Do you remember life before the internet?

I do remember life before the internet. If I were to live to age 80 my life would be roughly 50/50 pre and post domestic internet use. Because the change is within my adult lived experience I feel comfortable with and understand the differences. Information and services as a commodity are delivered to me without having to leave my bed. In the pre internet era I would have needed to move a bit to turn on a radio or television. Before that I would have needed, at the very least to go to the door and pick up a newspaper that had been delivered to my door.

I have always been a nerdy person with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and information, not in a focused kind of way. Random knowledge of no particular use is one of my specialist subjects.

I used to spend a lot of time in Reference Libraries, looking things up and following trails of information that may or may not have been of any practical use to me. Not something I could do every day. I was an early ‘ Rabbit Holer’ before rabbit holing became a thing. I don’t recall the last time I went into a reference library outside of University studies.

For most things I believe I could easily manage back in an analogue world, but quenching a random need to know more about something, quickly, would be something I would really miss. Back to the Reference Library for me, but maybe I am so hooked on rabbit holes now I would be in there every day.