cash point so we had to walk 6 miles to the local town in Tenby and that shops shut at 5 and all day Sunday.

They were fasinated and horrified in equal measure.

Nobody expected you to answer in 10 minutes like they do with email
There is a need to set firm boundaries which wasn't as important pre internet...modulate response speed so as not to overwhelm, or be overwhelmed by others

Yes, I think it was. I was recently watching a video that said your world used to be on the room you were in, but now our world can be so much bigger - we can look at world news at any given moment, look at our ex's facebook and she what their up to, and his new partner too (I've never personally done this, but see how you can fall down the rabbit hole), everyone we went to school with, and their problems too. The video suggested that all of this never switching off and having information available 24/7 is partly why there is an increase in anxiety. I'm not sure on the science behind the video, but it was certainly food for thought.

I am personally trying to cut down my social media use, as I find myself mindlessly scrolling whenever I'm bored. I also read an article about how children view parents often giving more attention to their smart phones than them. I try to never have a phone in front of my face when I'm with DD, but I do slip up sometimes.

I was also reading about how we have emotional connections to our smart phones, and the endorphins we get are the same from spending time with loved ones, having sex etc. Only it's one sided as out phone can never make a connection with us.

But then where did I read and watch this information? The internet.

You would get a letter and write back the same day or next day. Nobody expected you to answer in 10 minutes like they do with email.

That is very true and there is enormous pressure on people in the workplace to deal with everything instantly, even if if it's just an acknowledgement of an email.

I remember several holidays in the early days or email and Blackberry Messenger really taking off, where my DH just couldn't get on and enjoy his holiday without feeling obligated to reply to every email, text and phone call. In days gone by if someone was on their holidays everyone just had to get by without them and they managed. Plans were put in place before they went and important things were scheduled for when the key people were physically there.

Those days have gone sadly and many people are expected to be at the beck and call of work 365 days a year. Although I do think people are realising that it's not good for their stress levels and are giving themselves permission to be off duty once in a while. If not exactly turning the phone off and leaving the emails alone entirely, at least checking them less often and prioritising what to deal with and what to ignore.

I absolutely agree LaLegue.
I live deep in rural France and the internet is a godsend. But I am concious that I am surrounded by people who have never used the internet, but have the skills and equipment to survive if the power went off for good.
There is a fascinating book called something like, "How the internet is changing our brains". I am certainly concious of flitting from subject to subject, half watching the TV and Mumsnetting etc.
And I really should be outside planting tomatoes. 😀

The internet has led to numerous problems that we could not previously have envisaged, this provides an incentive to come up with new solutions, increase our knowledge and understanding