How did individuals manage before the internet.

This is very slightly tongue in cheek.

I subscribe to a professional forum and anyway this has me perplexed some of the queries are at a level barley above.. how do I use a pencil...how did individuals find information about careers jobs or doing a masters, professional development, progressing themselves in anyway before the internet and more importantly did the effort and mastery of figuring it out without the internet produce individuals who were more resilient and mature in their out look.

mariaalice

mariaalice wrote: »

I subscribe to a professional forum and anyway this has me perplexed some of the queries are at a level barley above.. how do I use a pencil...

A rye observation...

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I don't know, I don't really remember a time with no internet.
What was it like?

DivingDuck

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't know, I don't really remember a time with no internet.
What was it like?

Miserable.

Saipanne

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't know, I don't really remember a time with no internet.
What was it like?

People were more punctual and reliable.

Winterlong

Simpler times...but people were more resourceful in getting information that they needed.

Booking a holiday, pre internet, was a pain in the arse though.

The flying mouse

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't know, I don't really remember a time with no internet.
What was it like?

You had to actually meet people in person more, You went to the library or bought books to learn & get information, You actually read newspapers for the news and write letters to correspond with family's and friends and of course boyfriends/girlfriends etc, How did we ever mange ?

tayto lover

Carrier pidgeon BUT the mods were hawks.

pilly

mariaalice wrote: »

This is very slightly tongue in cheek.

I subscribe to a professional forum and anyway this has me perplexed some of the queries are at a level barley above.. how do I use a pencil...how did individuals find information about careers jobs or doing a masters, professional development, progressing themselves in anyway before the internet and more importantly did the effort and mastery of figuring it out without the internet produce individuals who were more resilient and mature in their out look.

The library was probably the "physical" version of the internet I suppose.

Winterlong

Winterlong wrote: »

Simpler times...but people were more resourceful in getting information that they needed.

Booking a holiday, pre internet, was a pain in the arse though.

That is kinda my point does having to be resourceful = resilience and maturity or at least contribute to it.

Outlaw Pete

We got most of information via Easons and Oprah.

SEPT 23 1989

We got it mouth-to-mouth. So you got to listen it and 'member

Harry Palmr

You had to walk more.

pilly

mariaalice wrote: »

That is kinda my point does having to be resourceful = resilience and maturity or at least contribute to it.

Yeah I suppose a lot of knowledge came with experience and age rather than through internet research. We sometimes learned things the hard way though.

beertons

Slowly.

The flying mouse

The flying mouse wrote: »

You had to actually meet people in person more, You went to the library or bought books to learn & get information, You actually read newspapers for the news and write letters to correspond with family's and friends and of course boyfriends/girlfriends etc, How did we ever mange ?

There was also the phone. And people would actually talk. For ages. A chat with the girlfriend was anything from half an hour or longer.

osarusan

I remember creating an email account but being the only one in my group that had one, so had nobody to send an email to.

Ciderswigger

Table quizzes were more fun.

pilly

mariaalice wrote: »

This is very slightly tongue in cheek.

I subscribe to a professional forum and anyway this has me perplexed some of the queries are at a level barley above.. how do I use a pencil...how did individuals find information about careers jobs or doing a masters, professional development, progressing themselves in anyway before the internet and more importantly did the effort and mastery of figuring it out without the internet produce individuals who were more resilient and mature in their out look.

Just reading your post again and actually when it comes to doing a masters I think the internet can sometimes slow you down as there's so much information out there that's not relevant or needed. Trawling through it can take up a lot of your time.

kopite386

You could actually have argument with somebody about whether something was true or not, without somebody googling the answer within 2 minutes

JupiterKid

We managed. Information diffused much more slowly but eventually reached people. I think email and the Internet really sped up the pace of work - people demanding replies/documents instantly - things were done more slowly but with more care. So much about the Internet in incredible - the library of the world at your fingertips. But so much is superficial and all for show - like facebook updates and "selfies" - short attention spans and getting bored in 5 minutes.

We waited more for things and were more patient. And I was 20 when I used the Internet for the first time. I've never really known the work environment before the web - but I do recall when faxes and couriers were an everyday fact of work life!

But I born into the computer age. Brought up in the era of the Personal Computer and computer games. I really can't imagine life without computers.

hairyslug

I had to look for jobs in the evening herald,
Looking for an apartment or house to rent, you had to get up early to get the 1st edition of the independent and call before anyone else.
Had to look at the tv listings on the middle pages of the newspaper.
Sports scores and news were to be found on aertel.

All school and college projects were done in a library.
When I had a job where we had email, we had to connect to the internet to access the email and then disconnect once we were done

dub_skav

osarusan wrote: »

I remember creating an email account but being the only one in my group that had one, so had nobody to send an email to.

And back in those days you didn't even have a Nigerian Prince to email

pilly

hairyslug wrote: »

Sports scores and news were to be found on aertel.

Forgot about Aertel. :D

Pac1Man

I drew my own.

5rtytry56

wait for Dublin Bus from City Centre at the Terminus to go home...and wait..and wait...and wait. :(:(:(:mad:

jimgoose

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I don't know, I don't really remember a time with no internet.
What was it like?

It was great, apart from the queue for the village phone-box. This was even more awkward in my case as I had to bring my Model 33 Teletype - together with a battery out of an old David Brown 990 - over the road in a wheelbarrow in order to send jokes to my dork friends in California via Purdue University's mainframe. Whipping the best britches out from under the mattress of a Saturday evening and chuffing off up the road on the ol' BSA Two-and-a-Half, newspaper inside the suit jacket to block the wind, cob-pipe clenched in the corner-teeth and cap set at a just-so jaunty angle was something special, though - after collecting De Ladyfriend and installing her side-saddle on top of the tank, we'd head off to De Hop to give the evening supping bottles of stout and stealing looks at each other across the hall.

riclad

Jobs were advertised in newspapers , on notice boards in shops .
texting on phones was invented before the web ,broadband became widely avaidable .
People talked ,people did not go to a pub or cafe and spend half the time looking at a smartphone.
People would talk on the phone for a long time .
IF you wanted to view a flat you,d have to phone the landlord and make
an appointment to view it.
Most people had 1 phone in the hallway.
i know a bloke had a phone with a coinbox in the hallway for his children to use.
I,d go to a library or to a netcafe to use the web on a pc.

I find myself wondering how people manage despite the internet.

Riddle101

Well before I got the internet, Encarta was my main source of information. If I had a school project to do, i'd use that for my research source.

o1s1n

Deleted User wrote: »

There was also the phone. And people would actually talk. For ages. A chat with the girlfriend was anything from half an hour or longer.

That awkward moment where you rang your girlfriend's house and her mam or dad answered the phone :eek:

Butters1979

I 'member before the Internet. I'd spend my Saturday afternoons staring at teletext to get the football scores. If I was out Saturday afternoons then match of the day was genuinely exciting. I 'member when someone scored who was Irish their name came up in green. Nice touch. Technology eh?

Following European leagues was even harder. I used to have to buy world soccer magazine just to check the Spanish league table. Then Eurosport came along and if you stayed up until 1am on a Monday you could watch Eurogaols. Worst sports commentator ever. Fun fact. The commentator from Eurogoals was 'Statto' from Skinner and Baddiel's fantasy football TV show.

Speaking of which, anyone 'member fantasy football before the Internet? You had to post a letter to the newspaper to make a sub. Good times. Good times.

pilly

o1s1n wrote: »

That awkward moment where you rang your girlfriend's house and her mam or dad answered the phone :eek:

My dad used to go mad if a fella rang the house.

Riddle101

Riddle101 wrote: »

Well before I got the internet, Encarta was my main source of information. If I had a school project to do, i'd use that for my research source.

Encyclopedia Britannica. The set with aardvark as the first word...think it was from the 50s so a bit outdated by the 70s and 80s.

diomed

Older people were the internet.
You listened to them.

kopite386

o1s1n wrote: »

That awkward moment where you rang your girlfriend's house and her mam or dad answered the phone :eek:

pilly wrote: »

My dad used to go mad if a fella rang the house.

Am I only the one picturing the Girls Just Want to Have Fun - video right now haha with the dad going mad when the phone rang even though it was just girls on the other end :pac:

Butters1979

diomed wrote: »

Older people were the internet.
You listened to them.

No they weren't and no we didn't

2ygb4cmqetsjhx

I actually think the internet is making people become stupider.

Before you had all information available at your finger tips anytime anywhere you had to actually think for yourself. People used to read more books and be able to connect ideas logically in their heads and form more informed opinions. Now in the internet you just google know the answer and not think anymore about it.

gandalf

It was horrible, we actually had to talk to each other!!

Nobody has really answered the question does having to put more effort that looking it up on the internet contribute to resilience and maturity. There was a thread on AH a while ago where someone asked how do you play the lotto!

diomed

Charlotte Ancient Wastebasket wrote: »

I actually think the internet is making people become stupider.
People used to read more books

You can tell by poor spelling that a poster does not read books.
Reading does more than provide ideas and information, it polishes your spelling, grammar, and sentence structure.

Badly Drunk Boy

I was talking to a lad in work who said that he wanted to be a Garda when he left school (around 1998, I think) but didn't know how to go about it because he lived in a small village, and nowadays you'd just get a form online. I told him that he mustn't have tried too hard. Even going to your local Garda station might have worked.

DivingDuck

diomed wrote: »

Older people were the internet.
You listened to them.

If by "older people" you mean "the kids in the year above", then sure.

At least these days kids can get their misinformation from educated people with a deliberate agenda and not just whatever someone a year or two older managed to scrape together from listening at keyholes!

Estrellita

Butters1979 wrote: »

No they weren't and no we didn't

Speak for yourself. The advice from my parents and their parents time has been invaluable to me. I'd trust someone that has seen a bit of life before I'd trust a Google search, on just about any topic.

Butters1979

Estrellita wrote: »

Speak for yourself. The advice from my parents and their parents time has been invaluable to me. I'd trust someone that has seen a bit of life before I'd trust a Google search, on just about any topic.

What if your parents wrote some advice online, would you trust it if a google search led you there?

I agree asking people you know and trust is a good idea but there's nothing wrong with using more than one source to find your information. Although the internet can have a lot of misinformation it gives us access to advice and ideas from some extremely smart and experienced people. Finding this and filtering out the bull*hit is the resourcefulness you need nowadays. Dismissing the resource of the internet because the first thing to come up in google isn't great is silly.

jimgoose

Butters1979 wrote: »

What if your parents wrote some advice online, would you trust it if a google search led you there?

I agree asking people you know and trust is a good idea but there's nothing wrong with using more than one source to find your information. Although the internet can have a lot of misinformation it gives us access to advice and ideas from some extremely smart and experienced people. Finding this and filtering out the bull*hit is the resourcefulness you need nowadays. Dismissing the resource of the internet because the first thing to come up in google isn't great is silly.

I think the thing is, in the early days of the Internet/UUCP back in the early- to mid-90s you mainly had a small clique of techy-geek/enthusiast types writing articles and posting to it. Nowadays, every loo-lah is at it. :pac:

Badly Drunk Boy

osarusan wrote: »

I remember creating an email account but being the only one in my group that had one, so had nobody to send an email to.

I remember getting my first 2 e-mail accounts when I started university in 1991. Since I had new classmates in the same situation, it meant I had people to e-mail if I wanted. (I had about 3 friends...) Newsgroup were the big thing back then. My most visited ones back then would have been...
rec.music.industrial
alt.tv.northern-exp
rec.sports.soccer
...and stuff like that.

mariaalice wrote: »

Nobody has really answered the question does having to put more effort that looking it up on the internet contribute to resilience and maturity. There was a thread on AH a while ago where someone asked how do you play the lotto!

I don't know if it contributes to resilience and maturity (or why it should) but as has already been said, it made people more resourceful than they are today, and you probably appreciated stuff more.

pilly

mariaalice wrote: »

Nobody has really answered the question does having to put more effort that looking it up on the internet contribute to resilience and maturity. There was a thread on AH a while ago where someone asked how do you play the lotto!

I kind of did answer it by saying yes you did have to learn by your mistakes so I suppose that made you mature quicker. Did it contribute to resilience? I don't really know. I think people maybe have to be a bit more resilient nowadays to put up with some of the abuse you get online.

jimgoose

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

...Newsgroup were the big thing back then. My most visited ones back then would have been...
rec.music.industrial
alt.tv.northern-exp
rec.sports.soccer...

Ah yes, good old Usenet. Kibo, Flatfish, alt.sysadmin.recovery, Dave Tholen, and a cast of thousands. That takes me way back! :pac:

Butters1979

jimgoose wrote: »

I think the thing is, in the early days of the Internet/UUCP back in the early- to mid-90s you mainly had a small clique of techy-geek/enthusiast types writing articles and posting to it. Nowadays, every loo-lah is at it. :pac:

Exactly, sure just look at my post history.

The skill nowadays is finding the useful stuff amongst all the crap. It's a bit like prospecting for gold.

jimgoose

Butters1979 wrote: »

Exactly, sure just look at my post history.

The skill nowadays is finding the useful stuff amongst all the crap. It's a bit like prospecting for gold.

You could argue that the proliferation of the Web and the loo-lahs thereon has resulted in t'young folk developing more sophisticated analytical and data-sifting/cross-referencing skills than ever.