Daily writing prompt

Do you remember life before the internet?

View all responses

I do remember life before the internet, of course. I was born in December of ’76 so my memories of childhood begin somewhere in the 80’s. I mean, yeah, life was very different back then, pre-world wide web. But my childhood seemed different anyway because I grew up on a farm and not in an urban centre. I didn’t play with my friends ’til the streetlights came on, which apparently was a common code for “time to go home”.

There were no streetlights in my yard, although we had our own yard light. We lived a thirty minute drive from town. We didn’t own any video games or anything of the sort. And my parents didn’t actually buy a VCR until my sisters and I had all grown up and moved out. Sometimes my parents would rent a VCR and some movies for a weekend. That was fun.

I honestly don’t know what we did all day if not in school. Well I do, there was always something to be done. Some chore my Dad would give us to do. Or a household chore my Mom left with us to get done while she was at work. I do remember feeling bored a lot, isolated. If the internet had been a thing back then, I would have been preoccupied with it, I’m sure. Chores might have fallen to the wayside or been done haphazardly.

I loved magazines. Teen Bop and those types when I was a pre-teen and then later Vogue as a teenager. I loved reading our local paper. My whole family did I think. It came out on Wednesdays or at least that was the day it arrived in the mail for us. It was exciting to get the paper and I remember fighting over who got to read which section first or who was taking too long with their piece of it.

It all sounds a little Laura Ingalls now, looking back. I am happy life has progressed and I think, although it’s not without its faults, the internet and the technology is very cool. It’s just a part of life now but if someone had tried to explain it to me as a kid, I wouldn’t have believed them. Instantly talk to someone on the other side of the world….instantly. Video chat with someone in another country. That’s insane. It’s amazing. Google or Youtube anything. Like anything.

I guess for people, like my kids, who grew up with it, it’s probably no big deal. I remember life before it, I liked life then and I like it now. You can’t stop progress.