What was life like before social media?

endacl

Your Superior wrote: »

We didn't have to worry about people posting photos of us on nights out.

We also didn't have to specifically ask them not to post those pictures, and then have to waste time explaining the bleedin' obvious because they couldn't process the fact that you don't want to be visible to twats on Twatbook. Back then, whenever I played at a gig or session I didn't have to stop to tell feckin' tourists not to post their memento on YouTube. Most are good about it. Some just don't get it.

There was privacy back then. I miss that.

Eugene Norman

Into The Blue wrote: »

How do you know if someone is not on facebook?
How do you know if someone hates apple products?
How do you know if someone hates Dublin?

Oh I agree. But I was previously defending face bookers and expected that comment to come immediately after. Just saying that you don't have to be on FB, and it probably isn't changing much of society. But I wasn't doing that because I use it. I'm a Twitter guy.

I don't buy the whole people not talking to each other. We never talked to strangers on rush hour trains, we may have read books but plenty of people staring at mobiles read books. On the mobiles.

And in fact these things are probably keeping older friendships together rather than the opposite.

Dr_Bill

People didn't post stupid stuff up on the internet and get fired or wonder why their employment opportunities were limited based on posting their whole life or weekends up on the Internet with them rolling around in the gutter at 4am.

AnonoBoy

Fields.

All this was fields.

marcmc5

People made an effort to stay in touch. With socal media people cant be arsed and have so many pseudo friends they feel they dont need real ones

Salvation Tambourine

Eugene Norman wrote: »

I don't buy the whole people not talking to each other. We never talked to strangers on rush hour trains, we may have read books but plenty of people staring at mobiles read books. On the mobiles.

sashafierce

This post has been deleted.

dublinman1990

Well life for me before social media was not an enjoyable one as I was bullied in school for a fair amount of time when I was young kid in primary school.

The reasons for me for being bullied at the time were largely unknown and petty. It was spoken and heard from other kids in my class while going abut through school trying to be a normal everyday child. I should have actually said to them long ago to say stop and let me have a bit of privacy. There is a big positive after going through that ordeal back in the day in that those incidents didn't have to be spread in social media of any form when I was in there. It felt like what happened in the classroom and talking back to your parents stayed like that until social media had began to ruin that experience for probably large swathes of young people in the early 21st century. I was extremely lucky in a sense not to endure that sort of life back then. I would seriously consider it for anybody to that make job all the more preventable for themselves if they had tried to look back on it.

Cyberbullying is basically happening on a daily basis with people being at such a young age and it could happen to people of other ages while you don't expect it. It is a horrid experience for anyone to be cyberbullied at this time in their life. Older people, including my mum, wouldn't have thought that this aspect of life would be a 'normal' thing for people to do to each other online another over one simple facebook post that could potentially damage it within a split second. A person's life should not be totally focused on hearsay or gossip that could be greatly damaged from behind our backs. It should be tackled head-on and within an instant.

On the positive side of living life back in the day, watching lots of TV, playing the playstation for hours, playing actual sports outside was a thing to be greatly enjoyed. I used to get great enjoyment playing a couple of games from Colin McRae and Spyro the dragon on the playstation while I was experiencing life as a young kid. It was also a good way to get away by zoning out from all that earlier ****e while I was in school all those years ago.

_Kaiser_

I have a Facebook a/c but I almost never use it and then only the chat part as it's the only way to keep in touch with some people - my last "update" was last year thanking people for wishing me a happy birthday (even though most of them I haven't actually talked to in years)

One of the things I hate is how social media nonsense has made it into mainstream news - Breakingnews has a story on the front page about how to load a bloody dishwasher FFS! :rolleyes: Then there's the whole "selfie" shyte and "challenges" too of course!

The whole idea that your employment prospects depend on what you do on social media and/or if you have a LinkedIn profile is stupid too. Perfectly good, hard-working people rejected because they acted like an idiot with a few pints or because they DON'T have a profile for the world to see!

I think it started with The Sims myself - a game where you sat at your screen developing a "life" for your characters at the expense of your own! Things like Bebo and Facebook just expanded on this by allowing you to create a whole virtual persona to try and impress others with.

In effect, what this thread shows I think is how far we've devolved socially since the 80s/early 90s.. rather than getting out and living life and meeting people, many are content to sit there watching updates about how "cool" (or not) other people's lives are! In a wider context, coupled with the Americanised-culture we've been exposed to since the dawn of satellite TV in the late 80s which told us that "nothing is your fault" and "you are a special snowflake", it's led to a society of responsibility-shirking, superficial eejits more obsessed with competing with each other for "likes" than what's going on around them!

I know I sound like an old fart (even though I'm just shy of 40 and work in IT myself and have the latest smartphones, tech etc) but I really think that Social Media has become more of a hindrance than anything else - and I worry about my own little fella who's a few years off from dealing with it yet (thankfully) but who'll inevitably be dragged into it one way or another. Even limiting his access won't help and it could actually make him a target for the bullying that's rampant on it (as others have described above). Being a kid is hard enough but these days it must be a nightmare if you're not in with the "cool" crowd!

Ah I miss the 80s.. and not just because music, TV and movies were better then!

Robsweezie

my brother's unborn child could arrive within the next day or two, if I see it plastered all over facebook before I even meet the child that will unsettle me somewhat. would you care?

you know the usual crap '' tyler clayton Sebastian Johnson arrived at 3:36 this morning weighing x pounds x ounces couldn't be happier im so chuffed with my little angel xxxxx''

youreadthat

I'm 25 and people at school seemed to first get myspace around 2005. To be honest life wasn't that different before then. The only difference is that the 14 year old narcissists you knew too much about then are now 25 year old narcissists with a webpage dedicated to them. People were still communicating en masse on msn and text so the amount of time you'd spend looking at a screen isn't that different if you're a fairly prolific user of social networks today.

Further back than the late 90's though and there are marked differences.

KevIRL

A lot less written sentances finished with 'x'

DEFTLEFTHAND

Not as many 'right on' merchants, people decided which ideology they wanted to follow and didn't rely on what cool kids were doing online. For eg a level headed young man with a worthwhile degree in a subject such of Law would mature around the time of graduation, 22 or so. The guys who did Arts never grew up, the toy department as they were jokingly referred to as in UCD.

Adamantium

Sitting around watching amazing TV shows on summer Saturday afternoons, Big Big Movie at 6. Formula 1 racing on RTE. Hearing dad with a chainsaw out back and coming out to sweep sawdust away between breaks.

My neighbour who was 10 years old at the time wrote a strongly worded letter to RTE for pulling Baywatch from the air, but expressed how thankful he was, that Xena (Lucy Lawless) was till there.

They even sent him back a reply and everything.

Anesthetize

Adamantium wrote: »

Sitting around watching amazing TV shows on summer Saturday afternoons, Big Big Movie at 6. Formula 1 racing on RTE. Hearing dad with a chainsaw out back and coming out to sweep sawdust away between breaks.

My neighbour who was 10 years old at the time wrote a strongly worded letter to RTE for pulling Baywatch from the air, but expressed how thankful he was, that Xena (Lucy Lawless) was till there.

They even sent him back a reply and everything.

Nowadays people are sitting around watching amazing tv shows on Netflix. How the times have changed.

rewind28

It's hard to say. I'm in my early 30s. It wasn't much different; people my age were still glued to their phone texting then while messages cost 13 cent each. If fb was around then I probably wouldn't have used it. I was always the last one to sign-up. My age group are prob on the cusp of technology; we certainly relate to a time without it and also a time with it. I'd be more a Nokia 3310 type. That's the symbol of my teen years. No internet - only texts and calls. Picture phones came out in 2003 and that's around the same time as WAP phones did to. They were prehistoric compared to now but early to mid 00s were the start of what is now; except life was still the same as the late 90s: nobody took photos out on random nights out

Paramite Pie

Redhenrun wrote: »

You could go off for a month with a rucksack on your back and your parents wouldn't even know what country you were in, much less who you'd met or what you were having for dinner that day. Bliss!

I did that in three years ago. Went back-packing in the Andes for a few weeks and had no internet, and often no running water or toilets.:D

My parents had an idea of my itinerary but I had no contact with them for up to two weeks at a time between reaching more developed touristy areas.

There were some big elections on in France and other parts of EU, and all the Recession news and Facebook updates just felt so irrelevant. I'd recommend it.

MarkAnthony

Everything people are moaning about is a choice. Social media has been an overwhelming force for good and truth. It has it downside, but much like all information technologies these are largely down to the end user.

A couple of things sum it up for me. Ben Elton's routine where he compares the internet to a library, this was the 90s I think, what's the first thing you did when you got a dictionary; looked up the dirty words!

And the epicness that is the West Wing.

Leo McGarry: My generation never got the future it was promised... Thirty-five years later, cars, air travel is exactly the same. We don't even have the Concorde anymore. Technology stopped.

Josh Lyman: The personal computer...

Leo McGarry: A more efficient delivery system for gossip and pornography? Where's my jet pack, my colonies on the Moon?

Cold War Kid

It's ideal for my age (30s) but a lot of it would suck for teenagers.
No way would I like to have been an adult in the 80s. Great being a kid then, but reality was a lot harsher for adults at that time.
Being a kid in the 80s/early 90s makes me appreciate how great the internet/smartphone is too - e.g. any music/video/information you want is just a click and a few words away; the 13-year-old me fantasised about that. Contact with people being so easy, from anywhere.
It's fantastic - makes life a lot easier in many ways. But harder on kids for sure.

You can still have your older style stuff too though - books, TV, CDs. I have all of those and utilise them regularly.

Lia_lia

beks101 wrote: »

You knew all your friends' home numbers by heart.

I still know a few of my school friends numbers off by heart, haven't spoken to them in years! And probably haven't phoned the numbers since I was about 10. They just stick in your head!

bjork

@Lia_Lia> I bumped in to someone at a party I hadn't seen in a long time and the first thing they rattled off was my phone number



In my day, we didn't even have a phone in the house. 20 pence in the nearest phone box. Call cards where the business when they came out!! No more carrying around big 20 pence coins (because they were bigger in those days) They had different pictures on them. You'd buy them in the shop separately.

True Story: Phone boxes would sometimes get jammed with coins. I hit one once after it swallowed my money and the coins poured out like a casino. Off I got on the bus in to town and spent it on marathons

bjork

My first mobile phone I thought the credit worked like a call card and asked my friend where was the slot for putting it in

Credit was sold on little cardboard cards in those days



The shame

One eyed Jack

bjork wrote: »

My first mobile phone I thought the credit worked like a call card and asked my friend where was the slot for putting it in

Credit was sold on little cardboard cards in those days



The shame

The SIM cards themselves were just as big as the scratch cards -


http://www.mobileworld.org/sim_cards/ireland.html


I had an 088 phone myself, a Motorola brick, then got myself an 087 phone when the analog to digital switchover happened, with a fancy little screen, and a 'memory' to store numbers!

zeffabelli

I have a pre-internet and a post internet memory.

I remember the house phone number growing up. I remember my dad's phone number who is dead 15 years, but I could not tell you any of MY OWN phone numbers that I have today.

It's like the camera and photographs, you start to remember the photos of people more than you sustain the real memories of them.

Mister Vain

Before laptops I just had a lapdog. He gave me hours of company.

bjork

Mister Vain wrote: »

Before laptops I just had a lapdog. He gave me hours of company.

We didn't even have a lap dog, all we had was a lap dance :pac:

Mister Vain

bjork wrote: »

We didn't even have a lap dog, all we had was a lap dance :pac:

That's some nice company too.

whatismyname

You couldn't just log on to the internet and find a photo of your teenage crush from 15 years ago, wonder what on earth you were thinking, and thank your lucky stars you didn't end up with them.

Mars Bar

I dragged my dad out to the garden most days to play football! To be honest, I'm not sure what I did on wet evenings.

I do like the fact that I got through school when I did. I call it the "Golden Age". It was after the nuns and before social media!

Agricola

Quick search online and you can usually locate people who you havent spoken to in half a lifetime, their whole life story there for everyone to read. Quite a change from back in the day when people you lost touch with were often lost forever.

5star02707

Would love to bring this thread back up

Back when i was a kid, i was barely home playing outside nowadays kids are glued to their gadgets from the moment they wake up til they fall asleep.

jjbrien

5star02707 wrote: »

Would love to bring this thread back up

Back when i was a kid, i was barely home playing outside nowadays kids are glued to their gadgets from the moment they wake up til they fall asleep.

Best leave an old thread dead i think

Day Lewin

jjbrien wrote: »

Best leave an old thread dead i think

So why has the boards.ie Twitter account just tweeted the link to this thread?

https://twitter.com/boards

jjbrien

Day Lewin wrote: »

So why has the boards.ie Twitter account just tweeted the link to this thread?

https://twitter.com/boards

No idea but the mods hate old theads been dug up

koumi

mine was pretty great maybe twenty years ago