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The internet

Deleted user

Was the world better without it?

I love the 'information superhighway' as it was once known for information and connection.

I grew up having to walk to libraries (using microfiche or books) or read newspapers and magazines if I could afford them, for my information, especially current affairs.

TV was sometimes available but the limited channels gave a narrower bias than these days.

I was dependent on 'experts' like doctors for diagnoses (or the occasional book written by these 'experts').

A lot of walking around shops to be done too (which of course the internet is killing).

There was also the option to ask people questions and try to sift their sometimes dubious replies.

However, it facilitates crimes to a rather horrendous level.

It also isolates people and childhood appears to have drastically changed because of it.

What do others think?

Parents

  • This is bizarre.

    My thread has returned without the replies.

    I am the 'deleted user' OP.

    Does this mean it was deleted by error?

    Where are  the replies?

    An explanation would be good.

    Thinking

  • in reply to Deleted User

    Thank you for confirming this was your question. I don't think I have seen it before. 

    In respect of TV there was a lot more I would watch in the 70s and 80s on the main channels. This year there has been very little. Sadly it appears that less new programmes are made and the extra channels mainly have repeats.

    It is noticeable that there was a lack of people out on Christmas and Boxing Day. We used to see children on new bikes, scooters etc.I guess lots had technical things. My excitement as a child with that sort of thing was a spiromatic and Lego with bricks which lit up, both working with batteries.

    There is something more relaxing I feel in reading a story in an actual book. It also concerns me if there was a long power cut as phones now rely on electricity and looking up numbers. I think sometimes it was easier to find services in a telephone directory.

    I agree too about doctors. It seems these days they are expecting us to have researched and said what we think is wrong. 

    There are a lot of positives about the internet, when it is working properly, but technology is complicated in my mind. I also find the younger generation expect everything to be instant. A lot of things they take for granted would have seemed very exciting in my childhood when things were mundane. Communication meant seeing a friend or ringing and making sure to not talk for too long as we were charged by the minute. My parents expected me to call on evenings or weekends, due to the costs unless urgent. We even had a chart with the call costs for different times of the day and distances. That is of course when we had a home phone. We also didn't have a TV when I was young.

    I agree that another downside is the link to crime, both related to misinformation and the increase in scams. It must be very difficult too for the elderly, especially those who live alone.

  • in reply to Homebird
    Homebird said:
    It is noticeable that there was a lack of people out on Christmas and Boxing Day. We used to see children on new bikes, scooters etc.

    I think this is also linked to the "health and safety" culture now where it is seen as dangerous. Kids could have an accident, be kidnapped, get wet or damage the bike.

    A bigger factor however is that children are becoming more sedentary - happier to sit indoors in the warmth glued to their phone / tablet. I don't think I've ever seen such a high proportion of overweight and unfit kids as I do now.

    I grew up in the 70s in a small town in Scotland and I rarely stayed indoors - there were so many exciting things to do and I loved taking my dog for long walks out of town, into the countryside and explore scrap yards, abandoned houses, old mine workings etc - the sort of things parents now consider near instand death for kids.

    I was working in IT (mainframes) when the internet first became accessable so have been working with it for over 30 years and I know a lot about the positives and negatives (I used to work as an Ethical Hacker for a while in the 2000s).

    What I have taken from this is that it is a net positive - it facilitates so many good things that the bad things are well worth accepting.

    My mother is prone to falling over (balance issues) and has a bracelet that will alert the care authorities so someone is in contact within seconds and a team dispatched as soon as an issue is identified. This has saved her on a number of occassions.

    I can see my home on my webcam so I know if there is a break-in or anyone who I gave a key to has been helping themselves to my stuff.

    I can download any TV episode, film, music or book I want in minutes if I want. Some through legal sources and some not so much, but no more being restricted by TV schedules or availability in your region.

    The crime aspect is very overblown by the media I think - of course there is all sorts of bad stuff out there but this all existed in paper / celluloid form before or were services you could obtain once you knew who to ask - but now there are more layers of security that can be used to get away with it.

    Overall I think it is just an evolution of society. Things we had as a kid would have been unthinkable to our parents as children etc.

    Is it better or worse? It doesn't really matter as we can't change it.

  • in reply to Iain
    Iain said:
    It doesn't really matter as we can't change it.

    History suggests that wholesale change does happen.....always....eventually.....for every civilisation or system thought to be the new "immutable reality."  Perhaps "we" can't change it....but that doesn't mean that fundamental change won't occur.

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