Can someone in their 50s exist with no internet?

[Bad80sPerm]

This. I don’t have home broadband so no laptop.

i could go to having just TV/Radio etc as my entertainment

Would you find if difficult?

Thanks you’re spot on!

you suggest some good ideas !

Why do people keep talking about people in their 50s? The internet has been around for 30 odd years. I have been using internet banking & online shopping for the past 20 years. Smartphones have been around for about 15 years now. None of this is new or the preserve of people in their 20s only.

Can someone in their 50s exist without being able to read?

Yes, but life would be less rich and more difficult.

No she has suffered from pschizo-affective disorder for the past 25 years so isn't able to work, she is mentally stuck in her teenaged years which is why she can't ever grasp technology, she still has things from back then and is perfectly happy with that, if she does need help online me and my sister do it for her as we both know she struggles to learn

That would explain it - I’m so sorry. It sounded from your other post as if it was purely down to her being 57.

The OP is in her 50s, hence her question. It is relevant in a way. For someone in their 80s who is having support from other people and has never used it, then the answer would probably yes they could as long as they have others to help them. Someone in their 50s is going to be around for another 25+ years during which there will be even more technological advancements, so it wouldn't sensible for them to do this.

@Lisbeth50 to add - the OP knows all that, she has a nostalgic idea to go back to her pre-internet youth and is wondering if it would be possible nowadays .

If the internet was taken away from everybody in the world then the 50+ would still remember how to navigate the world and adapt to it far easier i still have my cassette tapes, VHS, CDs dvds and devices to play them on, just incase.

To be honest I think even most people on their 80s (or at least early 80s) will be at least familiar with many internet technologies. Many will still have been working in late 90s as it came in and ofc have had years since then to get involved. To me it's just lazy and stubborn when people are still choosing not to engage with modern tech at all.
DM and DMIL both in 80s, DF is late 70s. All use internet daily for emails, shopping, booking trips and tickets, reading news, all the things I do. DMIL was a computer coder from the early 70s onwards, she is always frustrated by the idea that her age precludes her understanding new tech.
She does get somewhat confused now or impatient with complicated booking systems, but that's to do with finding things harder to process or remember rather than not getting the tech.

@PartyOFive

Yes of course. But if the OP had been 'can someone in their 80s live without the internet?' The answer would have been, yes, if they are someone who is already needing support.

I'd find it really hard, starting with not being able to WFH. So much is done by the internet though eg bill payment and banking that I'd hate to go back to doing everything by phone, cash or cheque.

I know someone in this age category who has never used the internet and refuses to. They have a very old phone that does not have internet access. They don't go anywhere other than local shops, don't have any friends or go on holiday. They use relatives to order large items or do any kind of admin that requires them to be online. If your life is like this OP it should be a doddle.

I’m in my early 40s and I grew up with the internet.

As a child I dialled up, downloaded, registered domain names. built websites, talked in chatrooms, played online games, had my own “homepage”, looked at things I shouldn’t. The whole thing.

When I was at university in the early 90s, I went to the computer centre to check my email & chat on USENET boards. There was no Google yet but we used spiders to find interesting websites.

My first girlfriend introduced me to coding in the late 90s & knowledge of HTML got me quite a few jobs.

I got my first email address in 92. My first dial up internet access in 93. Both were free from my university.

my current home wasn’t build with landline ports but we did have it fully networked. I forget the particular type of cable we use, but it handles the fastest internet speeds we can purchase.

DH and I both wfh and have for years. Almost all personal business is most easily conducted online now. I don’t understand why someone would choose to make their life more complicated.

even our parents in their 80s manage to run their lives online. Mil even has a heart device that she connects to the internet once a week to provide her doctor with the latest readings.