No Stupid Questions

You would naturally have more friends because you're not on the internet all the time. You would probably have a third place. Go to parks and what not. I'm an introvert as well and I grew up in the 90s, you'd be fine. Lol life finds a way. You would be surprised what you would be willing to do when there is nothing else.

Millennial, briefly experienced a life with limited access to information.

You are capable of more than you think. You wrote phone numbers down and memorized your own. You memorized the ones you used regularly. I had 7-8 friends and family numbers memorized.

You also only needed one phone number per household.

When you needed to know something like how to fix a car or replace a light bulb you asked someone. Often An uncle, aunt, or cousin. If nobody in your friends/family group knew, you went to the library.

Yellow pages and magazines and instruction manuals were constantly floating around with information. I never felt deprived of curiosity. I read a lot.

Having lived that childhood, I can give you some insight.

“Damn, how did people even get information?”

Believe it or not, most people simply didn't. For the average low engagement person they would get news/information from the 3 or 4 TV channels available on Over-The-Air TV. Those that wanted to be informed about current events would actually plan to be in front of a TV somewhere to catch the 30 minutes of evening news (well 30 minutes national and usually 30 min local). There was some news on the radio, and possibly the largest news source was newspapers (usually only your locally published on) and monthly magazines. For most people that was it! For some they didn't read the newspaper and didn't watch/listen to the news.

However, if you wanted more news/knowledge/info, there was more to be had, but you had to actively go places and seek it out.

like I suddenly imagine myself, there, as a child, and not having access to this seemlingly unlimited access to information that I currently have

Libraries were the "unlimited access to information", and there was a lot of it. Unless it was a really small branch library, every single public library building you walked into had more books/magazines/newspapers than you could read in your entire lifetime, and there were literally hundreds of libraries available to you across the USA. Private libraries, such as colleges, would have even more. It felt like unlimited access to information at the time.

and not to mention, entertainment content.

Honestly, we were much more creative. When you'd already read the couple of new magazines you got that month, nothing on the 3 or 4 channels of TV interested you, and the 4 or 5 radio stations were playing songs on heavy rotation you already knew, you went looking to create your own entertainment. This could be playing sports, writing, art, playing games you made up with friends, trying new bicycle/skateboard tricks, etc. At least a third of people would be people that created things, making songs, building models, woodworking, fixing/upgrading cars, growing (gardening/livestock), cooking, etc.

So like, that feeling of feeling like I’m in the past (as in: I’m imagining myself being in the past), but not have access to the internet just gives me a very bad feeling.

It was actually the opposite. If you spent the time to search out information, which took skills like knowing where to look in a library, you'd be thought of as smart. Example: "How the heck did you know off the top of your head that that capital of Hungary was Budapest?!". For someone in the USA, to know they, they would have had to sought out a world map/encyclopedia/almanac, know that Hungary was a country, know that is in Europe, and know how to find the capital. Same with general knowledge on any topic such as history of the Roman Empire or US Civil War. If you had an interest, you could find the information, but it took work. People knew that, so if you could show you had the knowledge it was appreciated and came with a certain amount of respected.

You would have been just fine.

Those of us in our 40-50s that helped build the thing you are having trouble imagining life without are more and more wishing they didn't do it. We know the world before and after and yearn for the world we helped destroy. The WWW had so much potential, but like all good things it was shit on by corpo scum.

You didn't have much info, but neither did other people! People told the weirdest stories and "facts".

It's because back then there was a thing called boredom which led to creativity and generally happier lives. Now, it's nearly impossible to be bored, and people are much less apt to learn a new thing or go on an adventure because theyre obsessed with their phones. Institute a no phone or no internet rule on weekends, I do this and it's great!

I feel that. I actually was just lamenting that a minute ago, looking at the bottom of my Zippo lighter, which says “1941 Replica.”

“Man, imagine living in a time when nobody thought smoking was bad for you…” - my brain

Imagine living in 1902, when you could just go to the store and buy cocaine and heroin for your toothache.

Hell, listening to the fun our parents had growing up. It shouldn’t be punishable by years in prison to shoot off some fireworks at a party. (I live in OH, our fireworks laws are brutal. Us and Utah, man.)

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with lamenting that the past is gone. Yes, there were bad things we’re better off without, but we lost and gave up a lot, too. Missing those things isn’t wrong.

Hypernormalization.

https://www.upworthy.com/hypernormalization-explained

I mean, imo, you got it correct with many of your descriptions:

Fear, Anxiety, Panic, caused by the lack of access to the internet.

Now, I thought I was going to have to coin a term here, but something pretty close already exists:

Nomophobia, fear of not having your your smartphone.

Other proposed terms from other people over the years:

discomgoogolation

abinterretephobia

macriapodiadictuophobia

These have all been proposed as words to mean, basically, fear of not having access to the internet.

Now, you are describing more specifically a fear of an entire, past world without widespread internet access, which is a bit different... as it isn't just you personally not having your internet device, but the total lack of them, the lack of societal norms built around them, etc.

I would point out that there are still roughly 3 billion of people on Earth, right now, who live without consistent and reliable access to the internet, who cannot afford a smart phone or any kind of internet device.

But yeah, as others have said... before the internet was widespread... we used libraries, we read books and articles and physical newspapers... sometimes, you would have to hunt down a particular rare book, or ask a library to get it loaned from another library, you could wait weeks or months.

I remember an actual physical voicemail machine, an actual physical caller ID device, I remember having to commit my friend's and family's 10 digit phone numbers to memory, or carry a small personal contact list with me.

I remember when getting a cordless phone, that would let you go sit down on the couch instead of having to stand or sit within 3 feet of the wall mounted phone... was a completely mind blowing innovation.

And I was born in the tail end of the 80s, before the Berlin Wall fell.

I remember being forced into typing lessons, on an actual keyboard, as one of the very few things my dad forced me into that was actually a good call, and now that the vast majority of younger folks use touchscreens... an increasing number of them have no idea how to actually type, which blows my mind because for the vast majority of my life, not knowing how to type was an extremely stereotypical Boomer attribute.

And now its getting far worse, with an absolute epidemic of students of all manner of subjects who just do not know anything, because they are reliant on some kind of AI to answer all their questions and generate all their answers.

It has been argued before that a human with a smartphone, which they have at all times, is functionally a kind of 'soft' cyborg, as the smartphone is a part of so much of their thinking, their culture, their way of life.

So, I suppose its understandable that a 'soft' cyborg is terrified by the idea of having part of their brain ripped out, and cannot comprehend how a society could function with everyone not having their portable thinking and communication augmentation.

I grew up in New Zealand in the 50s-60s. We got most info on current events from the radio. Later on there was TV, but it was mainly radio. Our radio had long-wave and if atmospheric conditions were right you could pick up foreign broadcasts.

Other knowledge came from school, obviously, and from libraries. I absolutely haunted my local library, and read voraciously. I still have a fund of info in my head from back then that comes in handy in pub quizzes. When I wasn't reading I was out with my friends on our bicycles. We rode for miles at a time - I don't remember ever telling an adult where we were going.

(About libraries - I don't know if you're aware, but the tycoon Andrew Carnegie funded libraries around the world, including the one in the city near my home town.) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_library

Having said all that and making it sound idyllic, it wasn't. Society back then was repressive in major ways and people's viewpoints were generally narrow. History books weren't always telling the truth. It wasn't terrible compared with say apartheid South Africa, but not great. There was a counter-culture bubbling away - beatniks and then hippies - so it was possible to get an alternative view, just about.

I love the technology that gives me access to not just information, but the lived experience of people round the world. I love reading posts here about mad trivial stuff like what you all are having for breakfast. I love taking a Street View tour of places I'll likely never visit. I'm reading a novel set in Iceland at the moment, and can "drive" along the route a character is taking. I can video chat with my sister, who lives 10,000 miles away. It's a miracle!

The things you are listing you did as a child is what we all did, we just had books instead of the internet. If I needed more info beyond what the encyclopedia says I went to the library the next day and asked the librarian to hook me up.

When you're living in it, you don't know what the future will have. I like my information and tech, but growing up as a kid before all that was pretty sweet. You weren't always after knowing or researching or finding out everything. You lived more in the moment.

There was also a freedom that will never return for anyone. Imagine going places and doing things that at best will only be a story people could tell. No pictures or videos that keep or prove anything forever digitally around. It's something you subconsciously think about now all the time. It didn't used to exist. Also the freedom of being a kid and wanting to go hang out wondering around with friends all day completely untethered or tracked. Just a "be home before the streetlights come on" and beyond that your parents have no idea where you are and can't call you. Getting lost was an adventure.

As a gen X, 47, part of the latch key generation. You just did things yourself and became resilient yourself. Parents always had a set of phone numbers to call if needed. You had access to a phone book but mostly you just called your friends and got a group together to do something with. Go fishing, Ride bikes, hangout, pickup baseball sandlot style, basketball, swimming, or Nintendo when it was hot out during the summer.

And we all taught each other stuff, some of us knew how to change a bike tire, some of us knew how to tie fishing knots and what baits to use. And we all had our way of getting some stuff for free or discounted stuff from a parents business, restraunt or arcade.

We all knew who's dads had porno mags and where they were hidden. And on occasion we could sneak some cigarettes or beer.

There would be days during the summer I'd be out of the house before my parents and they wouldn't see me well past sunset. Shit was just easier and the world less scary I guess.

As far as driving in cities we didn't live in, I have no idea how my parents found shit. Lincoln, grand island I can find things easily without Gps. And any rural town with 300 miles of them. Omaha I can't find shit without Gps

I struggle with my daughter because her mother is afraid of everything and that's been passed to her. Some things I get, and I'm glad she has a phone with her, I'd like her to take more initiative in finding things to do herself and I push her and my wife to let her be more independent

The whole "le wrong generation" thing is kind of a fallacy because being alive now allows you to enjoy all the pop culture that has gone before and today's pop culture too. We're in a win-win situation being alive now.